Buildasign
Quote Generator Tool
Role: Lead designer and researcher
Team: 1 product owner, 1 scrum team
Timeline: 2 days
Background
The Buildasign website has a quote generator/calculator that was built for our customer service team to help customers generate pricing quotes. However, since the product was built, the site has expanded tremendously and the technology behind it has changed significantly. As a result, we’ve ended up with a tool that is essentially useless. It is unable to quote multiple items at once and when it does quote a single item, the information is often incorrect. We set out to build a tool that would help customer service save time, create a better experience for customers, and save the company money.
The Problem
How might we create a tool that provides customers fast and accurate quotes in a professional and trackable way?
Research
Based on anecdotes from other team members, we made an assumption that this was a problem. However we wanted to prove our assumptions and also have evidence to show business that this was an important project to go after.
I began by gathering data on current tool metrics to understand how it was being used and what its impact was on the business. I then spoke with more customer service reps to better understand the problem.
I then performed usability testing on the current tool using Usertesting.com. I wanted to test people who had worked as customer service reps and had dealt with e-commerce ordering. With the results of the testing I synthesized my findings into information that would be easily digested by business.
Sketching + Ideating
After completing the research and synthesis it was time to begin prototyping. Working with development and our PO, we identified what the key needs were for this product and prioritized them.
Using this information I began building a structure for the quote generator and created some initial designs. I had several reviews with dev and ideated on feedback until we were at a place we all felt comfortable moving forward.
Design + Prototype
Because we only had two days to complete this challenge, we moved very quickly from designing to building a working prototype. I collaborated closely with dev throughout the 48 hour period to shepherd the designs throughout the build.
Next Steps
We presented our solution to business but also wanted to outline the long term vision for this project and a roadmap for building the tool. We also evaluated our designs to determine what needed to be iterated on in the next steps.
