Background: Avon Global made the strategic decision to introduce a new B2B ordering tool for consultants across their key markets. The goal was to unify, modernize, and enhance the tool's interface while incorporating new e-commerce functionalities. This initiative aimed to boost B2B sales to consultants and facilitate cross-market sales reporting. The newly revamped My Avon Business (MAB) platform was intended to become the primary means for B2B order placement, with a key performance indicator (KPI) of achieving an 80% tool adoption rate within the first three years.
Problem Statement: The existing MAB tool interface encountered resistance from the Top Sellers segment*, which could have adversely affected the reception of the new B2B e-commerce platform. It was crucial to understand and tailor the tool to cater to the unique needs and limitations of these users.
*Top Sellers are a segment of consultants identified through research. Typically aged 50 or older, these women reside in smaller towns/villages, have 10 to 30 clients, and generate the highest profits with substantial turnovers. They hold a crucial position in Avon's Polish business.
After launching My Avon Business, both the old and new versions of the ordering system coexisted for a month. Consultants were encouraged to use the new version while being informed that the old version would soon be phased out. To gauge user satisfaction with the new service, a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey was displayed to users after their first order in My Avon Business.
The overall NPS score for MAB was 22, while in the Top Sellers segment, the NPS score was only 3.
Objective: The project aimed to create a new MAB interface that would facilitate smoother order placement for Top Sellers, increase B2B sales, and enhance their overall tool experience.
Field Research: The project commenced with extensive research involving Top Sellers to comprehend their needs, technological skills, and constraints. To achieve this, visits were made to four towns—Starograd Gdański, Tczew, Giżycko, and Suwałki—to conduct focus groups and in-depth interviews (IDIs). Observing users in their work environments at their homes was critical to obtaining a thorough understanding.
Insights: During visits to Top Sellers' homes, it was observed that they used outdated hardware (including cathode ray tube monitors), struggled with computer usage (scrolling using a mouse or touchpad), used outdated software (lacked awareness of browser updates), and had slow internet connections due to their rural locations surrounded by forests. Even though they were willing to learn digital skills, their environment and circumstances hindered them. It was discovered that Avon order placement was often their sole internet-related activity, and computers were primarily used for this purpose.
Among the most appreciated features for consultants were color-coded badges indicating product availability and stock status, an efficient product search feature, and the acceptance of a slightly longer purchasing path. They found upselling recommendations and flash sales with significantly discounted products to be useful and inspiring, despite the extra steps usually causing user irritation.
However, Top Sellers found product pages irrelevant. These conventional e-commerce pages, meant to provide product information, had no utility for them. They were familiar with most products in Avon's portfolio and relied on printed catalogs and monthly meetings with the Avon Club for updates on new products. Top Sellers also memorized the EAN codes of popular products. The interface received negative feedback, particularly the pink-and-white design that appeared infantile, accompanied by poor contrast. Users struggled to locate financial information such as credit limits. The My Avon Business tool felt overwhelming, inundated with messages, and challenging to navigate. The user interface, aligned with Avon's branding, featured a low-contrast pink-and-white design, rendering it particularly unreadable on older devices.
Conclusions:
The research uncovered areas requiring improvement and redesign within the tool, along with identifying existing site errors. Additionally, bugs related to order merging and return processing were identified through consultants' feedback.
Drawing on real-life experiences, work environments, and specific challenges encountered, a list of quick wins was developed for rapid implementation in the next tool version.
Based on the collected insights, a list of critical tool functionalities essential for consultants to effectively manage their business was compiled. A map of difficulties and potential pain points that users might encounter while using My Avon Business in the future was created.
Solutions:
• Enhanced Accessibility: Revisions were made to enhance the tool's accessibility for older users. Focus was placed on improving contrast, enlarging font sizes, and adjusting the names of functionalities and sections.
• Altered Information Architecture: A new ordering panel, order history, financial results information, and credit limit details were introduced to facilitate user navigation and access to vital information.
• Improved Interface: Clickable elements were clearly differentiated from regular text, featuring new, larger buttons, link underlines, and color coding for improved readability and usability.
• Streamlined Return and Exchange Panel: The panel responsible for returns and product exchanges was refined for simpler and more efficient usability.
• Low-Bandwidth Mode: The most significant solution was the introduction of an ultra-light version of the tool, designed to activate automatically in the event of poor internet connectivity. This streamlined version offered only two core functionalities—ordering and returns—enabling users to conduct business even with limited connectivity.
• Optimization for Low-Bandwidth: The standard tool version was optimized to cater to users with slow internet connections. Technical specifications were provided to graphic designers to create smaller marketing banners. Additionally, product images were optimized, and the site's code was streamlined by developers. These efforts resulted in a 68% reduction in tool weight.
• Enhanced Accessibility: Revisions were made to enhance the tool's accessibility for older users. Focus was placed on improving contrast, enlarging font sizes, and adjusting the names of functionalities and sections.
• Altered Information Architecture: A new ordering panel, order history, financial results information, and credit limit details were introduced to facilitate user navigation and access to vital information.
• Improved Interface: Clickable elements were clearly differentiated from regular text, featuring new, larger buttons, link underlines, and color coding for improved readability and usability.
• Streamlined Return and Exchange Panel: The panel responsible for returns and product exchanges was refined for simpler and more efficient usability.
• Low-Bandwidth Mode: The most significant solution was the introduction of an ultra-light version of the tool, designed to activate automatically in the event of poor internet connectivity. This streamlined version offered only two core functionalities—ordering and returns—enabling users to conduct business even with limited connectivity.
• Optimization for Low-Bandwidth: The standard tool version was optimized to cater to users with slow internet connections. Technical specifications were provided to graphic designers to create smaller marketing banners. Additionally, product images were optimized, and the site's code was streamlined by developers. These efforts resulted in a 68% reduction in tool weight.
Insights gathered during the research were also shared with the training department. This valuable information aided in the creation of video tutorials and improvement of the training plan.
All these solutions were developed based on actual user needs and experiences, significantly enhancing the usability and accessibility of the My Avon Business tool for the Top Sellers segment.
After a month of implementing the changes, a follow-up NPS survey was conducted among the Top Sellers segment, resulting in an improved score of 27. The adoption of the tool by Top Sellers also notably increased, with consultants readily incorporating it into their daily operations.