Designed for Loadsmart in 2023
R O L E
Product Design
an efficient management interface designed for Carrier Sales Representatives, streamlining contract sourcing and management for increased speed and productivity.
Carrier Management
O V E R V I E W
What is Loadsmart?
Loadsmart is an American company that creates technology solutions for the logistics industry, serving carriers, shippers, and facilities. They operate an internal brokerage enabled by digital tools, and they also develop tech tools to enhance other companies' operations.
I worked as a product designer for two related teams that the main goal was to improve the sourcing process for Carrier Sales Representatives.
The Carrier Management tool was invisioned to help Carrier Sales Representatives see all their current carrier portfolio and active contracts, enabling them to make better and smarter decisions
C O N T E X T
Loadsmart initially leveraged an effective tool, DAT, to facilitate quicker sourcing for Carrier Sales Reps. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, we had to discontinue its use.
In our digital brokerage strategy, our goals are to enhance the contribution margin while maintaining exceptional service levels. The discontinuation of DAT has presented challenges, especially in the sourcing of same-day loads, as it was the primary tool employed by our sales team for such time-sensitive situations.
As the freight market anticipates a rebound, there is a growing concern that an increase in volume may put strain on our carrier sales operations, potentially impacting both margin and service quality. Recognizing this, it became imperative for us to proactively address this issue and explore effective measures to prevent any negative impact on our operations.
In light of these considerations, we are actively seeking innovative solutions and strategies to optimize our sourcing processes, particularly in the context of same-day loads. Our focus is on ensuring that our carrier sales operations remain agile and responsive to market dynamics.
By anticipating potential challenges and actively working to enhance our operational efficiency, we aim to not only mitigate the impact of discontinuing DAT but also position ourselves strongly to navigate the anticipated surge in freight market volume.
Challenge
T H E P R O B L E M
Persona
To provide additional context, it's important to highlight the persona we are focusing on as a result of previous research I conducted in the past. This persona serves as a key reference point for our current efforts in this project.
Identify the specific challenges and pain points experienced by CS Reps in their day-to-day activities, with the aim of developing or enhancing products to address these issues.
Explore the software and tools utilized by CS Reps in their routine tasks to identify potential integration or improvement opportunities.
Examine the impact of the removal of DAT on the routine of CS Reps and understand how their work processes have been affected as a result.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the Carrier Sales team process, we conducted a one-week, in-office research initiative in the city of Chicago to gather qualitative input directly from our carrier sales team.
Opportunity
Goals
Here is a concise overview of our week's structure in Chicago:
R E A S E A R C H
Questions
We organized the questions in a few topics to better conduct the interviews
Tools they were currently using
Carriers service
Finding new carrier
Pain points
Contracts
Compliance
After Sourcing
Throughout the week in Chicago, we engaged in shadowing and conducted interviews with the team to gain deeper insights into the challenges we were encountering. Over this period, we had discussions with 12 individuals and conducted two workshops. This collaborative effort involved working closely with two product managers.
We successfully gathered enough information to construct the journey for two distinct profiles:
Capacity delevopment (users who managed contracts)
Carrier Sales Representatives
Outcomes
Opportunity tree and priorities definition
In one of the workshop session, we validated the journeys and delved deeply into the most latent pain points.
Following all the research and discovery, we constructed an opportunity tree to gain a clearer understanding of our priorities. This involved considering design and engineering efforts alongside the potential business impact to determine our initial focus areas.
Due to time constraints and the existence of a well-established Design system, we've adopted an efficient approach by concentrating on user flows and bypassing wireframing. Our decision was to directly advance to creating a high-fidelity mockup for user testing.
Final Solution
After taking the opportunity tree into consideration and finilizing the user flow we decided to build 2 simple but effect solution.
The first one, provide representatives with increased visibility into carriers within their portfolio, enabling more effective management and enhance visibility into loads that align with carriers' preferences, empowering representatives to optimize their matching process.
First results after the release
Contracts rejection down 26%
From 21.36% to 15.82%
Tiered carrier retention up to 76%
Highest % YTD
Compared to 64% MoM