Platform Revolution
UX Designer
As The Home Depot leads the home improvement sector, I aim to create a cutting-edge platform that enables both our enterprise team and external users to effortlessly plan and execute effective marketing campaigns. My goal is to simplify the user experience and add key features that will enhance the platform's current abilities and its future potential.
My Role: UX Designer
Team: UX Researchers, Developers, Product Owner, Stakeholders
Client: The Home Depot
Tools: Figma, FigJam, Jira, Miro, Zoom, Google Slides
Project Duration: 4 Weeks
Project Goal
Before initiating the redesign project, I took the initiative to deeply understand the platform. My goal was to grasp the ongoing campaigns, understand the motivations behind the redesign, and assess the performance of existing features. In this exploration, I identified crucial gaps in the platform, particularly the lack of features enabling users to define campaign objectives and target specific audiences.
My Approach
Having familiarized myself with the platform, I have come to understand the importance of familiarizing myself with the best practices for creating a campaign. To ensure a successful outcome for this project, I plan to follow the following process:
-
Create a competitive analysis to understand the market.
-
Build a persona based on user needs.
-
Wireframe directions based on analysis.
-
Presented initial findings to the team and iterated on feedback.
02
Competitive Analysis
It seems that among The Home Depot's top 5 competitors, Lowe's engages in personalized marketing targeting users based on their interests. Meanwhile, both Amazon and Walmart have advertising campaigns in place, while True Value and Ace Hardware do not seem to have any marketing initiatives. In my ongoing efforts to gain insight into the process and platform for creating effective marketing campaigns, I have identified several key components that are crucial for success, including:​
-
​Objective: The ultimate goal of the campaign.
-
Audience selection: A precisely defined group of customers who are most likely to have a positive reaction to the messages, products, and services.
-
Creative: The appearance of the campaign advertisement.
02
User Flows
The current process lacks important steps that are crucial for creating a successful campaign.
The new process will include the missing steps to ensure that the campaign creation process aligns with its objectives.
03
Proto-Persona
04
Discovery Workshop & Affinity Map
I facilitated a team workshop with 3 business stakeholders, 2 product managers, and 2 designers to present the findings of my research on competitive analysis. The goal was to identify what features the portal needs to enable users to create successful campaigns.
​
Workshop takeaway:
-
Campaign objectives should dictate how the flow works
-
People are split on the order of audience/channel
-
Option to skip the creative step or add it later
-
We need to make sure we align with the sales/media planner
-
Upgrading should be easy and contextual (e.g. display what options go with higher tiers)
-
Business rules impact configurations made throughout the creation process
05
Sketches
As I brought my research phase to a close and deeply empathized with Latoya's challenges, I started to draft a blueprint for the new platform. I made sure to keep the following solution goals in mind as I conceptualized the product:
-
The flow of the platform should be dictated by the campaign objectives.
-
Users should have the option to skip the creative step and/or add it later.
-
Upgrading the platform should be a simple and context-aware process (e.g. clearly showing what options are available with higher tiers).
-
The configuration choices made by users throughout the creation process should be informed by the business rules in place.
In addition, I considered the previous design and found ways to incorporate it into the new platform, ensuring consistency and familiarity for our users. After sharing my sketches with my team, they suggested that it would be beneficial to notify users of their current campaigns and upcoming live campaigns, so they can easily keep track of their progress.
The previous platform used for creating campaigns:
The sketches for the redesigned campaign creation platform:
06
Wireframes
As I begin designing the wireframes on Figma, my foremost priority is our users. I ensure that every step and design incorporates all their needs and provides guidance. The users will have the ability to:
-
Go to the previously completed section on the breadcrumbs to edit or add more information
-
Save the information they enter
-
Receive tips while creating the campaign (select )
-
View current and pending campaigns
-
Option to save and reuse previous/existing campaigns
1
2
1
Latoya will have visibility into her progress while creating a campaign and the ability to revisit completed steps for updates if necessary.
2
Latoya can save her progress and previously entered information at any point. The platform will automatically save her information if she closes the page or returns to the dashboard.
3
3
She will have a visual representation of the campaigns she has in progress or the queue for future runs.
4
5
6
7
4
Latoya will have the ability to reuse saved audiences.
5
She can view the audience details she selected and the number of users she will target.
6
She can view the tier options for her selections, and she can upgrade by clicking on them.
7
She will have the capability to save the audience for later use.
8
8
Clicking on "dashboard" will return Latoya to the campaign dashboard. If she hasn't clicked on "save", any changes she made will not be saved.
9
9
She can utilize existing creatives if she has any.
10
11
12
10
She has the option to use a saved payment method, but she will need to enter the CVC number for security purposes.
11
During the payment process, she can view a summary of the budget information she previously entered.
12
The option to save payment information is available.
13
13
Before submitting the campaign, she can review what she selected and inputted. She also can make changes if necessary (e.g. she can go back and complete a creative she previously skipped).
07
High-Fidelity Prototype
Reflection
As the owner and lead of the portal redesign project, I enjoyed the opportunity to schedule meetings and lead workshops with stakeholders, developers, designers, and product managers. I was able to explore and learn various methods of filtering information on a platform, and I collaborated with my team to generate unique ideas and solutions for our users. Effective communication was crucial throughout the project to ensure that all parties' needs were met. This project strengthened my leadership, collaboration, and communication skills while working in a team. If I were still working on the project, my next step would have been to...
-
Arrange a feedback session with stakeholders/related team members
-
Integrate feedback into the design
-
Develop a high-fidelity prototype
-
Conduct a usability test
-
Incorporate feedback into the design
-
Replace the current platform with the updated version