How I solved for both client retention and design debt
By converting the Figma prototypes used by Aetna’s sales team into a design resource library available to all designers across the company.
Duration
6 months
Role
Sr. Product Designer
Platform
Desktop, iOS
THE PROBLEM(S)
Aetna sales representatives relied on showing outdated InVision prototypes and a guest environment that was constantly crashing to market company products to potential clients, leading to a drop in customer retention.
THE SOLUTION
I created a Sales Demo Library with updated interactive prototypes for sales representatives to showcase the current state of all company products and a one-stop shop for designers to find any screen that they might need.
DISCOVERY
Our sales team was relying on outdated prototypes
The majority of designs for these prototypes were lost in the company’s migration from Sketch to Figma. Some other information explaining how this happened.
After auditing, there were two main problems to solve for:
All prototypes needed to be rebuilt from scratch and properly accounted for to ensure a more sustainable solution
Due to designers being siloed in their respective teams, few knew where to track down the lost work or who to ask.
IDEATION
Solving for speed and scale
There were dozens of prototypes that Sales Reps. In order to quickly recreate such a large body of work, I needed to strategically plan and execute.
By building the largest prototypes first, I could duplicate and customize them to meet smaller use cases
I realized that our desktop and iOS “commercial” demos served our largest audience and that every other demo was just a smaller, customized version of these. Using this saving me time in recreating everything from scratch.
By assigning the designer responsible for the future state of the work to each section, and setting up a weekly meeting cadence, I ensured that our demos were regularly updated.
An “accountability tile” was added to each section of the prototype to better track which designs lived with which team and who to reach out to.
A “Source File Here” button was added to every screen with a link to the existing working file that the screen came from
Screens were divided and assigned chronologically to their sections within the app or website, allowing designers to see how their section of the design connected to the product as a whole for the first time.
CHALLENGES
It was too much change too fast
With each file pushing over 300+ screens and thousands of sales representatives using the demos every day, we encountered both technical and organizational issues such as:
Global component updates would impact the interaction settings on our prototypes
Too many people utilizing a demo would lead to a prototype crashing
Every update needed to be pushed as soon as possible leading to a frantic and unpredictable work schedule
SOLUTIONS
Spread the responsibility around to prevent technical overload
Built a local library of Figma components for the sales demos and relied on our design systems team to update it regularly. This would allow all of our prototypes to be updated when we needed them
Built and circulated a tutorial for the sales team on how to prevent a prototype from crashing (clearing your internet cache, utilizing a private browser, etc.)
Worked with my manager and stakeholders to build a set of rules to determine the priority of updates, an organized backlog of requests, and an intake form for new requests
By setting up a system for requests and delegating the organization of this to my higher-ups, I was able to focus on performing updates when they were needed.
FINAL DESIGN
Introducing Aetna’s Sales Demo Library
The Sales demo library is a public resource utilized by thousands of sales representatives to showcase the interface of Aetna’s iOS and desktop products and as a map for hundreds of designers to understand how their feature work fits within these products as a whole.
“Your quick and flawless work to translate the screens prepared into a true customer demo is awesome! This is the first time the team has had such a polished way to show off the future state of our app.”
-Sales Representative Director
“The feedback from our partners and leaders so far can be captured in a single word…WOW!”
-Sales Representative Lead
“I want to thank you for the collaboration and willingness to go over and above to meet these deadlines. I also love the creative solutions and brilliant ideas that you’ve brought to the table.”
-Digital Engagement Team Lead
WHAT I LEARNED
A problem for some is a problem for all
This experience taught me that, despite the size of the company, problems aren’t isolated to specific teams. The sales team’s need for updated prototypes was a direct result of our design org what’s currently in production. By solving for our design debt, we ensured that our sales team would have up to date demos in the future.
Everyone gets onboard if there’s a system to follow
Once I took the time to organize our demos into a clear, digestible design library, I was surprised by how many designers immediately started supporting the resource. By keeping things simple and easy to follow, you can ensure user adoption.