Timeline
September — October 2020
My role
User research
Prototyping and testing
Interaction and visual design
Platform
Web
Challenge
Today’s supply chains are complex networks of interdependent elements. Communication is crucial to supply chain success and yet it is surprisingly one of the biggest areas in need of improvement.
The modern nature of supply-chain and the need for fast, slick processes to meet shorter turnarounds requires complete visibility at all times. Merchandisers need to be able to communicate with manufacturers and agents and to get notified of the progress of their purchase orders.
Approach
Zencargo was using an off the shelf feed/messaging app that wasn’t tailored to meet users’ needs and had technical limitations that were detrimental to the experience. We decided to rebuild a custom version of the Activity Feed from the ground up.
Solution
A centralised communication service that is used to escalate, notify or just require action from others. Relevant party subscribed to a purchase order or shipment can send messages to other subscribers and gets notified of updates in real-time.
Transparent Communication Between Parties
We were aware that our customers are very used to using email to communicate with Zencargo and other parties but that however, their large email traffic was making things overwhelming.
Our internal operations team had to pass on lots of important information from one party to another, further increasing the risk of miscommunication and errors and making it an increasingly unsustainable solution.
Previously, 5 parties (7 if one separates warehouse, logistics and merchandisers for customers) communicate in separate siloes and need to come together in one feed updating the right people at the right time.
Defining Goals for the Activity Feed
Reduce email traffic between operations teams and customers
Increase platform engagement by capturing activity that lives outside the platform
Operations teams and customer having a log trail of historical communication with manufacturer (for accountability)
Establishing a strong foundation to learn and create structured platform workflows with manufacturers
Migrating a majority of platform actions and communications to the Activity Feed
Highlighting Communication Complexities
I mapped out the complete supply chain flow to uncover hidden communication complexities and to understand:
When communication is likely to be needed between parties
What information is needed at these times
What updates different parties should receive at specific times in the flow
Mapping out a complex scenario with a split order where all items aren’t shipped at once
User Interviews and Wireframes Testing
We interviewed and tested clickable prototypes with different groups of users to understand:
How customers currently communicate with manufacturers and agents
What are the most important updates for customers to get notified of?
How could the Activity Feed enhance communication between customers, manufacturers and agents?
Rethinking the Semantics of Feed Updates
Going through multiple rounds of prototype testing and iterations we realised that there was a need for users to understand Activity Feed updates by just glancing at them while scrolling, having visibility over as much information as possible without having to click through.
Based on the information that matters most to users, I designed the updates to follow the same semantics pattern:
[Update name] by [update owner] from [owner company]
Improving the Visibility of Key Dates and Statuses
Delays are the most important information for our users on the platform. Goods not making it to destination on time have a big impact on sales and customer trust in the brand.
Because Zencargo aims to bring full transparency to the supply chain, I designed the Activity Feed updates to reflect actions and how they impact the delivery. Any change in the booking generates an update, meaning our customers can track the status of their order at any time and communicate with relevant parties.
Results
Since launching the new Activity Feed we have seen a 17% increase in operations team, customer and manufacturer usage of the Zencargo platform. Operation teams also reported that there has been a 35% decrease in email traffic when it comes to communicating with different parties.