Communication Management System
Internal tool enabling Blueboard to deliver a new employee rewards program
Overview:
Blueboard offers employee reward and recognition programs in the form of “experiences.” Think being rewarded by your company with a wine tasting tour, rather than a plaque or gift card.
Due to the pandemic, Blueboard began offering “in home” experiences, but the company’s communication management system (CMS) made it challenging for the Concierge team to efficiently book in home experiences. The new CMS enables the Concierge team to seamlessly deliver in home experiences, and offers a better experience for the customer.
My role: UX Designer
Timeline: 3 months
Tools: Figma, Miro, Zoom
Collaborators: 1 Product Manager, 1 Engineer, Concierge team
THE PROBLEM
The existing CMS was designed solely to deliver in person experiences. This made delivering in home experiences challenging and time consuming for the Concierge, and led to decreased customer satisfaction.
The Concierge team was required to use the in person CMS (below) to deliver in home experiences.
In person confirmation email generated by existing CMS: organized, scannable, and contains all key details
In home confirmation email generated by existing CMS: disorganized, inconsistent, and missing key details.
PERSONAS
Understanding the needs and frustrations of the Concierge and the Customer
DISCOVERY
Understanding Concierge behaviors and their impacts
I interviewed 7 Concierge team members and 3 managers to uncover how they were working around the existing CMS to book in home experiences. These Concierge behaviors to work around the existing CMS led to 2 major negative impacts: 1) Influx of customer questions and complaints, and 2) Increased workload and burnout for Concierge due to addressing customer questions and complaints
Concierge would enter in home experience details into non-corresponding inputs
With missing inputs, Concierge would forget or leave out key information
Some Concierges would ignore the inputs completely, and cram all details into the Notes section of the existing CMS.
Why is this important to the business?
The major blocker of this project was getting buy-in from Product, Engineering, and Leadership stakeholders amongst competing priorities. I made a strong case to the stakeholders that this problem was impacting the business by detailing 6 key points:
The pandemic causes an influx of in home experiences
The Concierge team is required to input in home experience details into the In Person CMS, which is cumbersome, time consuming, and frustrating
Improperly inputted details results in a disorganized and illegible confirmation email for the customer, often missing key details
Confused about the details of their in home experience, the customer contacts Concierge with questions and complaints
Concierge spends time addressing customer questions and complaints, leading to burnout
Customers who are especially dissatisfied escalate their complaints to the Customer Success team, decreasing the chance of the customer renewing their contract with Blueboard
USER JOURNEY
Concierge’s emotional journey using the in person CMS to deliver an in home experience
The existing CMS fell short in supporting the Concierge team to book in home experiences, which increases burnout and decreases job satisfaction.
THE SOLUTION
In home communication management system
With sign-off from stakeholders, I communicated the problem, user needs, and product requirements to Product and Engineering so we could begin designing. I met weekly with Product and Engineering to make improvements to the design based on feedback from the Concierge team. After several iterations and additional features added to the design, we deployed our solution!
In Home CMS feature breakdown
Concierge selects “In-Home” from the tab dropdown
Delivery details provide clarity and assurance items will be delivered to correct address
Order information allows users to see full order details without contacting Concierge
Paragraph sections for lengthy notes and delivery instructions sets delivery expectations for user
Confirmation email generated by in home CMS
Estimated delivery window sets realistic expectations
Frequency dropdown
New in home CMS
OUTCOME
A better user experience for all
Once deployed, I trained the Concierge team on the new in home CMS. They tested the solution and provided highly positive feedback, which suggests that:
More time is saved, reducing Concierge’s workload: Concierge receive fewer questions and complaints from customers about their in home experience.
Concierge can efficiently book in home experiences: The new in home CMS provides a seamless user experience for Concierge, increasing their efficiency to book in home experiences.
There is a decrease in escalations to Customer Success: Customers now have an organized and scannable confirmation email, containing all necessary details to complete their in home experience. Happier customers = fewer escalations to Customer Success.
CONCLUSION
What I learned
Taking the role of a UX Designer for this project, I gained experience identifying a problem impacting the business, conducting user interviews, and collaborating with Product and Engineering to design a seamless solution. I learned how to advocate for the needs of the user and make a case for buy-in to key stakeholders amongst competing priorities. Solving a real problem for my colleagues was incredibly rewarding, and this work inspired me to pursue a career in Product Design.