Rethink the UX
of a SaaS
Enhancing the user experience of a SaaS
and its other products for existing and future users.
and its other products for existing and future users.
CLIENT
·
LEMLIST (LEMPIRE)
CLIENT
·
LEMLIST (LEMPIRE)
Client
lemlist.com @ lempire
September 2022 - March 2023
Contribution
Lead UX Designer
Team
2 Product Owners, 13 Developers, 2 UI Designers, 2 Brand Designers...
Tools
Figma, Hotjar, Notion, Maze,
Google Meet,
Mixpanel, Sheets, ...
CONTEXT
Optimizing a SaaS tool for increased productivity
Lemlist is a SaaS that helps its users obtain an initial response from their potential clients by leveraging large-scale personalization through email, LinkedIn messaging, actions, etc. Lemlist was launched in 2018 and was initially designed without considering the user experience.
My role
As the lead experience designer for this project, my responsibilities include working closely with stakeholders to synthesize user requirements, prioritizing tasks, and create a consistent user experience across all products of lempire.
Project Impact
Reduce the onboarding time for new users, simplify and create useful features, decrease the churn rate, and reduce the number of support tickets related to interface issues. Finally, increase the conversion rate.
Project Deliverables
Documentation and creation of UX guidelines, wireframes, functional specifications, implementation of UX impact tracking.
Lemlist 3.0 - Before update
Snapshot of the lemlist 3.0 interface before its UX and UI redesign.
Design process
The design method used is based on user-centered
Design Thinking
As the first and Lead UX Designer at lemlist, my role was to seamlessly integrate into existing processes without unduly extending project timelines while providing sufficient resources to developers for the complete overhaul of lemlist.
In my role within the product squad alongside a lead developer and a lead product manager, I collaborated with them to define key topics and assess their necessity and feasibility. I also participated in the Buildings squad in the construction of the solution.
Diagram of the agile methodology used internally for the launch of lemlist 4.0
Research
UX Methodology
Lemlist is a SaaS that allows its users to save time through automation. However, both new and existing users frequently complain about the complexity of getting started with the tool. This results in low user retention and a significant unsubscribe rate from the service to competitors. This is the consequence of a product that had never been designed with the user at the center of the design thinking.
Diagram of the agile methodology used internally for the launch of lemlist 4.0
problem statement
KPI and user research synthesis
Lemlist is a SaaS that allows its users to save time through automation. However, both new and existing users frequently complain about the complexity of getting started with the tool. This results in low user retention and a significant unsubscribe rate from the service to competitors. This is the consequence of a product that had never been designed with the user at the center of the design thinking.
5.7%
new users
KPI #1
5,7% of new registrants take less than 20 minutes to create their first lemlist campaign.
2973
unique users
KPI #2
2973 unique users opened at least one support ticket to seek assistance in one month.
29%
new users
KPI #3
26% of new users launch their first campaign after registration.
Sources: Data extract from Mixpanel in 2023 before the UX redesign.
Observation #1
Significant learning curve in using the platform.
Observation #2
A disjointed user experience across interfaces.
Problem #3
A high churn rate due to a poor user experience.
Problem #4
Onboarding process too long and complex for new users.
Problem #5
Too many unused or poorly designed features that don't meet user needs.
Problem 6
A project designed without UX considerations by technical profiles.
Set of problems and insights identified through UX research.
Problematic
How to optimize the tool
for the needs of new users without disrupting the habits of existing users?
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Increasing competition that places a greater
emphasis on user experience.
The objective was to gain a better understanding of the market landscape and discern the best and worst practices of competitors by analyzing the interfaces of 6 competitors: Salesloft, OutplayHQ, Reply.io, Outreach, Amplemarket and Klenty.
These findings have highlighted that some competitors provide better support for new users in getting acquainted with the tool, offering more restricted features but addressing specific needs, or they propose a pay-as-you-go system instead of a subscription model. However, many competitors draw inspiration from what lemlist, being the first actor in this market, is already doing.
Competitive heuristic analysis of 6 lemlist competitors on their primary user journeys.
Experiencers
Who are the Target Audiences?
In order to better address the overall redesign, we identified and synthesized three distinct user groups, each with different goals and challenges. To carry out this synthesis work, we conducted interviews, observations, and quantitative surveys.
Anne Simmons
Freelance, United Kingdom
User
Abstergo Ltd.
