Cacique

Rooted in Reliability, Harvesting Honesty…

Background

Cacique is a B2B agriculture business based in the Dominican Republic seeking to expand to an international clientele.

In the Dominican Republic, the process of acquiring a supplier is very informal, with few to no customers using technology as a solution. Internationally though, online presence is essential to reach new clients— so if Cacique wanted to have a chance in the international market, they needed a responsive website!

Overview

Problem

The main users are supply managers and business owners, which are extremely busy— they have a limited amount of time on their hands to make sure suppliers are the right fit.

Cacique is entering a new market and, as such, they lack recognition internationally. They want to maintain their brand image while standing out from the rest.

Project Goals

Empathize

Let’s Find Out…

Cacique is heading towards uncharted territory for them— the overseas market for B2B root crop suppliers. As such, research was essential in understanding users’ current buying process, their frustrations, and their expectations of Cacique. This information was used to inform user-centered design solutions.

Research Objectives

Understand users’ process when considering making business with a new supplier and what information is essential for them to make a decision

Learn what influences users’ feeling of trust toward suppliers

Secondary Research - Gaining Understanding!

Before setting up the research plan, I made sure I understood the B2B agriculture industry through secondary research. I focused on understanding how B2B relationships are often formed and current industry trends, as well as analyzing indirect competitors. This allowed me to have a strong foundation, facilitating quality conversations with research participants.

User Research Findings

Users care about buying quality products at a fair price from honest suppliers to keep consumers happy.

Through user interviews, I was able to get a first-hand look into users’ existing supplier discovery process, the things they hold valuable in suppliers, and what makes or breaks their trust in a company.

Needs

  • Quality products

  • Fair pricing

  • Honest supplier

  • Specialized supplier

Motivations

  • Return on Investment

  • Customer Satisfaction

  • Building a trusting + loyal professional relationship

Frustrations

  • Sales representatives lack product knowledge, lengthening the decision process

  • Finding a sweet spot between price and quality

  • Ensuring that the product volume required is met

User Persona

Meet Peter!

Created an empathy map to gain deeper insights into the research findings. This then added to the user persona.

“I take satisfaction in keeping consumers satisfied by providing the businesses with the best price for quality products, while building trust with the supplier”

Define

Identifying Common Goals

Created project goals by identifying intersecting gains and pains between Cacique and its users.

Brainstorming Solutions: Point of Views + How Might We’s

Brainstormed solutions to user goals and frustrations by pairing POVs and HMW statements. Here are the main ones:

POV #1

Peter needs to make an informed decision on whether the supplier fits his needs, but having limited knowledge due to inaccessible information is setting him back

HMW #1

How might we help Peter feel knowledgeable bout our product and company so that he can make a decision as soon as possible with as little doubt as possible?

POV #2

Peter needs to build a trusting and honest relationship with a supplier and in order to do so he needs the supplier to be reliable, but this is tricky to gauge before business is done— causing uncertainty.

HMW #2

How might we help Peter build trust in our company so that he feels more secure in his choice?

Competitive Analysis

Due to confusing interfaces and a lack of information, competitors’ websites left users without enough product and company knowledge.

Thanks to the empathy-building analyses conducted (empathy maps, user personas, and storyboarding), I now knew what users cared for the most. With this knowledge, I conducted a competitive analysis with a focus on essential website features and the usability of each one. After conducting this, I found that Cacique’s competitors lacked intuitive product listings and didn’t have enough clarifying information to common user questions/concerns.

Information Architecture

Using the insights gained from an open card sort, I identified the most optimal content positioning to match user expectations and then created a sitemap demonstrating this

Research showed that gaining product and company knowledge as fast and efficiently as possible was one of the main frustrations of users. Therefore, navigation and information findability is the most important factor affecting whether users leave satisfied or not. As such, figuring out the best form of Information Architecture was essential. This was achieved through a closed card sort focusing on navigation.

Ideate

User Flows

Creating the flows helped me visualize which pages and interactions were needed for users’ processes and decision-making

Created task and user flows informed by research findings The main task flow focused on ‘learning more about the products available’, which was one of the shared goals between Cacique and its users.

Wireframes

Sketched Lo-Fi wireframes with the use of a Product Requirement document based on sitemaps, user flows, and select design patterns to make sure that the design solutions I was going for directly related to user concerns.

Once Mid-Fi wireframes were complete, I began conducting usability tests to make sure that the navigation was making sense as soon as possible…spoiler alert: users said it was!

  • Home

  • Our Products

  • Product List

  • Product Details

  • Contact Us

  • Company History

  • FAQ

Prototype

Hi-Fi Designs

Intuitive design that allows users to get the information they need as fast as possible

Now that I knew that navigation was working well (thanks to usability testing), I moved on to designing at a higher fidelity. Using the existing brand style, I brought the Mid-Fi wireframe to life! In accordance with the user needs uncovered during the research phase, this design provides users with concise and useful product information and a quick way to get in contact with Cacique.

UI Kit

As Cacique expands, so will its website needs!

Under regular circumstances, UI kits are super useful, but to Cacique they were non-negotiable. This is because their main goal is not only to expand their business abroad but, also to begin distributing non-specialty products for the newly acquired international clientele. This expected growth will lead to a need for website expansion. To prepare for this, I created a UI Kit.

Test

Usability Test

Conducted two rounds: tested mid-fi and hi-fi wireframes to ensure user issues were being tackled successfully.

It wasn’t enough to understand users and their motivations, I needed to make sure that I was grounded and actually solving their issues through the design rather than thinking I was! I used Maze to conduct an asynchronous usability test.

Findings

Post-Usability Test: Interactive Prototype

New version = Better informed users!

How does this final design differ from the initial one?

  • Added a stock availability indicator

  • Due to Cacique’s B2B nature, stating an exact price isn’t realistic. So how could I realistically tackle user concerns? By adding price breakdown + sample price!

  • Better explanation of Caciques services in the hero section

Takeaways

My Main Learnings

  • This project involved a very niche user group. With a lack of resources and time, I had to resort to guerilla methods of doing research. This showed me that no matter how difficult things seem, research can still get done! At the end of the day, what matters the most is really understanding the users. And in some cases, this means being flexible with the way in which research is conducted.

  • This project showed me how to be conscious of the why behind the research methodologies I choose. At the beginning, I was choosing to do certain methods because they were what’s “common”. After much deliberation, I ended up deciding to change my research plan to one that is highly tailored to the project's needs. At the end of the day, the quality of my research findings will be just as good as the problem + methodology fit.

  • Initially, the stakeholder mentioned that instead of stating the prices, he wanted to have a “contact to get a quote” button since the way they price their products is on a case-by-case basis, with many factors influencing the final quote. However, after doing some usability testing, I found that this was a very big frustration for them. At the time, I found myself in a difficult position— feeling the need to decide between user vs. business needs. After consulting with mentors and reading up on the subject, I found that in situations like these, tackling user needs through indirect means can go a long way! By giving a breakdown of how Cacique comes up with the prices and showing a sample quote, I was able to ease some user frustration while staying within business boundaries.

  • At the beginning of the project, I challenged myself to document as much of the process as possible. Now that I’m done, I can say that it was an incredible decision that I will continue doing with future projects. I think that besides being good to look back on and essential when working in teams, it helped me be WAY more conscious of the why behind my design decisions.

    *NOTE* if you’re interested in seeing my documentation, don’t hesitate to reach out! From design version history to decision explanation, to a detailed challenge tracker (and how I overcame said challenges)— I have it all organized in a notion file ready to be shared :D