After observing 100's of professionals struggle to leave a lasting impression at networking events, I decided to create a mobile app that helped them increase post-intro followups by 70%
Usage of my solution helped 1000s of professionals leave a lasting impression, increase their memorability, and eventually fostered meaningful connections with everyone they met for the first time.
PLATFORM
Mobile (IOS & Android)
TEAM
Myself + 3 Developers
MY ROLE
Founder & Designer
TIMELINE
Jan 2021 - Aug 2021
The information/opinions/decisions shared within this case study are my own and may or may not represent the opinion(s) or decisions practiced by KnockMe.
2 - THE SITUATION
BACKGROUND
Meet Kevin, a business man who
often attends networking events.
He attends with the goal of expanding his professional connection & exploring potential opportunities. At each event, he hands out anywhere from 50-100 business cards, hoping to establish meaningful relationships.
However, despite his efforts, he rarely receives any follow-ups from the people he meets, which leaves him feeling severely disheartened about the entire process.
THE PROBLEM
88% of business cards are thrown away only a week after being given
Good first impressions are tough. However, leaving a lasting and memorable impression on others is a beast of it's own.
If so many business cards are thrown away shortly after they are received, that means the suppliers didn't leave a lasting impression & that they definitely lost a potential lead/contact.
The age-old practice of trading paper business cards has certainly lost its luster. Hence, I decided to investigate the root cause of such a decline and design a more modern solution for the next generation of networking professionals.
MY ROLE
Not only was I the sole designer on this project,
but I was also the initial founder of the business.
This dilemma was interesting, as it forced me to constantly
wear multiple hats - balancing administrative and marketing
efforts, with designing a useful, efficient, and intuitive product.
THE SOLUTION
The last business card you'll ever need
KnockMe allows you to create a Digital profile that you can easily update & share with anyone instantly - You control what to share, how to share & who with.
FEATURE 1
A Digital Profile, with all your links - in one place.
As a user I want all my contact info to be easily accessible & updatable, so that I don't have to keep reprinting more business cards to share.
My design answers this need by empowering users to add an unlimited number of social links, directly on their profile - all in one place. Additionally, users to update their links in real time, so all the hassle of having outdated info is no more.
FEATURE 2
Share your profile/links with ease, in many ways.
As a user, I want exchanging contact info to be engaging, so I can leave a lasting impression connect with others.
My design answers this need my offering users a variety of sharing capabilities - so they can share their contact info by tapping other phones, getting their unique QR Code scanned or by simply sharing their profile URL.
FEATURE 3
Share what links you want, for better privacy controls.
As a user, I don't want to share all of my details with every person I meet, so that I can preserve my privacy.
My design offers an intuitive privacy control system allows users to choose what to share. With a simple toggle users can share their full profile or can decide any one link of their choosing easily and confidently.
2.0 - DISCOVERY
INITIAL DISCOVERY
To better understand the challenges that professionals faced when sharing business cards, I decided to interview 20 that I knew.
I decided to interview business owners, as they often handed out cards and were the ideal demographic for me to learn from, as I could identify all the pains and goals that came with sharing business cards. This process helped me better understand:
• The struggles these individuals faced when networking
• All areas of opportunity within networking process.
• The many specific bottlenecks within the process.
INTERVIEW INSIGHTS
Business cards have limited real estate. Hence, you can only add so much to them."
If my contact details change, I have to reprint cards to reflect any updates in information."
Sharing paper business cards is restricted to you being able to hand them out in-person."
Business cards have limited real estate, you can only add so much "
DEFINING SCALE
Next, I decided to survey 100 professionals, to better understand how many people were actually affected by aforementioned issues.
Within the survey, I asked participants about:
20%
participants wanted more space to add details to their business cards
60%
participants voiced that
reprinting cards to update info was a hassle.
80%
participants wanted more ways to share their details with others.
95%
participants wanted the following-up to be easier for card recipients.
DATA SYNTHESIS
Humanizing my target user through research insights
Personas allowed us to visualize & humanize data collected, providing a clear & coherent structure for our design thinking.
They ensured that our insights were user-centered, aligned with our users' expectations, and addressed their challenges.
Additionally, they made all the research findings presented
to the "non-designer" business stakeholders more digestible.
ESTABLISHING SCOPE
Defining what problems my solution MVP should address
The discovery phase helped me to not only identify our user, but also understand all the problems they faced when networking with others.
Since I couldn't realistically address all problems at once, I decided to identify 3 key problems, that if addressed, would not only improve our audience's overall experience, but also set a viable MVP scope:
🖨️
Paper has limits
Paper business cards have many limitations: Many Interviewees voiced frustration toward not being able to update them & lack of real estate available due to their physical nature.
😑
Tedious Sharing
The burden of manually inputting someone's contact information was the most frequently mentioned obstacle by our target audience. The process was laborious & cumbersome.
🔒
Privacy Concerns
Business cards lacked security. People often hesitated to share them due to data privacy concerns, since no one had the ability to control what to & not to share with others.
THE REAL PROBLEM
Business cards weren't thrown away because
they were useless, but because they were inefficient actually because they were inefficient and caused extra friction for all parties involved in using them.
Within the survey, I asked participants about:
2.1 - FRAMEWORK
THE VISION
Build a Digital Business Card that will enhance networking
The research made one thing crystal clear: Paper Business Cards were archaic & limiting.
People wanted a better and more efficient way to share their contact details with others. My design solution should leverage modern technology to:
• Help users easily access & update their info.
• Streamline the contact sharing as a whole.
• Allow users to Intuitively manage their privacy.
