Mobile

User Research

Prototyping

Tulip Clienteling - Group SMS

Allowing sales associates to send bulk text messages to reduce time spent sending the same message.

About

This is a enhancement of Tulip’s messaging experience. Our goal was to reduce time spent sending messages by allowing them send messages quickly in bulk. During my time at Tulip, I was part of the Clienteling team which focuses on communication between sales associates and their clients.

Timeline

June 2023 - Oct 2023

Team

1 Designer, 1 Software Engineer, 1 Product Manager

INTRODUCTION

How do associates message their clients?

Associates are not only selling on the floor, but oftentimes make sales via online messaging. They need to regularly communicate with their customers new products or new events that are happening in store. Besides using WhatsApp, iMessage, or social media apps, associates use Tulip’s in-app texting feature which leverages Twilio in order to send messages.

Time Problem

Associates can only send texts individually on Tulip, which makes it redundant to send the same message to hundreds of different clients.

INTRODUCTION

How do associates message their clients?

INTRODUCTION

How do associates message their clients?

Collaborating with our users

We wanted to know what associates are currently doing to see if we can integrate their workarounds into our solution. We always take a collaborative approach with our customers so we set up a couple calls with different clients to dive deeper.

Questions asked

Can you give us a scenario where the associate needs to send multiple text messages?
How do you use the email sender?

What we found was that

Associates are copying and pasting a template to send to their clients.
They really like the email feature we have and something similar to that will tackle their painpoints.
They were concerned that sending a group SMS will create a group chat - this cannot happen as luxury retailers prioritize 1 to 1 personalized communication.

Goals

Leverage an existing experience

Reuse elements from an existing feature on Tulip to leverage existing experiences and minimize development time.

Leverage an existing experience

Reuse elements from an existing feature on Tulip to leverage existing experiences and minimize development time.

Leverage an existing experience

Reuse elements from an existing feature on Tulip to leverage existing experiences and minimize development time.

Help Associates

Make it easier for associates to send the same message to a group of people at once while also making it seem personalized.

Help Associates

Make it easier for associates to send the same message to a group of people at once while also making it seem personalized.

Help Associates

Make it easier for associates to send the same message to a group of people at once while also making it seem personalized.

Help Tulip

We need to first introduce group messaging which will be embedded into future initiatives that all contribute to our goal of optimizing mass communication.

Help Tulip

We need to first introduce group messaging which will be embedded into future initiatives that all contribute to our goal of optimizing mass communication.

Help Tulip

We need to first introduce group messaging which will be embedded into future initiatives that all contribute to our goal of optimizing mass communication.

Current Experience

Associates are mostly using emails to send mass messages and they love the features we have, which includes selecting multiple clients and choosing a template to use for the message. They refrain from using texts because it is tedious to repeatedly send the same message.

Opportunity

Associates mentioned that their clients prefer to receive updates via messaging but because it takes up too much time out of their work day, they just email it instead. We have an opportunity there to introduce mass SMS so that associates can communicate with their clients in their preferred method and convert more sales.

Flows to be done

Select clients

Associates can choose who they want to message and will also see who has SMS disabled.

Select clients

Associates can choose who they want to message and will also see who has SMS disabled.

Select clients

Associates can choose who they want to message and will also see who has SMS disabled.

Select clients

Associates can choose who they want to message and will also see who has SMS disabled.

Select a template

There will be a template selector for SMS and corporate offices can load their own templates for the associates to use.

Select a template

There will be a template selector for SMS and corporate offices can load their own templates for the associates to use.

Select a template

There will be a template selector for SMS and corporate offices can load their own templates for the associates to use.

Select a template

There will be a template selector for SMS and corporate offices can load their own templates for the associates to use.

PROCESS & REASONS

A slight UX problem - associates cannot search after filtering

While making the Select clients flow, I noticed that the search bar is disabled when clientbook filters are applied. This prohibits associates from searching through a filtered list of clients which can be frustrating. I proposed that we added this fix to this feature to give associates the flexibility to search so they can quickly identify their clients.

Saving steps: Only show SMS-enabled clients in messages

If an associate starts a text message in Tulip, I decided to only show SMS-enabled clients since they already know they are sending an SMS.

Templates for SMS

Since there was so much love for templates for Emails, it was a must-have for group SMS. I decided to follow the same layout for emails to leverage an existing experience. I added the templates icon to the existing toolbar in messages so that it is easy to find.

Design Validation Findings

My PM and I conducted a series of usability tests with different retail brands to observe how they interacted with our prototype.

What if clients disabled SMS?

There was no way to tell if a client had SMS disabled.

Concerned about max recipients

Associates wanted to know what the max # of recipients were - we needed to consult engineering to check the capabilties within Twilio’s API.

Great feedback overall

Associates loved that we leveraged the email experience and felt that this will be beneficial to their day to day workflow.

ITERATING BASED ON FEEDBACK

What if clients have SMS disabled? How will the associate know?

When selecting multiple clients from the clientbook, unless specified in filters, associates will not know that their clients have SMS disabled. We need to show all clients because associates can choose between sending an email or SMS. I included a intermediary screen to show clients selected who have SMS disabled to let the associate know that they need to use a different contact method.

Working with Engineering to understand Twilio API

We needed to know the limitations of Twilio’s API to ensure we have the right restraints for our mockups and pitch doc. After consulting the lead engineer, we found that associates can send 20 messages at once else it would be costly for us and will take too long. With this in mind, we had to let our clients know that 20 clients at once was the limitation to this feature.

Working with Engineering to understand Twilio API

FINAL DESIGN

Sending a mass SMS

After selecting multiple clients, associates can create a group SMS and start configuring their message.

View recipient list

Recipient list will show clients who have opted out of SMS to inform the associate that they will need to reach out separately.

Working with Engineering to understand Twilio API

Compose message or use a template

Associates can view text templates created by corporate to quickly draft their text. They can make changes to the message to make it more personable. Each message will be sent individually to each client.

Working with Engineering to understand Twilio API

Learnings and Impact

Consult with engineers early on

While we do have a collaborative approach with cross-functional teams, there were some technical metrics that we didn’t consider which would have been important during our discussions with our users. This is something to keep in mind for future projects, to think about limitations and share it with users earlier on.

Current Experience

Opportunity

Current Experience

Opportunity

Current Experience

Opportunity

Collaborating with our users

Questions asked

Can you give us a scenario where the associate needs to send multiple text messages?
How do you use the email sender?

What we found was that

Associates are copying and pasting a template to send to their clients.
They really like the email feature we have and something similar to that will tackle their painpoints.
They were concerned that sending a group SMS will create a group chat - this cannot happen as luxury retailers prioritize 1 to 1 personalized communication.