Our product is a game-changer for tradespeople, addressing critical pain points that have long plagued their businesses. We understand the challenges they face, particularly in sales and customer management, which led us to develop a solution that revolutionizes their daily operations.
With our product, tradies can effortlessly create and manage invoices, track unpaid ones, generate professional quotes and marketing materials, and keep tabs on ongoing jobs. This simplifies their workflow, ensuring that they never forget to send invoices promptly, thereby optimizing cash flow. Additionally, our innovative approach minimizes the hassle of chasing unpaid invoices, allowing tradespeople to focus on their core work.
The impact has been significant, not only in resolving these issues but also in the profitability it has brought to the market. Tradespeople now have a user-friendly, all-in-one tool that enhances their professionalism, increases their chances of securing jobs, and boosts overall efficiency.
Following interviews with the target audience and research materials available online, as well as a subsequent survey, I identified the following user pain points/areas:
In the market, there is a multitude of competitors offering a wide array of software solutions to tackle the aforementioned challenges.
We conducted statistical analysis on the features offered in the competitors' products, and using RStudio, we could effortlessly generate the following visualization. The X-axis illustrates whether the feature is employed on-site or off-site.
I aimed to thoroughly contemplate all challenges, potential risks, and valuable insights. The journey toward crafting a professional product design invariably commences with research, with each research phase yielding significant insights. These research findings encompass both identified issues, which may or may not warrant resolution, and an overarching assessment of whether the creation of a digital product solution is advisable.
The challenge we encountered was that we aspired to develop and launch an app in a market already saturated with numerous existing applications, each optimized to address one or more specific problems.
The potential risk in this project is that if we overcomplicate the logic by trying to adopt a "solve all issues" approach, it could significantly slow down the development process.
Streamline the workflows to align with distinct sales process stages. Develop an app capable of guiding clients seamlessly through the sales funnel. Begin with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and iterate based on the evolving needs and feedback from engaged users.
I've drawn insights from four primary sources of information: user interviews, surveys and third-party research, including scientific articles and regular blog posts, as well as vlogs on YouTube. This extensive research has led to the creation of six distinct personas, with the descriptions of three of them provided below:
Taking into account the insights from UX research and the business case, it became imperative to narrow down the target audience as precisely as possible. I recognized that trades businesses could be classified based on two key factors: business size and project length. Team size is a critical factor, as larger businesses would require a more intricate product with multiple permission levels. Project length is equally vital, as emergency-oriented businesses (e.g., plumbers) have distinct operational needs compared to other business types. As a result, the selected target audience encompasses specific segments, denoted by green highlights:
The product, TradieFlow, is characterized by being helpful, intelligent, and neutral in its approach. The brand personality is exemplified by the image on the right, resembling Andrew, portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the movie "The Proposal," where he serves as a personal assistant. In the context of TradieFlow, its voice conveys the message that it's here to assist throughout the day, but it primarily offers data, statistics, and practical information rather than entertaining anecdotes. TradieFlow is known to say, "How can I help you?" and "Okay, I'm with you," instilling confidence in tradespeople that it's always ready to lend a hand when needed.
Helpful
Smart
Neutral
When selecting the colors for both the application and the brand, we paid careful attention to ensuring good contrast ratios. This is crucial for users working in the field, as it ensures that the on-screen content remains easily visible, even in extreme weather conditions. We aimed for the primary colors to convey seriousness and a B2B ambiance, while we offset this by introducing vibrant and playful colors, primarily through illustrations, to alleviate the tension.
We chose the Visuelt Pro typeface to ensure excellent readability for users.
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Given TradieFlow's complexity with numerous intricate connections, my approach involved creating and presenting flowcharts to the development team. This facilitated preliminary discussions regarding the back-end logic and the identification of potential challenges or issues. The client's objective was to create a scalable product, and our brainstorming sessions played a significant role in achieving that goal.
