Mailchimp SMS Marketing

Mailchimp SMS Marketing

Manage SMS marketing quickly and easily from your phone

Manage SMS marketing quickly and easily from your phone

Manage SMS marketing quickly and easily from your phone

UI/UX Design

UI/UX Design

UI/UX Design

Mobile Design

Mobile Design

Mobile Design

B2B Product

B2B Product

B2B Product

CRM

CRM

CRM

Overview

Mailchimp, a leading marketing platform for small businesses, is enhancing its services by integrating SMS marketing into its mobile app. This initiative aims to capitalize on the growing importance of SMS marketing for personalized customer engagement.

I led the end-to-end process, from initial research through to final design.

Testing showed that this feature was highly praised by key stakeholders, increasing satisfaction by at least 60%.

Timeline

Timeline

Timeline

Feb 2024- May 2024, 3 months

My Role

My Role

My Role

Product Designer — User Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping, User Testing

Product Focus

Product Focus

Product Focus

Digital Marketing, CRM, Mobile Design

Team

Team

Team

2 UX Designers

Highlights

The feature designed to streamline SMS marketing management on mobile

Create SMS marketing campaigns with a few simple clicks.

A contextual guide that helps users easily learn how to use the new feature.

New analytics view allows users to easily switch between different campaigns.

Easily tailored SMS templates reduce content creation time.

Context

There's a growing demand for mobile-centric SMS marketing tools

The Mailchimp research team's data shows that users are requesting the capability to send SMS through their phones. However, Mailchimp's current mobile app only supports email campaign creation and management, so Mailchimp's design team tasked us with designing an SMS marketing mobile app feature.

Problem Space

Evaluating current app usage to shape the new feature's focus

I conducted 5 'Follow-Me-Home' sessions virtually with 5 small business marketing representatives. Observing their behavior with the current app and understanding their SMS marketing processes to scope the focus for the SMS feature and identify the problem space.

I analyzed the data to create a user mental model and journey map.

I analyzed the data to create a user mental model and journey map.

I analyzed the data to create a user mental model and journey map.

It shows that users experience frustration and uncertainty, particularly when creating a campaign within the current app.

It shows that users experience frustration and uncertainty, particularly when creating a campaign within the current app.

It shows that users experience frustration and uncertainty, particularly when creating a campaign within the current app.

Many uncertain guesses about icons and unexpected steps throughout the process.

Templates are not useful and are hard to find for reuse or duplication.

The creation process is lengthy and not easy for on-the-go users.

Many uncertain guesses about icons and unexpected steps throughout the process.

Templates are not useful and are hard to find for reuse or duplication.

The creation process is lengthy and not easy for on-the-go users.

The creation process is lengthy and not easy for on-the-go users.

Problem Statement

Using Intuit's D4D for User Empathy

How might we simplify and optimize the SMS marketing mobile experience to better serve busy small business owners, enabling them to easily create and manage personalized campaigns on the go.

Ideation

Exploring creative solutions and MVP design

Me and the other designer explored various ideas to make content creation easier, faster, and more visually appealing for users.

We also created an MVP version to maintain design consistency with the current app and reduce the learning curve for this new feature.

After meeting with the Mailchimp team and considering future scalability and smoother integration, we decided to move forward with the MVP design. We then developed four different versions of the MVP.

After meeting with the Mailchimp team and considering future scalability and smoother integration, we decided to move forward with the MVP design. We then developed four different versions of the MVP.

After meeting with the Mailchimp team and considering future scalability and smoother integration, we decided to move forward with the MVP design. We then developed four different versions of the MVP.

Usability Testing

Validate the design and hypothesis

We refined and iterated the design, narrowing it down to two versions for A/B testing. Design A follows the original mobile flow and uses icon buttons, while Design B follows the desktop flow and uses only text buttons.

Version A

Version A

Version A

Version B

Version B

Version B

I want to run the A/B test not only to validate different UIs but also because I hypothesize that users have been using the desktop version for a longer time and might be more used to a design that follows the desktop flow.

I want to run the A/B test not only to validate different UIs but also because I hypothesize that users have been using the desktop version for a longer time and might be more used to a design that follows the desktop flow.

I want to run the A/B test not only to validate different UIs but also because I hypothesize that users have been using the desktop version for a longer time and might be more used to a design that follows the desktop flow.

Design Iteration

Focused on Design A and iterated based on user feedback

My hypothesis was wrong! Testing shows that users find the design that follows the original mobile flow to be more intuitive.

Before

“I don't know what the smiley face and the tag means.”

Users still feel unsure about the meaning of most of the icons.

Added a short contextual guide in the design iteration to help users quickly understand the experience.

After

Before

“It looks a little intimidating because it's a lot of words and at a glance it's a little bit hard to see.”

SMS templates involving extensive text can be overwhelming and difficult for users to read.

Categorize templates by different marketing actions and highlight text that can be tailored to fit with brand identity.

After

Before

"I think it would be frustrating if I don't know how much credit it will cost me before I send it out."

Users want to see how much it might cost and how much credit they have remaining before sending out the campaign.

Provide a clearer credit calculation for users to understand how much the campaign will cost, their remaining credits, and how the system calculates it.

