Current Enhanced Onboarding - Pattern

Role

Lead UX designer

Company Background

Current, a company within the Pattern ecosystem, was acquired by Pattern in 2022. Current is a social media affiliate marketing management tool designed for brands and creators to collaborate. It offers features for managing campaigns, tracking performance, and facilitating payments between brands and influencers. Prior to acquisition, Current was developed by a small team and primarily used as a SaaS platform for managing affiliate programs and internal agency services.

Problem Statement

When I joined Current, the onboarding process was cumbersome and manual. New customers had to complete a series of Google documents and participate in multiple meetings. This process involved significant manual setup by the engineering team (4-6 hours per customer), including configuring connections to Shopify, social media accounts, and setting up a customizable Creator Hub. The onboarding timeline averaged two weeks, causing friction and delays. Additionally, the manual setup and documentation were resource-intensive, impacting both the engineering team and the sales pipeline.

Objective

The goal was to transition to a self-serve model to reduce onboarding time and scale capacity. This involved enabling customers to sign up, configure, and use the platform independently, without requiring direct interaction with Current's team. Key objectives included:

  • Reducing the onboarding time from two weeks to a more efficient timeline.

  • Facilitating the entire onboarding process within the UI, including sign-up and Creator Hub setup.

  • Eliminating manual tasks for the engineering team to focus on product improvements.

  • Enhancing customer satisfaction and scaling the onboarding capacity to support a wider audience.

Acquisition Impact

The acquisition by Pattern accelerated the need for a self-serve model. Pattern’s global reach and extensive partner network highlighted the necessity for a streamlined onboarding process to support a larger customer base. The self-serve model was essential for accommodating increased demand and reducing onboarding friction.

Challenges Identified

  • Manual Onboarding: Customers had to fill out extensive documentation and wait for engineering setup, causing delays.

  • Engineering Overload: Engineers spent significant time on repetitive onboarding tasks, impacting their ability to focus on feature development.

  • Sales Impact: The lengthy onboarding process affected the ability to push new deals through quickly, due to queuing for onboarding.

Design Process

Research & Discovery:

  • Conducted interviews with internal team members and attended onboarding kickoff meetings to understand the current process.

  • Reviewed survey results from churned customers and analyzed competitors’ onboarding processes.

  • Met with stakeholders to define success metrics and desired outcomes.

Solution Design:

  • Developed an interactive prototype for key features, including the sign-up flow and Creator Hub builder.

  • Designed a sign-up page for free trials, a streamlined onboarding flow, and an advanced Creator Hub builder with customization options similar to website builders (e.g., Squarespace, Wix).

  • Implemented a Shopify public app to simplify integration and account setup.

  • Designed and integrated enhanced reporting features within the app to provide better insights and analytics for users.

Sign up flow

Creator hub setup from settings

Creator hub application form configuration

Creator hub FAQ’s configuration

Facilitation of custom domain purchases within the Creator Hub

Implementation:

  • The initiative was tackled aggressively to meet urgent needs. The design and development were completed swiftly to align with the acquisition goals and scalability requirements.

  • Due to time constraints, the Creator Hub builder was implemented using a standard template. Customers were allowed to customize this template to fit their branding needs. If more time had been available, a comprehensive redesign of the overall architecture and design of the Creator Hub would have been pursued to provide a more tailored solution.

Usability Testing:

  • Used usability scorecard testing and interactive prototypes to assess task completion success rates.

  • Achieved a 92.5% success rate for the onboarding and sign-up flow.

  • Received positive user feedback, including the quote: “LOVE the whole process of this. Nice freaking work!”

Results:

  • Launched the Creator Hub builder, removing manual documentation and setup tasks from the onboarding process.

  • Enabled customers to autonomously create and configure their Creator Hub, eliminating the need for edit request tickets.

  • The onboarding pipeline is now unconstrained by team bandwidth, allowing customers to onboard within one day.

Additional Responsibilities

In addition to leading the enhanced onboarding initiative, I was concurrently managing several other key projects:

  • Email Sequence Tools: Designed and implemented automated email sequences to streamline communication and improve user engagement.

  • AI Prospect Discovery and Recruiting: Developed AI-driven tools to enhance prospect discovery and optimize the recruiting process.

  • Scheduled Shopify Discount Code Updates: Coordinated updates and management of Shopify discount codes to support marketing campaigns and promotional activities.

  • Enhanced Reporting Features: Worked on integrating advanced reporting features within the app to offer users improved insights and data analytics.

Stakeholder Feedback

  • Received excellent feedback from stakeholders, praising the reduced friction and improved alignment with customer expectations.

  • Personal accolades from the President of Current and the VP of Product and Operations highlighted the success of the design solutions.

Outcomes

  • Increased Efficiency: The new onboarding process cut setup time from two weeks to the same day, scaling capacity for multiple customers.

  • Improved Satisfaction: Positive user feedback and enhanced customer experience aligned with the company’s goals and expectations.

  • Scalable Solution: The self-serve model and advanced features support Current’s growth and integration within Pattern’s ecosystem, while completely eliminating engineering tasks related to onboarding.

  • Broader Impact: Successfully managed and executed additional projects, contributing to overall operational efficiency and strategic growth.

Next

Sales Empowerment Redesign - Lumio