Bell Canada

In-store sales application dashboards redesign

Summary

Over six weeks, I led the redesign of Bell Canada’s in-store sales application, OneView, transforming its user experience into a cohesive and streamlined journey. By integrating enhanced UI design, modern visual aesthetics, and optimized interaction design principles, the updated application empowered sales agents and delighted customers alike.

The revamped design not only improved usability but also aligned with the intuitive standards of everyday consumer applications, exceeding expectations and driving measurable sales growth.

Work highlights:

Conducted in-depth user research to establish a comprehensive set of design principles, driving innovative UX and UI solutions.

Streamlined and unified sales tools, enhancing real-time access to inventory and customer data for the sales team.
Revamped the customer qualification and appointment scheduling process to improve efficiency and user satisfaction.
Optimized product presentation and ecommerce workflows to enhance the online shopping experience.
Redesigned the service bundling process, significantly improving usability and reducing friction.
Refreshed the visual design system to create a modern, intuitive, and user-friendly experience.

Outputs included:

1. Heuristic analysis

2. Wireframes

3. UI design

4. Visual design

Research

Speed and efficiency

I conducted rapid, cost-effective research to identify, challenge, and prioritize key assumptions.

Through a guided walkthrough of the application, I discovered that Bell's OneView integrated multiple systems, each with distinct UX and UI designs. This led to inconsistencies, unnecessary complexity, and deviations from best practices.

Key concerns included prolonged sales interactions, increased maintenance demands, frustration among sales teams and customers, and potential loss of sales opportunities.

Screens demonstrating design inconsistencies within the old OneView application:

Challenging early assumptions

To keep things efficient, we focused our research on a heuristic analysis, and user interviews. Even though the research was brief, it helped us challenge early assumptions about features, usability, and design, allowing us to create a user-centered solution based on real insights instead of guesses.

1. Visibility of system status
- What we saw: The application fails to clearly communicate the status of ongoing tasks. For example, when loading customer data, there is no progress indicator or feedback about whether the action has succeeded or failed.
- Why it matters: Sales associates may be left uncertain about the current state of tasks, leading to potential errors and customer dissatisfaction.
- What to do: Implement clear loading indicators and confirmation messages for task completion or failure.
2. Match between the system and the real world
- What we saw: The terminology and workflows used in the application are overly technical and may not align with sales associates' mental models or real-world tasks.
- Why it matters: Sales associates might struggle to navigate the system and require additional training to bridge the gap between the interface and their workflow.
- What to do: Use language and workflows that align with real-world sales processes, leveraging familiar terms and sequences.
3. User control and freedom
- What we saw: The system lacks clear options for undoing or canceling actions, such as modifying a customer’s service plan or correcting input errors.
- Why it matters: Users may feel trapped and hesitant to proceed with tasks for fear of making irreversible mistakes.
- What to do: Introduce undo and cancel options for major actions, providing users with the flexibility to correct errors.
4. Consistency and standards
- What we saw: UI elements such as buttons, icons, and labels vary across different modules, and likely create confusion about their function.
- Why it matters: Inconsistent design likely forces users to re-learn interactions in different parts of the application, increasing cognitive load.
- What to do: Standardize design patterns, UI elements, and interaction styles across all modules.
5. Error prevention
- What we saw: Input fields do not validate user data until after submission, potentially leading to frequent errors such as entering incorrect account numbers or service details.
- Why it matters: Sales associates likely waste time correcting errors and may make costly mistakes in real-time customer interactions.
- What to do: Implement inline validation and pre-fill fields where possible to minimize errors.
6. Recognition rather than recall
- What we saw: Users must remember specific steps, such as which menus to navigate through to access key customer information, rather than being presented with clear, easily accessible options.
- Why it matters: This likely increases the time needed to complete tasks and the likelihood of errors.
- What to do: Provide shortcuts, clearly labeled navigation menus, and contextual cues to guide users.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
- What we saw: The application does not support customization or shortcuts, forcing users to follow the same linear workflows.
- Why it matters: Sales associates likely cannot perform tasks efficiently, slowing down customer interactions.
- What to do: Introduce customizable dashboards, keyboard shortcuts, and quick-access tools for frequent actions.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
- What we saw: The interface is cluttered with unnecessary information and redundant controls, making it difficult to focus on critical tasks.
- Why it matters: We know that cognitive overload leads to slower task performance and increased error rates.
- What to do: Conduct a content audit to remove redundant elements and prioritize key actions and information.
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
- What we saw: Error messages are vague, such as "An error occurred," without providing actionable guidance to resolve the issue.
- Why it matters: Users likely waste time troubleshooting problems and require additional help from IT.
- What to do: Provide clear, descriptive error messages with suggestions for recovery or next steps.
10. Help and documentation
- What we saw: OneView lacks integrated help tools, likely requiring users to refer to external manuals or ask for help.
- Why it matters: This likely disrupts associate workflows and prolongs sales times.
- What to do: Include help in context, include tooltips, and an FAQ to provide instant support.

Design principles

Our research led to five key UX design principles that formed the foundation for the OneView experience. These principles served as a guide for design team and a way to help communicate our design decisions to Bell.

UX, UI and visual design

A fresh start

A new, clean and simple UI helps users identify and navigate key functionality to increase speed, improve efficiency, and elevate user satisfaction. To meet budget requirements, style was agreed upon and screens were designed in high-fidelity.

Using a default landing page, an agent can start the “Add a Line” process by finding an existing customer using any of the fields, or they toggle to the “Onboard a New Customer” tab and begin the onboarding process.

Dashboard structure examples

Customers:

Once a customer is found, the user is brought to their profile screen which contains relevant and actionable information including account activity, offers, mobility accounts and residential services.

Agents:

On their dashboard, agents are met with critical information surfaced to the top to ensure maximum readability and focus. A store readiness feature is included to keep all agents on top of their assigned tasks.

Building and comparing bundled services

Having the “Build a Bundle” call to action within the customer dashboard allows the agent to upsell qualified services with attractive offers to the customer. With its highly adaptable UI, agents can craft tailored solutions that meet each customer's unique needs.

Fast, efficient purchasing

Once a flow consisting of several separate screens, the “Add a Line” purchase flow is now a single contained experience allowing the user to select a device, a plan, add-ons and accessories.

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