Portfolio Journey — UX Case
My role in the project
As the UX/UI Designer for the project, I was responsible for conducting the discovery process and designing the feature up until the handoff to the development team.
Design Process
Research Problem
At that time, platform users did not have a clear and visual way to track their clients’ lifecycle, which often made understanding each journey somewhat complex. Our platform only provided a view of the onboarding process for new clients and a table with client data containing many fields, leaving a gap in tracking the other phases of the client journey. As a key business premise, it was essential to provide users with additional information about their clients’ lifecycle throughout the various stages of the journey, taking into account the time spent in each phase.
Discovery
To kick off the project, I conducted preliminary research (desk research) with the goal of identifying whether similar solutions already existed among other market players and understanding how they were implemented. Additionally, I created a CSD matrix (Certainties, Suppositions, and Doubts) as an initial guide to compile and categorize my ideas, questions, and assumptions about the project. This research and planning phase was crucial in establishing a solid and informed foundation for the feature’s development, as well as in setting priorities for further research, guiding us in the process of building a research roadmap.
User Interviews
I conducted several user interviews, starting with interviews with the internal CSM and CS teams at SenseData to refine the research script and gain a deeper understanding of the problem. After this initial round, I spoke with users from three external clients of SenseData to understand their different journeys, gathering some use cases.
Here are a few examples of questions I used in the research script:
- “Describe the activities you perform daily related to the customer journey.”
- “How do you manage the customer journey in your portfolio?”
- “What are the key aspects you consider important during the customer journey?”
- “What types of information do you analyze about the customer? Is there any information you feel is currently missing in your analysis process?”
- “How do you identify the different phases of the customer journey?”
- “How would you prefer to visualize the customer journey on the platform (e.g., charts, listings, Kanban board)? And in terms of scale, would you prefer a macro or micro view? How would you and your team like to track and analyze the indicators related to the journeys?”
Research Results
- The biggest pain point reported by the interviewed users was that, to start analyzing each client, they had to apply multiple filters on a general client table within the platform, which made it a time-consuming process for every new analysis. Additionally, the process was not very visual for some users.
- Some users ended up using Trello’s board view to construct their journey separately from the SenseData platform. They also frequently used the notes section in Trello cards to highlight key points about their clients.
- Most users expressed a desire for a consolidated macro view that would make it easier to visualize everything happening in the customer journey.
Feature Objectives Definition
After discussions with users and the business team, the objectives for the Journey feature were defined:
- Be visual and provide a macro view of clients across different journeys and stages;
- Include a visual classification by lifecycle and stage;
- Be customizable to fit the use cases of each business and cater to the maximum number of clients;
- Allow the addition of notes and provide more detailed client views;
- Be automatically updated, leveraging SenseData’s rules engine.
Following the definition of the feature objectives, we prioritized certain deliveries to produce the MVP of the functionality. We classified them according to the Impact vs. Effort matrix.
Ideation
Based on the research results, I decided to focus on the users’ main pain points, aligned with the business’s priority objectives, to begin the ideation process. Before starting the interface designs, navigation flow sketches were created to consider what would be essential in terms of configuration, usage, and automation of the feature. As you can see in the example below:
After understanding the project structure, the interface navigation flows and prototypes were designed for validation.
Interface Testing
After developing the prototype, we conducted several validations with internal users at SenseData, as well as some external clients, to ensure that the interface and navigation flow were intuitive and aligned with each user’s needs.
Final Result and Feature Overview
Here is a brief explanation of the feature and the functionalities considered in the final delivery of the project.
The Portfolio Journey feature allows you to organize and track the evolution of your clients through different stages of their lifecycle. This feature enables you to build new journeys and visually and simply track the client’s total lifecycle, the number of days in each phase, and key client indicators.
Previously, SenseData only supported onboarding journeys. With this new functionality, it’s now possible to create various types of journeys (such as adoption, engagement, expansion, and more).
Some additional examples of journeys include:
- Client journey phases
- Products acquired
- Financial status
- Cancellation risk
- Business opportunities
- Contract renewal process
- CS feeling
Journey Configuration
In the configuration screen, you can create and edit journeys.
In the construction modal, you can define the journey’s name, add the phases that will be part of this journey, and set the estimated time for each phase. You can also define the color that will represent each phase on this screen.
Adding Clients to the Journey
Clients can be added to journeys in two ways:
- Manually: On the Portfolio Journey screen, there is an ‘Add Client’ button. Clicking this button allows you to choose which journey should be linked to the client.
- Automatically: Through Rule-based conditions, allowing bulk actions (such as updates, additions, and deletions) for clients across different journey phases.
Journey Visualization
You can switch between two view modes: Kanban View and List View.
On this screen, you can monitor the progress of the journeys, manually update the phase of clients, add notes, and manually remove clients from a journey.
Client Details and Notes
By interacting with the card, you can view additional client information, such as indicators. You can also add notes regarding the client’s situation at that specific phase.
Custom Filters
To accommodate various use cases across different types of journeys, we have enabled customization of filters by Journey.
Final Considerations
This project was a journey of growth and learning that allowed me to develop my technical skills in UX/UI and expand my business knowledge in meaningful ways. Throughout this process, three key areas emerged as fundamental pillars of my development:
1. Deepening User Research: During this project, I conducted extensive user research. Through interviews, usability tests, and data analysis, I gained a more comprehensive understanding of our users’ needs and expectations. These insights were crucial in guiding my design decisions and ensuring our solutions met the real demands of our target audience.
2. Advancing Interface Prototyping: A significant milestone in this project was the opportunity to build, for the first time, a Kanban board view that considered all user interactions. This allowed me to explore interface prototyping in depth, creating interactive designs that provided users with a more engaging and intuitive experience. Learning to translate abstract concepts into tangible interfaces was a valuable skill I acquired during this project.
3. Expanding Business Knowledge: I deepened my business knowledge by studying use cases from different clients and working to align them with the user journey. Understanding the nuances of various client needs and aligning these needs with business objectives was an enriching experience. This not only enhanced the product’s usability but also contributed to the company’s overall success.
In summary, this project was not just an opportunity to enhance technical UX/UI skills but also a chance to grow as a professional who understands the importance of integrating user-centered design with business goals.
