Rethinking dashboard workflows for an AI-based speech analytics platform to drive more engagement.
ROLE
Product Designer
TIME
3 months
DELIVERABLES
Website app enhancements
MY CONTRIBUTION
I was hired as the sole designer on the team to work closely with the Engineering team and Customer Success Managers. I was responsible for leading various projects aimed at enhancing Tethr's proprietary product, including a product refresh and multiple dashboard improvements.
IMPACT AS A DESIGNER
Contributed to a remarkable 110% retention rate over the subsequent year
Obtained a 91% feature adoption rate
Received passing CSAT among clients
BACKGROUND
At Tethr, one of my most impactful projects was enhancing the dashboard experience. This initiative stemmed from a collaborative feedback session involving our VP of Product, Customer Success Managers, and various clients. As Tethr serves as a crucial analytics tool for businesses seeking growth opportunities, our product team recognized the importance of refining this experience to ensure client retention and satisfaction.
So what was the challenge we faced? What did our clients express? Currently, Tethr's dashboards support only data reports and text blocks, lacking additional filtering or data customization options. This approach limits our clients' ability to present findings effectively to their teams, causing friction within the platform. Recognizing these limitations, we identified two primary issues:
Each graph represents a report. If users would like to filter the data set showing specific date ranges, categories, or even teams, they would have to edit each report individually.
This generates workflow inefficiency given that most dashboards host on average of 4-5 different reports
Editing a report on a dashboard can also affect other dashboards as filtering capabilities are on made through reports. If a particular report is hosted on 3 separate dashboards that serve different purposes, updating filters on that particular report will change the report across all 3 separate dashboards.
PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS
To kick off discovery and research, I set out to better understand the needs of our customers. I approached this by conducting user interviews with our Customer Success team. These were generative interviews, where I came in with a standardized set of questions, including prompts like:
How did this issue come about?
Are there any standout pain points that clients are expressing?
These prompts helped me better understand clients' experiences and the general types of solutions they were looking for. Then, I went a level deeper by asking questions like:
When using Tethr, are you encountering the same issues as clients are?
If so, can you provide specific examples or details about what frustrations you felt during that process?
For this activity, I recruited three members of the Client Services team who were power users of the Tethr platform. They all had between 2-4 years of experience onboarding and training clients for our product. Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and covered topics related to their typical workflow and the most common feedback they received from clients.
Here are the main insights gathered:
Clients expressed dissatisfaction with the dashboard screen's limited capabilities, citing comparison to competitors.
Making bulk changes on a dashboard is repetitive. Clients would like a more seamless process.
Users would like to add supporting widgets or links to dashboard (currently only supports text blocks and reports)
Clients often run into an issue where reports are disrupted across different dashboards if changes are made.
UNDERSTANDING CLIENT FEEDBACK
Given that this project was initiated through client feedback, I decided to dig a little deeper into the comparison being made between Tethr and our competitors. I asked myself:
Why were our users frustrated with our current approach?
What were our competitors doing differently that prompted this conversation?
Which part of our current process is causing friction among our clients?
Keeping these questions in mind, I performed a competitor analysis and focused on our competitors' users to better understand how they are utilizing the products. This provided background to who's using the product, what they're using it for, and what features help create a seamless experience for the user.
ESTABLISHING OUR USERS
To supplement our research, I teamed up with Amanda, a Product Manager at Tethr, and created user personas which helped me better understand Tethr users and identify their needs and expectations.
The goal of this activity is to accurately represent the different types of people using the product by gathering the following information:
Goals
Values
Attitudes
Motivations
Frustrations
How they interact with the product
Kaley Lucio
Analyst IV at Peloton
“I spend most of my day creating reports and dashboards. My job is to analyze trends and discover opportunities.”
NEEDS
To create dashboards for executive presentations
To quickly edit reports on dashboards
GOALS
Wants to save time by making bulk updates to reports on a dashboard
Would like to include supporting documents to help others understand trends in dashboard
Steve Hall
Account Director at Glia
“There are opportunities everywhere. You just have to be able to find it.”
NEEDS
To analyze dashboards and identify opportunities for revenue
To make quick visual updates on dashboard to support business ideas
GOALS
Wants to save time by reusing existing dashboards
Add next-level insights to dashboards to support current reports and streamline flow during presentations
In complement to user personas, I've developed empathy maps to deepen our understanding of our users' emotions and thoughts while interacting with Tethr.
BREAKING DOWN THE PROCESS
Following that, I analyzed the existing user flow to pinpoint areas of friction. This entailed deconstructing the process to uncover any overlooked UX gaps and opportunities that may not have been evident during our initial research.
