DUNSGUIDE
Centralizing SME engagement: Integrating business services through Dunsguide
Rye Labs | Product designer lead | 2023-2024
This is part of a project that aims to bring all the SMEs companies CIAL does business with to Dunsguide: Companies that come to get a D-U-N-S Number, companies that come for the D-U-N-S Number and end up acquiring more products, companies that are part of inquiries requested by other companies and companies that are invited by other companies to apply for supply chances. These activities were all done in different ways, through different channels.
The main goal is to create a homebase for all those companies to access CIAL's solutions and Dunsguide is turning into the primary gateway for that goal. This case study will cover the first step of this undertaking: Companies that come for the D-U-N-S Number and end up acquiring a package.
The project was successfully implemented and met all KPIs within the first quarter of its launch. It generated significant outcomes including an increase of 129% in Quarterly Active Users, more than $300K in Incremental Revenue, and over $15K in Operational Efficiency gains. Another outcome was an increase of 112% in CIEC collected in Mexico.
Context
DUNSGUIDE
Dunsguide is the CIAL Dun & Bradstreet business guide that provides information about companies, markets, industries, and services. It enables companies with a D-U-N-S Number to make better and faster decisions, helping them connect and evaluate competitors and suppliers while generating new business opportunities. Our sales team typically offers this product, along with other products like CIAL360, as a bundle to Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
CIAL DUN & BRADSTREET
CIAL Dun & Bradstreet helps companies from Latin America to make better and informed business decisions. For long, its main product was different types of reports but in the last few years it has been changing the focus from reports to selling data. It has multiple products and solutions for small, medium and large companies.
D-U-N-S NUMBER
It is a unique nine-digit identifier assigned to businesses globally. It stands for Data Universal Numbering System. D-U-N-S Numbers are used to establish a business credit file, which can be important for various business transactions, especially in the B2B (business-to-business) context. Without it, no product under D&B umbrella can be delivered.
Challenge
In the current SME process, there is no centralized platform for users to interact with the products they have purchased. All communication with them is conducted via email, the collection of necessary information and the delivery of products included in their bundle are also carried out through email.
It's like buying something but having no place to see what you bought, and no way to know if and when is coming, no tracking code, no status update, just waiting. This situation leads to complexity, confusion and tension with users.
To the Operations and Support teams it is also complicated. The Ops team needs to have information on the business to start issuing the D-U-N-S Number and then activating the other products. The gathering of information, to updating each product statuses are all manually done. And because the delivery is all through email and the message is overall confusing, it is common for users to request support. Thus, bringing the Customer Service team involved as well.
BEFORE - ONBOARDING AND DELIVERY THROUGH EMAIL
1 | 2
Steps to convey the delivery and the status of the products. It seems everything the user needs to do is done, but depending on the product, the user will be required to perform more tasks and it will only be informed after all the previous products are delivered.
3
A section showing which products still need to be delivered. They look like they are clickable, but they're just a graphic.
4
This product has a badge and a digital signature to be added at the company's website and its communication items. However, it is not fully clear what the person needs to do and the information is all fragmented. It is currently a common topic in the requests for support.
5 | 6
Products statuses and deliveries conveyed in sections with links and buttons to click and as attachments in the email. If the email is lost for any reason, the way to recover the links and files would be through support.
7
For this product, the user needs to take action within a set period of time to get it. This product is managed by a third-party partner (Dun & Bradstreet).
8
The company has purchased 7 reports credits on other companies besides the report on the company itself, and that is the only reference the company has on it.
GOAL
To create an onboarding experience in Dunsguide that streamlines the onboarding process for SME users and improves communication between the users and internal teams.
OBJECTIVE
To reduce manual work for internal teams by automating the collection of necessary information from SME users during the onboarding process in Dunsguide. Additionally, to improve the user experience by providing a centralized platform for SME users to engage with their purchased products and to receive information and support from internal teams.