TECHNICAL CONSTRAINT
Since users would need to employ their digital business card on the go. The app needed to be mobile-first experience, to facilitate ease of accessibility and usage.
Additionally, since the platform's experience relied heavily on both hardware and software products, I needed to seamlessly marry the 2.
FINANCIAL CONSTRAINT
Since I was a Solo founder and designer, most of the development ground work would have to be crafted by me alone.
THE ARCHITECTURE
Mapping out app's structure to establish navigation scheme
To kickoff the design process, I mapped out the app's architecture to establish the user flows. The key flows to build out for the MVP included:
• A Digital Profile to hold all the user's links.
• Sharing page - help users share their profile
• A Menu, where users can access settings.
2.2 - DESIGN
DESIGN IDEATION
Brainstorming solutions via the Crazy 8's sprint exercise
Once I established the architecture, I started sketching the interface going through about 8 iterations for each screen.
I chose this method as it would help me rapidly brainstorm UI variations, until I honed in on the most effective solution.
Additionally, this design philosophy helped me efficiently sketch out my thoughts on paper, while removing any/all cognitive biases I'd have while creating the "best solution".
DIGITAL WIREFRAMES
Figmatize to refine
Once I solidified my design direction, I transitioned designs to mid-fidelity wireframes & started adding interface spacing. Moreover, I started mapping out each screen's connections.
This step was crucial as it helped me add on more detail to the design bringing it closer to the final product. Moreover, digital frames would help me better assess the app's overall experience through the upcoming usability testing phase.
2.3 - TESTING
USABILITY TESTING
Testing with business owners to evaluate the app's usability.
Since I was the single stakeholder, testing the MVP designs with real people was absolutely crucial, as it would remove my own design biases, while accurately validating & assessing my design decisions with users.
This involved evaluating the app's functionality, ease of use, troubling pitfalls, usability, and overall engagement.
Test participants were asked to perform various tasks, such as creating a profile, adding their contact details and sharing their digital business card, while I observed each interaction they made to identify areas of growth.
COMPILATION PHASE
Deciding between two options for the in-app personalization
Testing helped me identify areas of confusion or difficulty, potential bugs, and other issues that could impact the app's user experience.
I encountered some issues with the app's usability. The key issues discovered throughout my testing sessions, are mentioned below:
Hard to Navigate
5/5 testers found it challenging to navigate through the application's menu structure, often finding themselves unsure and lost when it came to accessing key features. The main culprit: the hamburger menu, that "fought with the Bottom Navbar for ultimate navigational supremacy."
Confusing Privacy Controls
3/5 testers voiced facing difficulty using the privacy toggle. They voiced that it was difficult for them to ascertain whether the "direct link" toggle was active or not. Additionally, users weren't made aware of which link would be shareable post toggle activation, causing further confusion.
REVISION PHASE
Redesigning areas of concern to reduce our target user's burden.
Testing feedback was incredibly useful as it helped me identify various pitfalls that the app suffered from - improving the UX/UI.
I redesigned the experience to address the tester concerns. Key revisions that I made based on feedback are mentioned below:
Improved Navigation
To simplify the app's navigation, I aggregated the hamburger menu and the bottom Nav-bar. This decision helped remove confusion that arose when users wanted to find key pages. The decision also helped omit any redundant links, by instead placing them all conveniently in one place.
Intuitive Privacy Controls
I simplified the "Direct Link" toggle - by adding a clear toggle CTA, label, & tooltip to the section. Additionally, to help users understand which link is still shareable, I improved the visibility of the active vs. inactive link. These decisions helped make the experience more intuitive and user-friendly.
DESIGN REVISIONS
After usability issues were addressed, I solidified the designs as High-Fidelity
I ran a few more rounds of user tests to ensure no other usability issues came up. Fortunately, my testers didn't mention any further concerns.
Now that the designs were validated, I felt confident with my design direction, I transitioned them to high-fidelity to solidify the interface.
4 - OUTCOME
SUCCESS METRICS
50% decrease in the time people spent exchanging their contact information
KnockMe's mobile MVPs were launched after 6 months of design and development. Separate time was taken to build out the project's brand, marketing materials, and E-commerce store.
6 months post-launching, I was able to survey a 100-user sampling and gained insights that helped measure success:
50%
reduction in time spent sharing contact details, resulting in an average of 15 more meaningful interactions made per event (user report).
30%
increase in conversations that were initiated using the app, showcasing its overall impact on fostering deeper and more meaningful relationships.
15%
reduction in paper waste at major industry gatherings, supporting environmentally sustainable efforts within the professional community.
70%
higher post-interaction follow up rates, when compared to conventional business cards, building deeper connections (according to user reports)
TAKEAWAYS
PROJECT INTROSPECTIVE
Twas a lesson in humility, business, & user empathy
I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity to not only, identify a unique problem within the professional networking space, but to also actively contribute toward a brighter and more connected future for everyone. As I look back on my time spent building Knockme, a few specific points of reflection come to my mind.
I've mentioned those takeaways below:
🤨
PLACEHOLDER
Successfully navigating the transition from an analogue medium to a digital one reflects the UX designer’s prowess in orchestrating the elusive dance within the uncanny valley of human and technological convergence. Things like these make waves.
🎓
TEDIOUS SHARING
For products that have a high learning curve (where users have to familiarize themselves with new things they have not done yet): Its valuable for you to provide users with helpful documentation to ease their burden as they learn to of productively employ your solution.
🚀
DONE > PERFECT
If you're not embarrassed by your product's first version, you've shipped too late. In UX/UI design, we all want things to look perfect & pretty. However, real design focuses first and foremost on whether products solve pains and secondly on how interfaces should look.