Launching a self-service model
Overview
Bloomfire is launching a free trial and self-service model to enhance revenue streams. Onboarding enterprise clients currently involves a labor-intensive, expensive sales and marketing funnel. The current business model poses challenges to our long-term growth potential.
Goals
Our goal is to shift existing and new clients to the self-service model, reducing acquisition and onboarding costs, and then leverage these clients in expansion opportunities. We seek to maximize product perceived value, reduce time-to-utilization and drive conversions.
Role & Process
I was the lead designer of a cross-functional team consisting of product, engineering, marketing, customer success, and sales. I designed for the entire customer experience lifecycle, encompassing all stages from initial discovery to conversion and adoption.
Discovery: Landing Pages
Collaborating with the marketing team, I designed responsive landing pages for key user touchpoints. Our focus on the sign-up page was to ensure clear communication of expectations, including features, trial length, and purpose. The form options collected user analytics to inform ongoing improvements for future iterations of this project.
Lead Generation Emails
I continued to work with the marketing team to design 9 targeted emails to educate users about the platform and generate interest in signing up for paid access. I designed visually appealing graphics and strategically placed CTAs, guiding users to explore specific features within the app.
Recognizing that the previous email style felt outdated and impersonal, I undertook a redesign effort to create a more welcoming and engaging experience that aligns with the brand's identity, leaving a positive first impression on users.
Template Community
We developed a template community that serves both free trial users and our sales team when creating communities for enterprise clients. The previous process was time-consuming and resource-intensive.
The product team collaborated with sales and customer success to define the layout and content of the template community. We introduced a "Getting Started" series for user onboarding, alongside in-app guides. Contribution templates were implemented to guide users on the type of content to store in Bloomfire and provide suggestions on creating them.
In-app Guides
We worked with the customer success team to provide targeted guidance to accelerate users' time-to-value. To meet the deadline for the free trial launch, we leveraged Pendo to create these guides, saving development resources.
All users are greeted with a comprehensive onboarding guide, highlighting key product features such as search, creation, and browsing. In addition, users have the opportunity to engage in guided tours of specific features, conveniently accessible through the resource center.
In future iterations, we'll improve the guides and help center with native integration for better customization. This includes displaying targeted help articles based on the user's current page and utilizing banners for timely trial reminders and upgrade prompts.
Redesigns for Usability
To support the shift towards self-service, I redesigned unwieldy, user-unfriendly features like member and contribution management. Key improvements included:
Enabling seamless bulk-invitations by eliminating the need for CSV uploads, allowing trial users to effortlessly invite multiple members. This enhances user engagement and highlights Bloomfire's value in team knowledge sharing.
Improving organization and intuitiveness of filters, import/export functions, and view options.
Ensuring design consistency across the app to create a positive initial impression.