Final solution
The optimized onboarding process for CIAL's products in Dunsguide simplifies integration by automating data collection from SME companies. This not only enhances efficiency and reduces manual work but also provides a seamlessly integrated platform for companies to engage with and receive support for their purchased products.
1
Steps to guide users through the process. Those steps are essential for the Operations team to issue the D-U-N-S Number and to deliver the products.
2
Side sections specifying which plan the user has purchased and the status of the D-U-N-S Number for quick visualization.
3
List with all the products and their respective statuses. Each product has its own statuses and can be delivered at any time after the D-U-N-S Number is issued.
Approach
In an effort to accelerate the launch and adhere to a tight timeline, I had to skip certain steps like research and usability testing. The main challenge during this project was maintaining a delicate balance between understanding the technical constraints to progress with the designs and simultaneously handling other responsibilities, including providing support to product management and the development team on additional projects.
Managing and making sense of various product statuses posed an additional challenge. Depending on the status, it had implications on elements such as the company header, homepage, notifications, messages, buttons, and more. This complexity proved challenging for me to navigate and fully comprehend, and it presented a hurdle for developers in understanding the intricate logic and translating it into code.
The company utilizes various internal systems and third-party services. Additionally, certain aspects of the workflow, such as payment processing, the form to gather data and the internal systems used by the Operations team, were outside the project scope. This affected the overall flow's consistency and posed a challenge during the testing phase for implementing the feature.
On a personal level, the initial pressure to finalize the design quickly led me to initially overlook the project's complexity. I began designing without the scope fully defined and without a complete understanding of how each status would impact various parts of the interface. However, once the designs were nearly complete, it alleviated the pressure to produce something hastily. This allowed me the time to fully comprehend the complexity before entering the development phase.
A pivotal step in gaining clarity on all possible scenarios was creating a matrix to systematically map them out.
Matrix with 10 possible scenarios mapped out.
Subsequently, I consolidated all the components affected by the different statuses, assembling them and meticulously adjusting each to align with the project requirements.
4 different components with their variations that are related to the scenarios mapped out.
Getting the D-U-N-S Number partial set up
In order to request the D-U-N-S Number, the person needs to go through a chat that will then take to the actual initial form. In this form, several questions are answered about the business and the person requesting it. Then one needs to decide if the request will be a free one or an express one. This initial flow was also out of the scope of this project, the user only needs to send the documentation and fill out a data profile.
In order to request the D-U-N-S Number, the person needs to go through a chat that will then take to the actual initial form. In this form, several questions are answered about the business and the person requesting it. Then one needs to decide if the request will be a free one or an express one. This initial flow was also out of the scope of this project, the user only needs to send the documentation and fill out a data profile.
--
The next step was to define how would be the delivery of each product. Two of them are a combo of a digital certificate that can be placed on the customer's website and other online platforms, another one is a numbered identifier like a tax ID, another delivery is having access to an external platform and the other one is a certificate that is only delivered after a throughout process stating the company is trustworthy. Finding a way to deliver the two digital certificates was tricky and an agreement was reached to do it in the simplest way but not the most efficient one. The installation of the certificate is currently an issue for the company and for the customers, once they require the customers to edit their business' website. The agreement was that for now, we would show a document with the steps needed to install it with the proposal of coming back to this part later on.
Takeaways
This project was recently implemented and is still being worked on to make it fully working. It's been an extensive and challenging project and I did miss being able to run some usability testings and research initiatives.
After implementation, I started being able to track how customers are dealing with the proposed flow and started to identify flaws and confusions.
While working on the flows for different types of customers that were left out in this scope, I've identified needed changes that will affect this one and now I have actual people using it to talk to and improve based on real feedback.
Even though there are areas to be improved, the project has already demonstrated a significant influence on user engagement and operational performance since its launch.
Increase of 129% in Quarterly Active Users
Compared to the last quarter of 2024.
$300K+ in Incremental Revenue
In the first quarter of 2024.
$15K+ in Operational Efficiency gains
In the first quarter of 2024.
Increase of 112% of CIEC collected in Mexico
Compared to the last quarter of 2024.