How Eleken designed an MVP of a unique referral-based platform for enterprise sales teams

The idea behind Favorably

At the very beginning of the project, the client shared with us the main purpose of Favorably:

We realized that to achieve these goals, the product needed to provide the following features:

Automatically generate possible recommendations based on the client’s portfolio and key relationships

Regularly remind users about the necessity to develop those relationships

Alert users of the need to prepare for upcoming calls with key contacts

Track the results of calls and further actions

Deliver and keep statistics regarding various aspects of those actions

This unique combination of features required a clear design vision and a dedicated approach to UI/UX design. So, with our expertise in product design for SaaS, Eleken was the right partner for the job.

Trial results and the beginning of our UX process

During the trial period, we worked on the core MVP functionality relying on the input provided by the Favorably team. 

We had to design an MVP that would help businesses generate leads and optimize the sales funnel, as well as create a system of close contacts and referrals. Simply put, a database containing information about people who know each other. The system was supposed to keep customer-related data and organize communication between people in order to connect warm contacts into a single network.

The key challenge was to present different levels of relationships between users of the platform and set a clear structure for the interface. The platform collects close contacts, key relationships, and referrals and establishes a relationship-based prospecting system.

The client offered to visualize connections between key relationships with the help of mind maps. But Eleken designers, based on their experience in designing SaaS, had an alternative vision: a table consisting of tabs and subtabs. So we designed two versions of this functionality. One was based on the ideas of the Favorably team, and the second one was our own version.  

UX research and testing

Favorably is quite a unique solution without direct competitors and clear references. So for the UX research, we started with analyzing indirect competitors - LinkedIn, LinkedIn Business, and Apollo. However, these services involved only some part of the functionality the client wanted to implement in their product. We united our efforts with the client’s product team, and, based on potential users' portraits, determined the key features for the platform.

Based on our findings, we designed the first prototypes, and, with the help of the client's team tested them with the potential customers. With the help of this general evaluation, the main assumptions got proven. The feedback was positive as the end-users recognized the product’s value in terms of their critical needs. So we continued designing the MVP relying on our findings and experience in implementing design best practices.

Relationship-based hierarchy

Initially, the client didn’t have a vision of the future product’s design. So we had to provide a viable structure for a product idea and find the right way to implement it. First of all, we helped the Favorably team design the product’s structure and information architecture. In particular, we focused on finding the most appropriate way to segment people based on their connections and consistently structure these groups. As a result, we decided to create a core section of close acquaintances, named Relationships. Within this group, we provided the following indicators to identify different levels of connections:

Relationship strengths to determine how close the connections are

Key relationships to mark the most intimate connections

Each relationship section shows their referrals, including actual referrals, potential referrals, prospects, no-contact referrals, and so on. Profile pages gather contacts and key information about Favorably users.

Also, a separate menu section displays the total number of all referrals. 

Performance statistics

Another vital solution was to add a success rate indicator to the section with statistical data reports. This indicator evaluates performance according to different ratios. For example, it shows the number of conducted negotiations vs. the planned ones, the received referrals vs. the requested ones, and so on.

Dashboards

Favorably has two separate functionalities for teams and individual users. So we designed two different dashboards for them. 

To allow individual users to see the stats about their activity within the platform and have a centralized data center, we designed an individual dashboard. In their personal account, users can see information related to the main product sections: their tasks, last contacts, referrals and relationships, statistics, and access to quick access buttons.

It gives quick access to relationships and referrals and also shows the statistics about the number of outreach visits, appointments, and referrals.

The team dashboard contains the visualization of stats for team performance and individual performance. Users also have access to information about their teammates.

To-do tasks section

This solution helps users see the list of current tasks with detailed descriptions in the To-do today section. Tasks contain information regarding a person a user is supposed to get in touch with. The section displays the person’s contacts, personal information, communication history, and some additional notes about their unique qualities, hobbies, and other specifics.

Designing UI for Favorably: make it look professional

As you already know, the main purpose of Favorably is to create a convenient network, connecting different contacts and establishing communication between them. So our designers wanted to make the interface look professional and feel familiar to the target audience.

These UI decisions helped us achieve the goal:

Classic interface font. We picked the well-established Helvetica Neue. The modern sans-serif typeface with a clean, smooth design, which is known for its clarity and readability, provided the feeling of a professional and comfortable work environment.

A new product is ready to conquer the market

We designed the UX and UI of Favorably from scratch. Moreover, the Eleken team took an active part in creating core functionality. We offered several relevant design ideas that helped to shape Favorably as a product. During our three months of collaboration, we designed the user interface and user experience for the platform. And the most significant parts of the product were immediately moved to the development stage.