Project 1 - Pledgemine

Pledgemine Direct Mail App

Overhauling two platforms to enhance the direct mail project creation process for education and non-profit organizations.

ROLE

Product Design Intern, leading end to end project
Revamped information architecture (IA)
Conducted user interview and usability testing

COMPANY

EverTrue

TOOL

Figma, FigJam, Maze

RESULTS

Improved user satisfaction by 29%
Deliverables: UI Design, User Flow, Journey Map, Competitive Analysis, Low and Hi Fidelity Prototypes

TEAM

1 Product Manager, 1 Product Intern, 3 Engineer Interns

DURATION

3 months

IMPACT

Reduced Project Completion Time by 15 Minutes

By uniting two platforms into one app with guided project creation, I built a smoother, more efficient experience for completing direct mail projects.

CONTEXT

A Direct Mail App to Enhance Donor Engagement

Pledgemine is a direct mail app powered by EverTrue that delivers direct mail solutions to enhance donor engagement and loyalty for recipients in higher education and non-profit organizations.

Pledgemine offers features like personalized mail options to engage potential donors, on-demand ordering for flexible project creation anytime, and a variety of templates to support any fundraising campaign.
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PROBLEM

Users Encountered with Platform Switching

In the original experience, users had to navigate between multiple platforms to request a direct mail project. They started by using Lytho, a third-party project management tool, to submit project requests, then switched back to Pledgemine to fill out the project form and communicate with the design team about project details.

DISCOVER

How User Create Direct Mail Project?

We discovered that the existing process for launching a direct mail project was cumbersome and could be broken down into six key steps:

Communication Challenges for Customers and Admin

Throughout the direct mail project journey, both customer users and Pledgemine admin users experienced significant communication inefficiencies.

For customers, the process was cumbersome and lacked critical features such as project status tracking, forcing them to switch between platforms to request and manage projects.

Admins, on the other hand, faced the tedious task of manually inputting project details from Google Sheets into Pledgemine, increasing inefficiencies and the risk of errors.

What Did Others Offer?

As I analyzed the users' needs and pain points, I conducted competitive product research to understand how existing software addresses these needs and identified areas where Pledgemine could improve.

The direct mail market is typically divided into two segments: companies like JHL Digital Direct, which focus on delivering high-quality direct mail and printing services, and those that emphasize stronger software capabilities, such as Postalytics and Lob. The latter offers AI-powered features like campaign automation and mail analytics, enhancing efficiency and user experience.

DEFINE

Prioritizing Key Issues

Given time and resource constraints, we identified the most critical pain points by collaborating with engineers and managers. After several brainstorming sessions on FigJam, we decided to prioritize consolidating Lytho’s functionality within Pledgemine to streamline the process. Espically focusing on improving the direct mail project creation workflow for customer.

PROJECT GOAL

Improving Direct Mail Project Creation Process for Customer

The team aims to redesign the existing direct mail project creation process to enhance the customer experience, enabling users to create projects more efficiently within a single platform.

DESIGN

Designing an Integrated Solution

In the first round of ideation, I focused on merging the key features from Lytho into Pledgemine, starting with a reorganization of the platform’s information architecture. I also developed wireframes to gather feedback from the product team.

Improving Project Table

I designed a new project table that allows users to view and check project details more efficiently. By adding sorting and tagging features, users can now quickly identify project types based on color-coded tags.

Simplifying Project Form

I reorganized the information architecture of the project form, making it easier for users to complete. The improved structure simplifies the process, reducing the time and effort required to fill out the form.

TESTING

How Do Users Interact with the New Interface?

To explore how users engage with the newly integrated interface, I used Maze, an online user testing platform, to run unmoderated usability tests. I asked participants to create a new direct mail project and then gathered feedback on how easy the process was and their overall experience.

Usable, But Room for Improvement

In the first round of usability testing, most users successfully completed the tasks, but the average Single Ease Question (SEQ) score was 4.9, indicating that while the process was functional, there was room for improvement.

IDEATION

How Did User Feedback Influence the Design?

Based on the testing feedback, I refined the design to create a more visually intuitive interface, reducing users' cognitive load.

Classifying Projects with Tags

During the usability testing, participants noted that while the redesigned project table includes a sorting feature, they were still looking for a quicker way to locate projects.

Reorganizing Project Form

I reorganized the information architecture of the project form, making it easier for users to complete. The improved structure simplifies the process, reducing the time and effort required to fill out the form.

RESULT

Where Did We End Up?

After gathering internal feedback from the project manager, product designer, and engineer using wireframes, I finalized the design deliverables. The newly overhauled Pledgemine platform offers users a more efficient way to create projects.

Organized Project Table

The redesigned project table is much more organized and includes features such as active/archive tabs, sorting options, and tags. These improvements allow users to quickly find and classify projects by type, making it easier to view project statuses at a glance.

Visual Mail Solution Selection

I integrated the old mail solution PDF into Pledgemine, making it easier for users to read and select solutions. The project images enhance the process by providing users with visual cues to quickly identify options. Also, the old PDF was lengthy, but by classifying mail types, users can now view solutions at a glance.

Step-by-Step Project Form

The redesigned project form focuses on reducing user cognitive load by breaking down the process into smaller steps. The stepper feature helps users track their progress through the form. Additionally, a project summary feature allows users to see the information they’ve entered so far, minimizing the need to remember everything.

FUTURE STEP

If I Had More Time...

Given the limited time available for this project, if I had more time, I would like to further improve this project by undertaking the following three projects.

Building the Mail Builder

In the user research phase, Pledgemine admin users indicated that an ideal redesign would allow customers to design their own mail directly within the platform, rather than uploading materials and relying on Pledgemine to handle the design.

Improving the Admin Workflow

The research revealed that admins currently have to manually enter customer mail information into a Google Sheet or Pledgemine admin site, a process that is both tedious and prone to human error.

Exploring AI Integration

Investigating the potential use of AI to enhance both customer and admin workflows could significantly streamline processes. AI could be utilized for automating repetitive tasks and providing intelligent recommendations, thereby improving efficiency.