Qubit Start
Redesigning a flagship web personalisation product for a London scale up
Qubit’s personalization software helps ecommerce teams match trading demands with customer affinities to turn a visit into a sale. At Idean we worked with Qubit to redefine their product offering and strategy as they moved from startup to scaleup. As part of this, we delivered a new product experience and interface that connects with users, makes it easy to create personalisations and effectively track performance. In our research, we discovered the need for a product that empowers users, giving them additional context and insight without getting in the way.
In 100 days we went from discovery to a built Alpha product, Qubit Start, which we tested and scaled in collaboration with teams at Qubit.
100
Days from Discovery to Pilot
4–6
Face to face user research sessions per week
My Role
Discovery
Ideation
User flows
End-to-end prototype & testing
High fidelity design
Agile build support
Illustration
Animation
Additional Team
1 x Product Owner
1 x Design Director
4 x Developers
2 x Junior Product Designers
2 x Data Scientists
Our first step was to understand and improve the existing user journey
From day one we worked closely with the team at Qubit to understand how the existing product was designed and built. We also ran workshops that enabled us to quickly ‘download’ as much knowledge as possible from people in the business who were close to all aspects of the life cycle - from sales to support. We used this knowledge to co-create a map of the existing user journey, which we then challenged and pushed to improve. Qualitative user research began from day 1, enabling us to empathise with customers by understanding their goals and needs. We also mapped our assumptions as we went, ensuring we were challenging our biases and leaving no stone unturned. The result was a revolution for Qubit and formed the guiding light for the project going forward.
We wireframed and tested emerging product journies based on our learnings. At the same time, we explored a new visual language and brand positioning for the product.
Building on existing brand components (colour, typeface etc.), we pushed the boundaries of UI and interaction design in early exploration. We also tested a spectrum of propositions and tone of voice experiments to see which, if any, resonated with users and why. For this we produced four distinct propositions that focussed on specific benefits of the product we knew resonated with users. The findings enabled us to dig into customers' thinking and understand how to best position the proposition.
The next step was for us to articulate our new thinking and approach. For this we defined our new Experience Principles.
"As a user, Qubit Start...
After a short series of design and build sprints we had a functioning Pilot of the new Qubit Start.
We launched with a six early adopters from Qubit's existing client base. Over the following weeks we added features and refined existing ones based on their feedback.
DESIGN ANALYSIS
The top of the welcome screen enables users to quickly set up their most frequently used personalisations. The rest of the page shows the architecture of their site and which placements have active personalisations running in them.
We improved personalisation setup by introducing WYSIWYG functionality, enabling merchandisers to see how their choices impact the algorithm immediately.
Users create experiences which contain content paired with an audience it's aimed at. A placement usually contains multiple experiences which can be prioritised.
Creating a new type of audience (defining the criteria that determines when someone is shown a particular personalisation) is usually very difficult. We made it much simpler.
We implemented a clearer way to determine when or why a visitor should be served a particular type of content or message. Making that selection is simple, accessible and intuitive to use, following common patterns of interaction and design.
When a campaign is live, users get a detailed view of how it is performing - including detailed metrics for overall and individual placement performance.
Again, we worked with data scientists at Qubit to develop ways of summarising performance and suggesting actions based on this information. We also wanted to lift the lid on how things are calculated, explaining the data science in accessible ways so users know exactly what’s happening.
Launching a new campaign with multiple placements, audiences and content can be a daunting task. We wanted to celebrate the little wins with merchandisers, so we created Power Moments (see below).
When a campaign is finally launched, the user is greeted with a confirmation message that celebrates the moment with them by introducing the ‘Qubies’ in full swing, playing their instruments.
Power Moments
We wanted to celebrate the wins with merchandisers, so we created Power Moments.
Launching a new campaign with multiple placements, audiences and content can be a daunting task. Our research identified the need for a product that simplified complexity, while supporting users and feeling personable.
As a result of this we wrote a comprehensive strategy for Power Moments, which included a cast of characters which we named ‘Qubies’. We went as far as writing a narrative for the Qubies which described their character traits and cast them as members of a quirky brass band.
POWER MOMENT EXAMPLE 01
Naming a campaign
(Qubie pops up as you type the title of a campaign)
POWER MOMENT EXAMPLE 02
Naming a campaign
(Qubie pops up as you type the title of a campaign)
Introducing... The Qubies
