CRM Search · UX Design Lead · 2021

Critical patterns for better user experience.

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About The Project
Overview

Properly designed and optimized, the user interface can be a powerful portal that connects your users to their needs—even ones they have yet to discover. A well-designed search interface is a great way to help users stay engaged and easily find what they're looking for.

The BriefOver the years, the internal search system in our CRM had drifted further and further away from the real needs of users. As the product scaled, friction became measurable. We were tasked with improving search and select functionality throughout the system.
The OpportunityThe disconnect between user needs and the provided tools materialized in direct impact on the efficiency, and bottom line, of the system. We were tasked with a ground-up redesign of the search and categorization system. But to deliver on this goal, we needed to develop a deep understanding of users day-to-day workflows and bottlenecks. We would then use those learnings to help inform a system designed to help partners be successful.
Constraints No interface alone can solve experience problems that extend far outside the realm of digital interaction. A system with dependencies intertwined across the organization — this was an exercise of untangling business processes, socializing design decisions, and creating a shared language of understanding. On a fundamental level, technology improvements to backend systems also needed to be improved
My RoleAs UX Design Lead, my responsibilities were critical to the success of the project. I conducted research sessions, created alignment across user groups via research reports, documented & helped evolve the internal processes behind the interface, and designed interface prototypes.
Ideation & Discovery PhaseIdeation & Discovery Phase.
Design Process

Insights

During this point, we gather background information about current workflows, workarounds and pain points from users. We try and identify all key features that need to be included for MVP and document any future considerations that may need to be needed for useability.

User Feedback Summary

  • Faster, more forgiving to errors
  • Category search, multi select add for products and people.
  • More information than just a title before selecting a result.

Key Stakeholders Requirements

  • Intergration across core aspects of the CRM, invoicing, product creation, wine clubs etc.
  • Minimal integration times.
  • More consistent add / remove patterns.
Clarifying design goalsThe discovery phase yields two key questions that govern how we approach exploration and iteration on the designs.

1.

How can we ensure consistency with search and select patterns across a broad suite of functional components?

2.

How do we improve the accuracy, speed and applied usage of a users found search results?
HighlightUI Component Exploration
Search Entity Elements
Search Entity Elements
Search Entity Elements

Foundational entities.

Foundational entities are established for use in single and multi-select search results.

Key metadata is iterated on with feedback from users to ensure that teasers are scannable, and that they're getting useable, actionable information before making selections.

  • Calls
  • Meetings
  • Tasks
  • People
  • Organisations
  • Brands
  • Resources
  • Invoices
  • Pages
  • Products
    • Individual
    • Product Variations
  • Categories
    • People Groups
    • Product Groups
    • Content & tagged
Search Entity Elements

Search Patterns.

Users can indicate intent in many different ways: by typing directly into the search bar, leveraging filters and facets, or even clicking suggestions you provided because you know something about their preferences.

Global Search

Prominent and globally discoverable search bar in the header for the CRM. Federated top level search.

Task specific

Used or things like adding specific products/variations, choosing and selecting groups of entities. Eg. Adding a product to an invoice, adding a product to be discountable on a coupon.

Minimal

Simplified, quick access, fast contextual suggestions.

Task Specific: Modal Search & Select Display Patterns.

Search Workflow Explorations.

Search Flow Example
Practical ApplicationsInvoice Refunds
Refunds Example: Modal Search & Select Display Patterns.
Refunds Example: Modal Search & Select Display Patterns.
Refunds Example: Modal Search & Select Display Patterns.
Practical ApplicationsInventory Management
Inventory Management: Overview Screen
Inventory Management: Transfer List
Inventory Management: Stock Transfer Creation
Inventory Management: Contextual entity results
HighlightKey Take Aways
Search matters because it improves KPIs. Bad search is costly not only because users remember poor experiences, but because the process inevitably reduces engagement and trust in the product.

There are two key aspects to great search and discovery: relevance (including textual relevance, business relevance, & personalization) and user experience.

HighlightFuture Improvements

Analysis of site-search logs is one of the biggest missed opportunities in UX research. Emphasis is placed on external SEO (getting the visit) but less attention is paid to optimization that serves existing users.

With increased intergration into the core CRM experience, greater analaysis is needed on some of these new search and select patterns to ensure the components are delivering a great experience with each new product feature added.

Early iterations had some experiments with keyboard shortcuts to streamline certain navigation tasks, though never fully explored due to project time constraints, it would be worth revisting in the future as part of a deeper integration to the CRM system.

Want a deeper dive on how I approached this project?Portfolio presentations are available upon request, drop me a line and I can guide you through how I work.
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