CRM Design for a Call Center
The CRM system designed for the IQ Option Call Center is a multipurpose platform that allows efficient communication with the company's clients. The system offers a range of functions, including making calls, exchanging messages and emails, monitoring call center employees' KPIs, and generating convenient and visually appealing reports for management.
ROLE
Product Designer
DELIVERABLES
Customer Interviews,
User-flow Mapping,
Information Architecture,
Empathy Mapping,
Mockups,
Prototypes,
Final Design layouts
TEAM
Product Manager,
Heads of Divisions,
Tech Team Lead,
Frontend Devs,
Backend Devs,
QAs,
Call Center Managers
The Problem
The first CRM was created as an MVP for the company's call center during its inception. However, the development of the CRM was handled solely by developers and call center supervisors without the involvement of designers in the UX and UI processes. Therefore, the CRM was developed as a set of modules based on Bootstrap, making it difficult to navigate, learn and use (especially for new call center operators hired in dozens).
When I joined the team, my primary responsibility was to overhaul the CRM system to enhance user-friendliness and make it easy to understand and operate for the call center managers. Another objective was to improve the average response time of the call center managers.
Call Center Managers Research
In the first stage of the process, I analyzed the existing CRM. My team helped me to identify the main subjects and workflows in the CRM. This gave me a high-level understanding of how things work under the hood. Still, I also needed to interview the call center managers (as the primary users) to dive deep into the processes and identify problems.
In-depth user research involved interviews and observations with call center managers. The focus was on understanding their day-to-day workflows, challenges, and aspirations for an ideal CRM. This phase helped uncover user preferences, allowing for a user-centred design approach.
Stakeholders Research
During the redesign of the CRM, we engaged with stakeholders such as call center supervisors and heads of divisions to gain insights into their vision for the system. We had discussions around workflows, expectations, and desired outcomes to ensure that the redesign aligned with both user needs and broader business objectives. This step was important to make sure that the stakeholders' requirements were met and that the system would be beneficial to the organization as a whole.
Data Analysis
After completing the research phase, I obtained a collection of useful data. The data primarily consisted of audio recordings of user interviews, which I transcribed and organized into spreadsheets for easy analysis. This approach helped me to identify patterns, pain points, and key insights.
Using the insights gathered from the interviews, I developed empathy maps and user personas. Additionally, I designed the informational architecture for the new CRM system.
Wireframing and User Testing
During the wireframing stage of the project, I utilized Axure to create preliminary designs. After creating the designs, I tested them with the call center managers and stakeholders to receive feedback. This became a regular part of my workflow. I tested all the key features and sections with actual users to ensure that the design met all requirements and could support critical scenarios.
Final Design
After ensuring all wireframes were optimized, and workflows encompassed critical scenarios, I began creating high-fidelity design layouts.
Dashboard
The main dashboard is a vital tool that provides important information regarding the work of call managers. It features a list of urgent tasks on the top, and if there are no critical tasks, it recommends valuable things that can be done in the meantime. Typically, a call center manager can have multiple lists of clients that need to be called for various reasons.
The dashboard also monitors the call managers' KPIs, providing advice on how they can be increased. It displays financial results for different periods of work on the bottom, which is equally important for the call center managers.
Tasks
This is the section where urgent tasks are collected. From here, a call manager can contact clients or respond to messages and emails directly without navigating to a separate section.
Clients
This section is designed to help manage clients effectively by providing various tools such as calling, sorting, filtering, and saving customer lists. Additionally, it provides essential information about each client's trading and financial activities. This makes it possible for a call center manager to have a productive conversation with clients without the need to navigate to other sections.
Tickets
The Tickets section is a helpful place where call center managers can redirect clients' queries and concerns to specific specialists in the company if they are unable to handle them alone. A ticket is created in the form of a letter, which can be reviewed and discussed by various experts in the company to provide a prompt and effective solution.
An email client was designed as a separate CRM section that allows call center managers to connect to their work email. This enables them to keep all email conversations with clients in one place, without being distracted by other applications. Additionally, the email client provides access to a single contacts base, as well as special features like templates and marketing newsletters.
Messages
The Messages section is designed for a speedy exchange of messages with clients. Apart from the standard functionalities of a messenger and SMS, a call center manager can observe what the client is writing in real-time. This feature enables you to respond to client queries instantly, without waiting for their message.
Stats
The Stats section is a place that enables call center managers to view the client communication history and track their most important KPIs.
However, the meaning of this section is different for the call center supervisors and heads of departments. They use the section primarily to see the results of the work of subordinate call center managers in the form of visual reports. Additionally, the supervisors can generate their own reports with a set of various parameters in this section.
UI kit and design implementation
While working on the CRM's user interface, I designed a sticker sheet with its main components and provided guidelines for the developers. The purpose was to simplify the development process and maintain consistency among different sections of the CRM.
As part of my responsibilities during the development phase, I conducted design reviews and collaborated closely with QAs to ensure everything functioned perfectly and looked visually appealing.
Results
We improved our incoming call processing speed by 63%, which I believe is our main achievement. This improvement has enabled our customers to receive more efficient and faster service while also allowing the call center managers to earn bigger bonuses, as this KPI significantly affects them.
Additionally, we increased the average chat speed with our customers. Lastly, our call center managers have expressed their happiness with the tool we provided. It is always a great feeling to receive recognition from our colleagues. They were grateful to our team for this improvement, which has made us all very proud.