74 employees, France
PRO
Biffco Enterprises Ltd.
151 employees, United States
PRO
Arlene McCoy
Freelance, Ireland
User
Acme Co.
52 employees, Australia
PRO
Kathryn Murphy
Freelance, India
User
Barone LLC.
32 employees, Brazil
PRO
Sales team in a company
Main persona
+50 employees
USA, France, Australia, UK...
User goals
Acquiring new clients for the company while minimizing time spent and maximizing acquisition performance.
Agency
Main persona
+50 employees
USA, France, Australia, UK...
User goals
Prospecting on a large scale to assist our own clients in customer acquisition, while keeping them informed of our performance.
Entrepreneur/Startup
Secondary persona
1/2 employees
USA, India, France, Australia, UK...
User goals
Acquiring new clients to sell services or products by reaching out to a large number of potential customers.
Project Scope
The constraints imposedby the project
To bring the project to its completion, it was crucial to adhere to various time, technical, business, and other constraints. Therefore, it was necessary to establish clear processes and a meticulous methodology to avoid overlooking these critical success criteria.
Very tight deadlines
for deploying the solution
Only 3 months were allocated to complete all tasks to successfully redesign the entire UX of lemlist and to design a unified experience across all products.
Not impacting the usage habits of the existing users too much
The poor UX practices of lemlist led
to a long and complex learning curve
for existing users, especially for a tool used daily.
Small UX team compared to the number of developers
I was the sole UX for a team of about ten developers, and it was necessary to provide enough resources to avoid slowing them down.
Complete simultaneous redesign of UX and UI
I had to simultaneously support the UI team in redesigning the visual interface while adhering to usability and accessibility constraints.
ideation
Simplify the onboarding process for new users
The findings from the conducted research have highlighted significant challenges for new users in getting acquainted with the tool. This was confirmed through behavior analysis using Hotjar and the collected data. Hence, it was crucial to work on redesigning the registration form, onboarding process, account configuration, and establish long-term follow-up.
Enhance the campaign creation process
Research has shown that creating an initial campaign is a real challenge for both new and existing users. Numerous design issues slow down the task and result in a lot of support tickets, particularly related to poor wording and design choices. Many features go unused, overloading the interface and making it confusing. This hinders the addition of features that truly meet user needs.
Standardize the interface, improve key features and sections of the interface
Observations and heuristic analysis reveal that the information architecture and navigation go against best practices.
Additionally, the company's various products have interfaces that vary across products, even though they are interconnected. It is therefore essential to simplify and standardize navigation across the different products.
Impact of the solution
User Testing Result
The set of conducted user tests has demonstrated that the redesign of the solutions enables a quicker mastery of functionalities and a more effective prioritization of information. The adjustment of wording and the removal of non-essential features in favor of those meeting the needs were very well received.
solution
Lemlist 4.0
The only prospecting tool to reach
your prospects and get responses.
Rethinking the user experience
for new sign-ups
Simplify the onboarding process
For new users, improving the registration form is crucial by reducing mandatory fields. This aims to lower abandonment rates during registration due to non-essential fields. Simplifying language, maintaining hierarchy, and adhering to password security guidelines will enhance field completion. Also, the login process needs revising to direct non-registered users to the registration form and registered users to the login page. Clearer information about the "magic link" functionality is also necessary.
Enhance the campaign
creation process
For new users, improving the registration form is crucial by reducing mandatory fields. This aims to lower abandonment rates during registration due to non-essential fields.
Lead import method
The improvement of lead import methods primarily involved guiding users step by step through the necessary elements, with more contextual information provided to reduce the number of import errors. Lead import configuration issues accounted for a significant portion of support tickets, often stemming from a misunderstanding of the interface.
Lead management
To enhance the experience during campaign creation, it was essential to bring more simplicity and features to enable users to better manage a large number of leads. It was necessary to save time on management by automating recurring tasks, as well as to provide information on the status of leads within a campaign.
Settings of the campaign
The general settings of a campaign have been gathered on a single page to prevent users from searching for actions that impact the campaign as a whole. Activating and deactivating elements has been simplified and standardized. Additionally, CRM configuration is hidden if the user does not wish to activate it, reducing cognitive overload.
Creation of a sequence
The redesign of the sequence creation was necessary, particularly to assist users in better understanding the required information to prevent any errors from hindering the campaign. The overall structure was retained because it was understood by users and also to avoid encroaching too much on the habits of existing users.
