MAKING BIG SMALL
UPS Small Business Solutions
WHAT'D I DO?
Research, interaction design, visual design, prototyping
WHAT'D I WORK IN?
Figma, Miro, Confluence, Notion, Sketch, Adobe Suite (PS, AI, AE), Lucidchart
WHO'D I WORK WITH?
Cheyenne Pinson ( User Researcher )
Amish Desai ( Head of Experiences )
Brice Faubel ( Design Manager )
Heath Huffman ( Product Designer )
Justin Interino ( Product Designer )
Chris Mui ( Product Manager )
In an effort to make UPS Small Business Solutions more actionable and personalized to small business owners, we envisioned an application for small business owners that supports their daily operations and helps them grow their business.
I was responsible for field research and ideation, interaction design, and prototyping microinteractions.
Field Research
We covered a lot of ground
We wanted to understand how to provide an optimal customer experience to a customer segment that is underserved by UPS today. Within that experience would be an offering of solutions as well as data-driven positioning of solutions based a profile of customer information and trends.
Empathy Readout
SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS…
- Are willing to do the work
- Place the highest value on personal connection and individual path-forging
- Carry the additional burden of large vendors for whom they are not a priority
- Rely on their trusted networks because their networks care and understand
We should ...
- Empower them.
- Mentor them.
- Partner with them.
- Unite with them.
Millions of small business owners, all in pursuit of a dream, fueled by passion for their work.
There is no business like their business…but, they don’t know
what they don’t know.
Product Strategy
"American Small Business Owners see technology as a helping hand, providing tools and apps that make their day-to-day activities more efficient and seamless.”
Their tool should be ...
- Attainable with right-fit solutions
- Empowering relationships
- Smartly revealed and properly scaled
- Based in value through proven examples
- Repeatable and customizable
- Hyper-relevant to the success of the business
- Complementary to existing UPS services
Roadmap
Getting the Build Ready
Bodega aims to address the problem that small e-commerce business owners need support; start by connecting third party tools, a knowledge feed to connect to right-fit solutions, and a profile that grows as their business grows. These features pay off the users’ values of action, growth, and connection via an assistant relationship.
Designing with focus areas
How might we provide a unique "spiderweb" experience that gains the trust and ongoing loyalty of customers?
- How we might make UPS feel small?
- How we might provide value with content and community?
- How we might change how UPS engages with small business owners?
- How we might change the perception of UPS (not just shipping)?
Validation research round 1 on lo-fi prototype
"Feels like this was made for me." "I can't be the expert in everything."
"I want a one stop solution - not yet another platform."
"I want to help when I want to help."
"Important to see issues I need to deal with."
SMB customers want a single solution that allows them to have more transparency (visibility) into their shipping details.
SMB customers are willing to be engaged digitally when it helps them act, as long as we don’t lose sight of what makes “small” great.
The concept of community tested positively, with varying degrees of suggested participation.
Validation research round 2 on lo-fi prototype
We learned about what was working and what was not and iterated on research feedback.
Keep doing
- “I appreciate how it zeroes in on action items. I wish ShippingEasy was like this.”
- “Learning is a huge part of running a business. You can’t just be comfortable, have to keep moving.”
Action items
- “My life revolves around independent solutions that do what they do well but don’t talk to each other.”
- “There are things I should do, but I don’t because it’s just another thing.”
- “If this was more customized to me, that would be more helpful – even if it’s just my email and orders in one place.”
- “Solution would solve a problem of mine that the app has discovered.”
UPS small business solutions app should not be...
A solution sales tool
A shipping tool
It should be...
Attainable and right-fit solutions
Empowering relationships
Smartly revealed and properly scaled
Based in value through proven examples
Repeatable and customizable
Hyper-relevant to the success of the business
Introducing ...
Bodega, a customized product offering for a multi-dimensional audience
- Attainable with right-fit solutions
- Smartly revealed and properly scaled
- Hyper-relevant to the success of the business
- Complementary to existing UPS services
Thanks for reading!