This activity really helped me understand the user journey in detail. It also gave me a chance to clear up any confusion about how certain processes worked and why we made certain design choices for the dashboards.
KEY FEATURES
With our research completed, I met with Carl, the VP of Product and Design, to discuss potential solutions that addressed the UX gaps we had discovered. During our meeting, we decided on two main features for dashboard enhancements:
Dashboard filtering capabilities that temporarily override the existing filters on reports.
This allows for quick data visualization changes, and users won't have to change each individual report on a dashboard.
Added links/attachments to reports to provide an additional layer of information.
This provides additional details and coaching for non-power users.
I designed several different approaches that varied in layout and functionality. I used Tethr's component library to speed up our iteration process.
Full-filter bar embedded
Vertical dropdown menu
Individual tab dropdown
Displaying an icon for linking
Adding a graph tag for linking
CONSOLIDATING DESIGNS & FEEDBACK
After numerous rounds of iteration, testing, and incorporating feedback, we compiled our discoveries to finalize the designs presented below. Even in the last stages of design, we encountered some unresolved questions, and in such instances, we relied heavily on our Customer Success Managers (CSMs) who have regular and direct interactions with our customers. Furthermore, I placed a strong emphasis on maintaining open communication between the design, engineering, and product teams throughout the final phase to prevent any unexpected issues during the handoff process.
For this example, we're displaying the Advocacy Usage on Difficult Interactions.
To activate the filter menu, users will click on the upper left button where it displays "Filters." From there, a limited dropdown list will occur.
We've decided on these four filter selection as they were the most frequent filters being selected.
Pressing on the Date filter will trigger a dropdown. In this case, the user has selected a moving range of the Last 12 weeks.
Note: once a filter has been selected, the user interface will provide user feedback by displaying a number indicator inside the "Filters" button in the upper right.
Aligning with the current UI, users can also see all of the filters applied on the dashboard by hovering over the information icon here. In our example, we can see that our "Last 12 weeks" moving range has overridden our previous "Last 12 months" from the folder filter.
In addition to the filter summary, we also added a full filter panel that can be accessed by clicking on the filter icon or the "all filters" to the right. This filter panel will slide out, similar to the current pattern in our Reports UI.
Once the user is satisfied with the applied filters, they can click "Save filters" which will trigger a confirmation modal here.
Lastly, a toast notification will appear to provide lightweight feedback to the user.
For this example, we're displaying a dashboard that provides a summary of the Customer Experience.
A & B - Hovering over a text block tile (a) and a report tile (b) will prompt an icon to allow users to take additional action.
C - In addition, users can also add a stand-alone link tile through the "add" button on the upper right of the UI.
After "Link an item" is selected, a modal will appear allowing users to choose their item type.
This UI pattern follows the same pattern as adding a report tile or a text block text.
Next, users are able to select their preferred dashboard to link as well as provide a text to display once the item is linked.
Users also have the option of adding a set of filters on the linked item. In this example, we are adding the category Frustration to the linked dashboard.
This is the modal summary of the linked item.
Once saved, the linked item will appear below the report as an additional tag shown here.
This is how the linked item will appear from the previous screen. Users can see the saved filter applied in the summary as well as the left side.
MEASURING SUCCESS
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Prior to the system-wide launch of Tethr's enhanced dashboard features, Carl (VP of Product and Design) conducted a demo of our new dashboard approach with multiple clients. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and Tethr received high customer satisfaction ratings. All three clients expressed appreciation for the new approach and were pleased to see their feedback incorporated into the design.
Retention Rate
Following the launch of our new dashboard, Tethr experienced a remarkable retention rate of 110% over the subsequent year. To clarify, this meant that all clients not only renewed their contracts but also expanded their engagement by purchasing additional services from Tethr.
Feature Adoption Rate
During the initial month of product rollout, we observed a feature adoption rate of 91%, which was highly encouraging as it confirmed the success of our project goals. This achievement can also be attributed to the smooth onboarding process facilitated by our Customer Success Managers, ensuring seamless integration for our clients.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I view this project as a great success. Working closely with a diverse team at Tethr, we effectively listened to user feedback and implemented a feature that will make a significant difference for both the company and its users. Despite going through six rounds of design tweaks, the process never felt overwhelming. This was largely due to clear communication and the valuable insights we gained with each iteration. Our discussions were productive as we collectively aimed to establish a robust process to prevent constraints for future enhancements. This project underscored the significance of tight collaboration between Product and Engineering teams to guarantee project success.
