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Wibotic is an autonomous charging startup focused on powering industrial robots ranging from lunar rovers to underwater drones
Watch the video to see the technology in action
As the first and only designer at Wibotic, I wore a lot of hats
Copy writer
Product photographer
Instructional designer
Brand strategist
SEO tactician
UX researcher
Video editor
UX designer
Design strategist
Web designer
I learned about the product ecosystem by creating installation tutorials
The problem:
The sales team had high call rates from current customers who asked for technical support after installation. Most of these support inquires were because they installed their hardware incorrectly, causing problems with charging.
While these videos helped fix one problem, I realized there were higher level problems that needed to be solved in order to further scale the company
Getting to know Wibotic's customers challenges and needs
Engineers
Challenges
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Time poor
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Asking for technical information is annoying & time consuming
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Unclear how Wibotic systems work
Needs
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Digestible, detailed technical product information to aid in decision making
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Quick and easy installation process
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Reliable product that saves time
Engineering Managers
Challenges
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Justifying more expensive charging equipment is difficult without proof of reliability
Needs
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Social proof/case studies
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Analytics to keep track of efficiency
Developing a big picture strategy
I identified improvements through observations during customer calls, and asking what the sales team's greatest challenges were.
These four areas were to improve prospective and current customer experiences, and empower Wibotic employees to better learn from and sometimes automate their interactions with both customer types.
Bringing leadership along, we agreed that there were two areas that needed addressing
Build trust and reputation through UX, marketing and brand
Beta test with customers before a major rollout of new software
Building trust and reputation
Improving the website
Since the pandemic canceled all trade-shows, our website was the most important tool to provide information about our products and prove overall reliability to customers.
Goals of the new site
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Persuade effectively with ample social proofing
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Clearly describe how the product ecosystem works
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Make it easy to compare & select systems for a quote
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Answer commonly asked questions
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Provide calculators to help decision-making
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Encourage informed visitors to contact us for a quote on a specific system
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Improve SEO so customers can better find the site
A new information architecture
With the goals of the new site in mind, I improved SEO and made navigation more intuitive by interlinking pages, added a "Learn" section with calculators, and reorganized information by application (ie. aerial, mobile, space).
I brought along sales, business development, and a SEO consulting firm in this process, and got a final thumbs up before proceeding to wireframing.
Communicating cross-functionally through wireframes
During the wireframing process, I collaborated with our developer who would be bringing the site to life. I made sure that my design ideas would be feasible for him to complete, working alongside him to ensure a smooth transition between Figma and code.
Creating a brand voice and identity
Other than a logo, Wibotic had no brand identity, including consistant typography, colors, or voice.
I wanted the voice of the company to reflect the personality of the 15 employees who were growing the startup, especially since most of them were engineers similar to our own customer base. I created a company-wide poll, and worked closely with the CEO to identify our ideals, goals, and personality we wanted to portray as a company.
Art directing icons and illustrations
I hired Christine Lee as a contractor to assist me in creating a visual identity for the website. She also created bespoke icons and illustrations for the new site.
Meeting goals in the high-fidelity wireframe
After implementing the website, the sales team reported quicker sales and productive conversations with more informed prospective customers.
Beta testing a new software with customers
When I joined, a new software was about
to be released
Even though the release date was a couple months away, leadership still had many basic questions about the software they needed to address. Questions like: What was the main value of the software? How much we people willing to pay for it? What were the most valuable features?
I suggested we slow the release and begin Beta testing for a few months to stress test the software before final rollout. I began by creating a competitive audit, comparing features and pricing styles.
Next, I unified and understood software goals through an internal workshop
I ran through exercises over a couple meetings ranging from understanding our personas, identifying perceived strengths and weaknesses in our software, defining success criteria, and formulating big picture questions to answer through customer interviews.
Creating the research campaign
After getting our internal team on one page, it was time to find customers that we had developed a strong relationship with to test the software.
I created a Beta test timeline, a mod guide that we could test our hypotheses against and answer the questions we needed in order to launch, and started reaching out to customers.
Uncovering insights in the install process
During our first ever installation with a customer, I had the software team join in our call. The call was part observational, and part interview.
I added the software team to the call for two reasons:
1. Having a few more folks in the company understand the value of user research would give me extra support in case leadership pushed back.
2. They had more technical knowledge than me, and might have more insight in technical answers from the customer.
Hired by Indigo Slate
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to complete the Beta test because I got hired on by Indigo Slate. However, I created future mod guides for the next round of interviews, and encouraged the sales and engineering teams to continue testing before rollout.
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