A designer and digital marketeer in an E-commerce company and an AI creator based in Toronto. Follow his blog: 1000 book notes, where he shares his learning on business, design, productivity and AI.
Toronto
Case Study #3 Google Ascend
My Role: UX researcher, UX designer, project manager
Tools: Miro board, Figma
Project Timespan: Three months
Project Overview
Client Profile
Meet Google Ascend, the game-changing Gmail integration designed to transform the daily grind for sales professionals. I had the thrill of stepping into the roles of both researcher and project manager, orchestrating a deep dive into user research to supercharge the product strategy.
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Research Goal
Our mission was clear: to decode who our users are and to dive deep into their needs within the Gmail integration landscape.
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Research Questions:
a) What keeps business professionals up at night in their daily work scenarios?
b) Who exactly are these users?
c) What are the current solutions out there, and how well are they addressing user needs?
Our Solution
We crafted a seamless in-mail integration that revolutionizes CRM processes and supercharges productivity, all within the familiar confines of Gmail.
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Research Methods
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Secondary Research
a) I did a competitive analysis and visualized it into perceptual maps according to customer reviews.
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Card Sorting
Usability Testing
a) I invited five professionals to do a card sorting.
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b) I noticed some common pain points of people in sales.
a) We invited business professionals to do usability testing with our wireframe.
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b) We had a round of iteration based on the user feedback
Customer Acceptance Map
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The map helps us to understand why such sales management product is needed by leveraging its unique role in Gmail`s ecosystem.
An opportunity was identified to create an application with high customer adoption
Positional Map
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The map helps us to understand what kind of gap in current market and user needs.
Combined with what we know from the first map and research we did about the market size. There is huge untapped market in a tool with light productivity and mid CRM.
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Three takeaways from chrome extension store customer review
“increased cognitive resources” is the key source of frustration of users. On the contrary, value-added features tend to be those which are integrated into user`s work flow and streamlined users` work process.
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Features like follow-up scheduler to help to curb forgetfulness and keep organized is a must-have for salesperson like Vanessa.
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Features that saving time also tend to be the most important for users. Such features are like data integration from other tools.​
The cardsorting result of a marketing professional inspired us with languages and reasonable classification.
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Problem Statement
How might we design a light CRM Gmail tool with an over 4.8 stars satisfaction on the Chrome extension store for many professionals, who are heavy Gmail users, specifically those who work in sales and marketing, to build a wide or deep network of business connections?
Swimlane chart
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Swim lane chart allows me to map out our features within shoes of people in specific roles in the trench.
It highlights both the commonalities and unique needs of Vanessa, a real-estate salesperson, and Morgan, a digital marketer from an
eCommerce company.
Graph of contact relationship
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The map helps us to model user behaviors of two groups of people we are interested in and identify the heavy user and make decision to design for Vanessa. We have a clearer product roadmap than before.
User Flow
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Wireframe (sample)
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Key Findings
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Google is primed to create a Chrome extension within the Gmail ecosystem, especially since users frequently grapple with compatibility issues from existing market solutions.
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Users' main frustration stems from the “increased cognitive load” required to manage their workflows. On the flip side, features that seamlessly integrate into users' routines and simplify their processes are highly valued.
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For instance, a follow-up scheduler is essential for salespeople like Vanessa, helping her stay organized and keep track of all important tasks.​​