A Desktop-based Suite of data analysis tools gets brought online, while honouring its dedicated (and technology-averse) fanbase.
Products: Proficiency Metrics and Market Share and by Terradatum | Project duration: 8 months
Roles: UX Direction, User Research Direction
The Problem:
The company has purchased a powerful set of data analysis apps with a dedicated fanbase; however new sales are lagging due to being stuck in antiquated desktop software. Users want something nice looking and available online like the rest of their business tools. Additionally, Lone Wolf wanted these apps to visually match its new enterprise suite of products.
The Solution:
Thoroughly understand why existing users love the product so that the redesign preserves what’s working well. Balance the old UX by introducing thoughtful modernizations that will feel familiar to users. Introduce a cleaner UI using the Helix Design System. A gradual launch plan allows us to get ahead of any roadblocks that dedicated users encounter.
The Plan:
- Tackle one product at a time, starting with the most used one: Proficiency Metrics.
- Conduct user discovery research. Focus on what existing users like and find out what isn’t working for them.
- Present UI mockups to users and iterate based on their feedback, stumbling points and points of praise. The aim should be ease of use and familiarity over innovation.
- Update our React component library with any new assets so other products can take advantage of them.
- Share our findings with the organization, including those in Marketing and Sales, so that the points of praise about the new design can be leveraged.
- Perform a “soft launch” with a select group of users to monitor their response and see if there are any stumbling points with the redesigned product.
- Before the official launch, embed Pendo into the new app so that:
a) we can monitor usage, user paths, and “UI hotspots.”
b) we can add on-boarding tips to the UI easily
c) feedback forms can quickly be added and monitored by Product - Repeat the same steps for the other two products: Market Share and Market Analytics.
UX/UI Design:
Based on the short timeline and Product’s desire to not introduce anything too different for the existing users, we focused on a similar UI layout with some modern touches. We used our Helix Design System to quickly build flat mockups and then translate that into React with the code version of the component library.
These are screenshots of the actual Proficiency Metrics and Market Share apps in a browser:
The End Results:
We launched the first part of the redesign in 2022 with much applause from the existing user base and our internal sales team. The new Proficiency Metrics was far easier to sell and the learning curve was lower.
The Market Share app was launched in 2023. It received a warm welcome from existing and new users alike. We were able to successfully onboard old user into the new applications with very little training or complaints.
Lone Wolf was able to raise its revenue from these products to roughly $9,800,000 USD the first 12 months, with approximately $2,500,000 recurring revenue per quarter. This modernization effort was the catalyst for the company’s sales team actually meeting their bookings targets while the markets began to slump.
Goals We Met
- Preserve the existing customer base, worth around 8 Million USD per year.
- Gain additional sales of the new product to new clientele (this was approximately $500,000 within the first 12 months.)
- Redesign and relaunch the first two analytics modules within 12 months of acquiring the software.
- Integrate the Broker Metrics apps into the existing Lone Wolf enterprise apps by using the Helix design system and allowing Auth0 login.