After

Before

“I don't know what the smiley face and the tag means.”

Users still feel unsure about the meaning of most of the icons.

Before

After

Added a short contextual guide in the design iteration to help users quickly understand the experience.

Added a short contextual guide in the design iteration to help users quickly understand the experience.

After

Before

“It looks a little intimidating because it's a lot of words and at a glance it's a little bit hard to see.”

SMS templates involving extensive text can be overwhelming and difficult for users to read.

“It looks a little intimidating because it's a lot of words and at a glance it's a little bit hard to see.”

SMS templates involving extensive text can be overwhelming and difficult for users to read.

Before

After

Categorize templates by different marketing actions and highlight text that can be tailored to fit with brand identity.

Categorize templates by different marketing actions and highlight text that can be tailored to fit with brand identity.

After

Before

"I think it would be frustrating if I don't know how much credit it will cost me before I send it out."

Users want to see how much it might cost and how much credit they have remaining before sending out the campaign.

Before

After

Provide a clearer credit calculation for users to understand how much the campaign will cost, their remaining credits, and how the system calculates it.

Provide a clearer credit calculation for users to understand how much the campaign will cost, their remaining credits, and how the system calculates it.

After

Final Deliverable

SMS Campaign Creation

SMS Campaign Creation

Follows the same style and logic as the current app to maintain design consistency, reduce the learning curve, and provide a streamlined process, eliminating the need for users to go back and forth while editing.

Follows the same style and logic as the current app to maintain design consistency, reduce the learning curve, and provide a streamlined process, eliminating the need for users to go back and forth while editing.

Follows the same style and logic as the current app to maintain design consistency, reduce the learning curve, and provide a streamlined process, eliminating the need for users to go back and forth while editing.

Contextual Guide

Contextual Guide

Provides a quick overview to eliminate guessing or any uncertainty about the next steps, , explaining features clearly to enhance user understanding and ease of use.

Provides a quick overview to eliminate guessing or any uncertainty about the next steps, , explaining features clearly to enhance user understanding and ease of use.

Provides a quick overview to eliminate guessing or any uncertainty about the next steps, , explaining features clearly to enhance user understanding and ease of use.

SMS Templates

SMS Templates

Various marketing action templates allow for easy and fast adaptability to optimize marketing efforts with simple clicks.

Various marketing action templates allow for easy and fast adaptability to optimize marketing efforts with simple clicks.

Various marketing action templates allow for easy and fast adaptability to optimize marketing efforts with simple clicks.

Campaign and Analytics Page Redesign

Campaign and Analytics Page Redesign

Redesign the campaign and analytics pages to make it easier to differentiate between different types of campaigns, allowing users to find essential data faster.

Redesign the campaign and analytics pages to make it easier to differentiate between different types of campaigns, allowing users to find essential data faster.

Redesign the campaign and analytics pages to make it easier to differentiate between different types of campaigns, allowing users to find essential data faster.

Retrospective

Result

Noticeable increase in user satisfaction rate

After conducting 5 usability tests, the final design received high praise from key stakeholders. Users found it "very easy and intuitive to use," leading to a satisfaction increase of over 60% compared to initial testing.

Takeaway

Fall in love with your users' problem


Learning about the 'Design for Delight' methodology from the Mailchimp team taught me to empathize more deeply with users' challenges and focus on delivering solutions that address their real needs, rather than simply adding new features.


Ambiguity can be a blessing


Not having a concrete direction initially forced me to creatively identify pain points for my users. This approach surprisingly helped me uncover unnoticed pain points and emotions.

Fall in love with your users' problem


Learning about the 'Design for Delight' methodology from the Mailchimp team taught me to empathize more deeply with users' challenges and focus on delivering solutions that address their real needs, rather than simply adding new features.


Ambiguity can be a blessing


Not having a concrete direction initially forced me to creatively identify pain points for my users. This approach surprisingly helped me uncover unnoticed pain points and emotions.

Fall in Love with Your Users' Problem


Learning about the 'Design for Delight' methodology from the Mailchimp team taught me to empathize more deeply with users' challenges and focus on delivering solutions that address their real needs, rather than simply adding new features.

Ambiguity can be a blessing


Not having a concrete direction initially forced me to creatively identify pain points for my users. This approach surprisingly helped me uncover unnoticed pain points and emotions.

Next Steps

Incorporate AI into the feature


Exploring the incorporation of an AI tool expand the feature to meet the diverse needs of different industries for tailored marketing recommendations more efficiently.

Incorporate AI into the feature


Exploring the incorporation of an AI tool expand the feature to meet the diverse needs of different industries for tailored marketing recommendations more efficiently.

Incorporate AI into the feature


Exploring the incorporation of an AI tool expand the feature to meet the diverse needs of different industries for tailored marketing recommendations more efficiently.

Overview

Overview

Highlights

Highlights

Context

Context

Problem Space

Problem Space

Problem Statement

Problem Statement

Ideation

Ideation

Usability Testing

Usability Testing

Design Iteration

Design Iteration

Final Deliverable

Final Deliverable

Retrospective

Retrospective

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Sun

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Iris

Sun

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