How might we redesign P&G's supplier portal to make it intuitive and easy to use?
P&G's supplier portal is extremely confusing to use, and the content is unorganized. Although we did not get a chance to talk to actual P&G suppliers, we had an opportunity to understand the pain points in the website by interacting with representatives from P&G.
For better branding and usability, we named our redesigned platform, "Collab".
Here is a clickable interactive prototype of the redesigned platform
(Click anywhere inside the window and press "F" to toggle full screen for better experience)
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
Stakeholder interviews
We interviewed the stakeholders to understand what kind of problems their clients face while using the P&G supplier website.
We interviewed the stakeholders to understand what kind of problems their clients face while using the P&G supplier website.
“Many suppliers are unsure which credentials go where. They claim that there are several login pages.”
“Some clients, especially the new ones, have a tough time getting accustomed to the various tools. The tools are very important for them – tools are used to generate invoices, bills etc., but they can get a bit overwhelming initially. It takes some time to get used to it.”
“The main complaint we hear is that the clients do not understand how to navigate the website and find what they’re looking for. Due to this, most of the calls we receive are clients asking where to find a particular menu item.”
SO, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
The current P&G Supplier's portal suffers with several usability issues.
Current P&G supplier website dashboard
What are the main usability issues?
How might we improve the learnability
of the website?
The Nielsen Normal Group defines learnability as, "Learnability considers how easy it is for users to accomplish a task the first time they encounter the interface and how many repetitions it takes for them to become efficient at that task."
Following key drivers were considered to improve the learnability of the website:
BRAINSTORMING
The initial user research uncovered various areas of opportunity, such as content discovery and learnability. However, we had to consciously keep in mind the business goals and organizational capacity and decided to focus upon some key areas, including simplifying user experience around user on-boarding and simplifying the language, and thereby, meeting user and business goals including key engagement and user retention. The redesign was an attempt to address all of these shortcomings.
VISUAL DESIGN
While improving the user experience of the website was paramount, along with improving the branding, we wanted to stick to P&G's brand color - blue - as the primary color. P&G uses varying shades of blue to convey the hierarchy of different elements.
REDESIGNED HIGH FIDELITY SCREENS
On-boarding
One of the main complaints of clients was that the website is a congregation of random tools. There was no direction whatsoever.
How we tackled it:
Included a 'Home' screen with clear instructions for on-boarding and a concise introduction to how the platform can help the user.
Included a chatbot to provide real-time assistance to users.
Login
Another concern with the website was that there are multiple login screens with different credentials to grant access.
How we tackled it:
One main login page to allow access to the entire portal.
Dashboard
Being a supplier website, we felt there was a lot of value in visually representing the data and the analytics in a dashboard.
Also included a 'Recent Activity' to keep tabs on what's happening
User Profile
The user profile is home to all the information pertaining to a user, both personal and account-related.
Invoicing
The website previously had invoice-related menu as separate menu items (Invoice Requirements, Invoice Status, E-Invoicing), which is confusing.
How we tackled it:
Grouped all invoice-related menu under 'Invoicing' to make it easy to find information.
Forum
Even with all the improved user experience, users could find it difficult to find certain things. The forum provides a platform for users to ask questions and obtain answers from other users or by FAQs.