Sending schedule for the sequence
The redesign of the sending schedule for the sequence aimed primarily to enable a more precise day-by-day management in a simpler way, and provide the user with an overall view of the sending status of their campaign. This allows them to more easily adjust and adapt the most strategic time slots.
Leads review
To finalize the user experience improvement, it was important to review the "Review" section of the leads, which represents a critical phase and can lead to numerous pain points if poorly designed. In this redesign, it was necessary to highlight human errors that could lead to lead loss: missing data to personalize messages, accidental sequence sending without confirmation, etc.
After numerous tests, it was necessary to revise the initial version without losing too many users to the changes, hence the compromise that was made to optimize the existing screen.
Improvement of the interface and navigation throughout the tool
Dashboard and Layout review
Creating a unified and optimized experience to meet users' needs in their daily use of lemlist. An optimal experience supports the selling point that lemlist saves time. Therefore, it's important not to lose time in its usage.
Make the tasks page
functional and useful
Tasks page and Focus mode
The initial issue was that users had a real need for the tasks page to better manage feedback and tasks for converting leads. However, the poor user experience made this feature too complex to understand and use on a daily basis.
Therefore, we decided to simplify the interface and offer a tool that adapts to different processes and teams. The focus mode brings optimization and comfort for long sessions that can last several hours a day.
Keeping the Essence of the Core Program
Experience for Remote Audiences
It involves framing the subject,researching, analyzing data, ideation, design, and evaluation. The design method is based on an iterative model. In this project, I was the sole and primary UX Designer tasked with reimagining the overall platform experience. I was part of a squad with 2 project managers and 1 head of developer, working to design in alignment with business and growth objectives, as well as technical constraints.
Prototype for publish button animation alongside treatments for status indicators
Team collaboration
Framework for structured processes and collaborations
The objective was to gain a better understanding of the market landscape and discern the best and worst practices of competitors by analyzing the interfaces of 6 competitors: Salesloft, OutplayHQ, Reply.io, Outreach, Amplemarket and Klenty.
These findings have highlighted that some competitors provide better support for new users in getting acquainted with the tool, offering more restricted features but addressing specific needs, or they propose a pay-as-you-go system instead of a subscription model. However, many competitors draw inspiration from what lemlist, being the first actor in this market, is already doing.
Prototype for publish button animation alongside treatments for status indicators
Better support users in adapting
to new product features tool
Clearly inform users about the changes
With the numerous changes brought about by the overhaul of the entire product line, it was decided internally to release the remaining features gradually.
This approach aims to maintain the habits of existing users and address technical and time constraints. Therefore, it was essential to provide a clear vision for educating users about the product when new features are released. Keeping them informed allowed us to give a positive impression to users who previously criticized lemlist for not releasing enough essential features.
Success Metrics
The complete redesign of the user experience has generated strong positive reactions as it addressed the anticipated need for an improvement in the lemlist experience. This was reflected in the evolution of the KPIs defined as success criteria at the outset of the project, as well as in various data points such as the reduction in support tickets related to usability.
Moreover, internally, it enthused the teams who felt the daily impact of poor design, thus improving the daily lives of support, marketing, sales, developers, and so on.
KPI #1
Increase from 5,7% to 39,7% of new registrants take less than 20 minutes to create their first lemlist campaign.
KPI #2
Decrease from 2973 to 2315 unique users opened at least one support ticket to seek assistance in one month.
KPI #3
Increase from 26% to 46% of new users launch their first campaign after registration.
Sources: Data extract from Mixpanel one month after the UX redesign.
To conclude
The importance of optimizing processes to implement a solution quickly and the impact on teams of a user-centered design
This project has allowed us to demonstrate to internal teams the importance and impact of UX in the design process as well as on the ultimate goal of the solution. Previous major overhauls of lemlist had generated a lot of discontent and negative feedback, impacting the teams that had worked hard. This was because the user had not been placed at the center of the design and was solely based on prejudices.
However, this redesign has been extremely well-received with a lot of very positive feedback on the improvement of the user experience, as well as addressing needs that had been overlooked before. This also reduced the number of post-release modifications and the volume of support tickets.
Part of the lemlist team : Adrien Donot (Lead Designer), Matt El Mouktafi (Lead Dev), Julien Vouillaume (Dev. front-end), Robin Labrot (Product lead)
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