Case Study
Consensus UX Case Study Header Image

Consensus: Case Study

Intro to the company: Consensus

Consensus aim to shorten the sales cycle with intelligent interactive video demos. No business can survive without making sales, this makes presales big business! 

The challenge.

The enterprise sales cycle can be complicated, especially when you get into larger ticket sales. Challenging the way that businesses work at a core level is always tricky. Fortunately, automation can help save an incredible number of billable hours every month, freeing up sales staff for higher touch areas. Can we convince sales managers to put their presales in the hands of software?

The process.

Consensus already had a basic version of their automated video platform, but it was missing some key features. Starting with the existing designs I looked at how best to meet the requirements while keeping users happy. 

the UX process for Consensus demo player

Problems and challenges.

Including longform sales documents into a video player.

Enterprise sales can be data heavy. Even “simple” processes can include heavy documentation. I needed to find a way to allow potential clients to have access to this additional documentation whilst watching a sales demo.

Long video chapter titles were fundamental.

You’ve probably seen how YouTube shows video segments at the bottom of their screen, accompanied by a short descriptive text. Consensus needed full length descriptive titles that were accessible to viewers. This was problematic. Displaying a whole sentence as a “title”, was going to need a solution.

Designing “unfinished” features.

As with many projects you are working “on the fly”. This can be challenging but also one of the exciting aspects of a product. When the product manager sees how something is developing, new ideas and directions appear. This means having to adapt designs, while keeping the product highly usable. 

initial chapter layout for video player
development of video chapters
hifi mockup of video player wireframe
hifi mockup of video player wireframe / alt version
hifi mockup of video player wireframe / alternate version

Project expectations.

Consensus were enjoying huge growth and the product needed to grow alongside their clients’ needs. This meant being agile was key. Iterations were put together; feedback was sent and on we went until all stakeholders were happy. We needed to ship quickly to keep up with the growth, so communication was key.

Being on a different continent meant working asynchronously. Using Figma and Loom we were able to communicate seamlessly. 

Understanding the business.

As with any new project certain things need to be understood: 

  • I need to understand the goals of the project.
  • I need to understand what problem the end client is facing (if indeed any).
  • I need to learn how the current software works and where it is failing its users (if at all).

Customer personas or real-life customers? 

I was working with the senior product manager at Consensus so all data was funnelled through him. As they already had a large customer base it meant there was access to real world info from paying customers.

As I have mentioned in other case studies, if it’s a choice between personas and real-life users (customers in this case), I’ll go with the had data every time. 

The iterative process.

An initial version of the product existed which was great as it gave me a jumping off point. The requirements were updated as iterations were presented. This meant that it was a fun period of creative UX design ending with high-fidelity mockups and prototypes. I really enjoy the process when the back and forth is fluid and people are bouncing ideas off each other.

hifi mockup for consensus
slide out for consensus video player mockup
end of demo mockup for consensus
learn more screen for consensus video player

Results and final thoughts.

There was a definite evolution in the product and it’s always satisfying when that happens. Working in a fast-paced environment like this is fun and too be honest there weren’t any major hurdles. The work was fluid, and Consensus were great.

I know the customer experience has been greatly improved and I’m sure it is helping their business to grow further. 

image of a designer using a tablet to create wireframes
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