Message Templates feature

Background

Text Connect is a mobile and desktop web application designed for car dealer associates (service advisors and technicians) to easily communicate with customers through text messaging. I was on the team as a product manager + UX designer, we will be looking at the Message Templates feature which allow users to attach frequent messages that can be edited per user. .

SUMMARY

  • Roles: Product Manager + UX Designer on a team of 5

  • Role Duration: 1.5 years

  • Process: User Research, Ideation, MVP Launch, Reflection

  • Tools: Figma, Sketch, Miro, Atlassian JIRA + Confluence, Zoom

PROCESS BREAKDOWN

I began with a list of our top power user customers and facilitated over 30+ video interviews with a mix of Service and Sales Managers, Advisors, and Front Desk/BDC Agents and asked them a series of questions such as:

  1. How do you currently remind customers of their upcoming service or car viewing appointments?

  2. On a daily basis, what are the top 5 most common messages you receive from customers?

  3. Are there any common messages you send to customers?

  4. (For Directors and Managers) How does the team effectively stay engaged with customers’ questions about their vehicles while running the service and sales operations?

1. User Research

From the interviews, we created 2 personas of our target users and problem statement:

As a Service Advisor, I want to use saved templates for frequent messages so I can save time while handling multiple open work orders and deliver better customer service by minimizing human errors when sending a text.

2. Design, Rapid Prototype, Iterate, Repeat

I collaborated with the lead product manager and engineering manager to collect use cases based on user interviews, design rapid prototypes to discuss design decisions and gather technical minimum requirements. Here are some of the key design decisions and how the users reacted —

KEY Design Decision Q: Who should have the permission to create, edit, delete templates?

We asked the same power users for feedback by showing them UX drafted screens:

  • Option A: Personal - Anyone staff in the dealership can Create and Modify templates

  • Option B: Managers - Only Managers and Admins may Create and Edit templates - This option wins!

  • Participants gave it 50/50 ratings but Option B won because of the upper management’s main concern that their advisors may accidentally edit/delete a shared template.

This Design decision led to 2 more flows/personas based on permissions:

  1. Service Technicians/Associate Flow: Can only use templates - they may edit the pasted message before sending it to the customer

  2. Admin/Manager Flow: Can use, create, edit, and delete templates - additionally has a new template editing admin tool

More key design decisions we made with power users:

Selection - radial button vs dropdown?

How to display templates per store location:

3. launched mvp!
What was the feedback?

Summary

  • Pilot tested with 3 dealerships, gathered and addressed 15+ pieces of feedback and bugs. Pilot customers were delighted with the functionality and saving time when sending the constant some messages!

  • Worked with engineers and cross-functional CDK teams to address bugs.

  • Message Templates are being used by large national dealers throughout North America today.

  • The team lead gave a demo of Message Templates to represent CDK at an annual auto-industry event called NADA.

TRY THE FINAL Prototype

Admin/Manager Flow - Create, Edit, Delete Templates

Associate/Technician Flow - Use templates

4. Reflection Time!


The launch of the Message Templates feature to CDK customers was a significant milestone, with successful pilot testing and general release to dealerships across North America. Through the pilot testing, feedback was gathered and addressed, and collaboration with cross-functional teams led to bug fixes and improvements. The feature is now being used by large national dealerships, showcasing its impact on the business.

Business Impact


As the UX lead, I gained valuable insights into the importance of user involvement in feature creation and the significance of timely project planning. Managing stakeholders and coordinating with dealerships with different time zones and availability presented challenges that helped me develop skills in communication and project coordination.

Personal reflection


In hindsight, I would focus on ensuring the team has a clear understanding of the pitch deck and develop a more comprehensive strategy for gathering customer feedback. This could include surveys, user testing, and direct interactions to gather insights for further iterations and improvements on the feature. Given the opportunity, I would use these learnings to enhance the feature build process and continue refining the Message Templates feature to better meet customer needs.

Next steps/opportunities

Thanks for reading it to the end!