Frequence new product-Email
SiteImpact Email Integration
BACKGROUND
Frequence offers an end-to-end solution for media companies, automating their workflows. The platform encompasses various advertising services, including Display, Pre-roll, Streaming audio, and Social media. However, one notable absence is Email. To tap into this revenue stream, Frequence made the strategic decision to fully integrate with the market-leading ESP-SiteImpact and introduce an Email product for customers. This expansion aligns with the company's mission, leveraging existing partnerships to enhance value for customers and create an additional revenue stream.
MY ROLE
As the sole UX designer within the transaction pod, I spearheaded the complete design process for the Email product across proposal, insertion order, and creative request workflows. While another designer within the analytics pod focused on Email data reporting design, I collaborated extensively with the PM, development team, Creative team, CSM team, OPS team, and all other stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of the product.
TIME LINE
09.2022-03.2023
PLATFORM
Web
GOAL
The business goal was to assist Frequence in establishing a new essential product line: Email, to offer partners more comprehensive and effective media promotion solutions. This initiative aimed to enhance the competitiveness of the company's platform while generating more revenue.
The outcome goal was to enable our partners to precisely deliver Email ads to targeted audiences and provide real-time tracking of ad effectiveness.
The outcome goal was to enable our partners to precisely deliver Email ads to targeted audiences and provide real-time tracking of ad effectiveness.
TOOLS
Figma
INDUSTRY
SAAS, Marketing, B2B
BACKGROUND
IMPACT
After 6 months of research, brainstorm, interview, design, testing, the new Email Product lunched on March 2nd, 2023. Three partners（Hearst, Nextstar and Beasley）were the first to use this product to expand their email business. Leadme, Cumulous started using email in July 2023 and more and more partners are asking for implementation.
BACKGROUND
The Challenge
The challenges of creating the new Email product involved several aspects:
Managing Stakeholder Engagement in Complex Product Scope
The first challenge lay in the sheer size and complexity of the product scope. As a novel offering, virtually every team within the company became stakeholders. Effective communication and coordination were pivotal to engage and align all teams, including external customers, internal operation team, creative team, customer support team, marketing, finance, and develop team. The Email product encompassed a wide array of features, functions, target users, markets, and technology platforms, necessitating substantial support to address the needs of all users and stakeholders. Furthermore, as the product scope evolved over time, adjustments to the development roadmap were essential to ensure alignment with its intended goals and objectives.
Designing for Transition: Managing Two Design Systems
Given that Frequence had recently established a new platform and plans to migrate partners from the old platform to the new one, the design of this product must consider two sets of design systems and the transition from the old platform to the new one.
Navigating Integration Challenges and API Failures
Integration with Siteimpact's email product required consideration of both similarities and differences in the design workflows between the two platforms. When facing differences, adjustments must be made to adapt accordingly. Also, Integration would inevitably encounter situations where API failed. In the event of a failure, it was necessary to guide users on how to complete the corresponding tasks.
Last but not least, there were some other challenges like Product Manager left in the middle, time constraints, and so on.
Last but not least, there were some other challenges like Product Manager left in the middle, time constraints, and so on.
EXPLORATION
RESEARCH
Me working closely with the PM and we divided Research into multiple conversations:
On the client's side, what features do they like or dislike, and how can we improve?
On the Creative team side, what information do they need to know to start production?
On the Media Strategy side, what is the minimum budget?
On the OPS side, what is the easier process for them to execute the Email campaign?
There were tons of meetings with different stakeholders, here I just put our client's conversation as the core opinions that decided the design direction:
On the client's side, what features do they like or dislike, and how can we improve?
On the Creative team side, what information do they need to know to start production?
On the Media Strategy side, what is the minimum budget?
On the OPS side, what is the easier process for them to execute the Email campaign?
There were tons of meetings with different stakeholders, here I just put our client's conversation as the core opinions that decided the design direction:
EXPLORATION
Early Insights
From the interview conversations, our partners liked SiteImpact's following features:
Estimate audience size
Help customers estimate the size of the target audience in a particular area. This can involve analyzing demographic data and giving good insights into the behavior of people in the area.
Details in reporting
Tracking open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates to evaluate campaign success, this data can help clients make better decisions for the next round of email delivery.
Sell Resend together
Our early assumption was that after the customer had sent the email and seen the data report, they would decide whether to send the email resend, but after the interview, we found that many emails were sent together with the resend order.
IDEATION
user journey
DESIGN
HI-FIDELITY DESIGN
With the detailed and polished high-fidelity design, I presented stakeholders with a highly realistic and refined representation of the final product. This showcased how Sales users of our partners can seamlessly navigate through the Frequence platform to create an email product, from generating proposals to requesting creatives and submitting insertion orders, effectively demonstrating its potential.
DESIGN
Prototype
This prototype demonstrates the process of a user creating an Email insertion order on the platform, with a primary focus on their interaction with multiple widgets. This includes actions such as selecting interests, adding additional email sends, and completing flight details.
HIGHLIGHT
Estimate Audience size
Estimating the size of audience enables business make informed decisions about marketing, advertising, and other aspects of their business strategy. However, determining how to incorporate the inventory check into the widget poses a considerable design challenge. I need to take into account:
Where should we position this inventory? Should it auto-calculate or be triggered manually? What are the various status indicators? How should warnings be displayed? Should the user be blocked if the inventory is insufficient?
Every design decision was informed by stakeholder input, technical limitations, and the platform's design system. For example, regarding the inventory status, I considered scenarios where the inventory is sufficient, where additional inventory is required, and cases of API failure. During the review with the Strategy team, I also identified the need to set a minimum budget and inform users when the budget does not meet the minimum requirement.
Where should we position this inventory? Should it auto-calculate or be triggered manually? What are the various status indicators? How should warnings be displayed? Should the user be blocked if the inventory is insufficient?
Every design decision was informed by stakeholder input, technical limitations, and the platform's design system. For example, regarding the inventory status, I considered scenarios where the inventory is sufficient, where additional inventory is required, and cases of API failure. During the review with the Strategy team, I also identified the need to set a minimum budget and inform users when the budget does not meet the minimum requirement.
HIGHLIGHT
Smooth creative process
Creative is one of the most beneficial services that Frequence offers. Along with providing an Email product, enabling users to send creative requests to the internal creative team was a must. After working closely with the creative team and continuously iterating on the design, a smooth creative request submission and creative delivery process were finally put in place. There were a large number of selection details that added to the complexity of the design.
HIGHLIGHT
utilizing various design systems and languages
After designing the legacy email workflow, I transitioned to utilizing a new design system to create the Framework version for the email process, tailoring the design to adhere to the principles of the system. This demonstrates my proficiency in utilizing various design systems and languages.
MEASUREMENT
Metrics
From March 2022 to March 2023, our Email product successfully integrated with eight partners. During this period, we launched 368 campaigns within Hearst in just six months. Through ongoing discussions with our partners, we identified opportunities for improvement, leading us to explore the Email Resend flow. Additionally, user feedback prompted us to enhance certain features. For instance, we improved audience checking mechanisms to address instances where the integration API fails. These updates reflect our commitment to delivering a seamless and effective email marketing experience for our users and partners alike.
yuwangdesign@gmail.com
