Classically known for its ’Avon Ladies’ going door-to-door with product catalogs, the company is arguably one of the first companies to capitalize on a direct-selling model. Unfortunately that model carried forward all the way to present-day. Even when ‘digitized’ Avon’s business practices still mapped to its paper-based tools. Meanwhile, the direct-selling market continued to grow, and Avon faced more competition than ever — now with advanced and more user-friendly digital systems.
Before starting work, we researched the company’s operations, internal processes, and technical capabilities. We performed stakeholder interviews, user interviews, and analyzed competitor offerings for best-in-class options.
[$4M technology and design consulting fees over 2yrs.]
Our approach was holistic, addressing 3 primary categories…
Connecting Digital Ecosystems
Too many systems were maintained and supported without centralized functions or plans for rationalization.
Updating Rep Experiences
Online offerings to the field made running the business too complex. An exodus of existing reps and a failure to recruit new ones combined for a dire outlook.
Streamlining Internal Processes
A lack of centralized processes for enterprise-level software design led to inconsistent offerings and circular problem solving.
We Started with
User & Market Immersion
We conducted progressive interviews and testing sessions to establish high-priority goals and refine user personas. As new digital tools began to roll out, we attended events to preview updates with current reps and gather feedback.
We also analyzed competitor experiences to establish design and functionality standards consistent with the field. These standards were applied throughout the design process to inform concepts and reviews, ensuring the final product adhered to best-in-class standards.
Unified Best-In-Class Patterns
We created a universal style guide to direct the redesign of all of Avon’s digital tools. Using these libraries, we updated marketing properties, the public e-commerce property, and private rep tools. Our design updates not only brought the platforms in line with current standards, they also improved visual accessibility, strengthened multi-language performance, and addressed broad browser requirements.
In addition to establishing a baseline for all universal styles, these resources also provided ready access to resources for designers and coders to jumpstart future work.
Streamlining Core Processes
The Avon ordering protocol, among a handful of additional core processes, was a major hindrance to progress. Prior to our involvement, ordering new products, reordering favorites, and managing downline orders was time-intensive. Referencing best-in-class subscription, ordering and payment processing standards, we reduced required clicks/steps on new customer flows by 50-75%.
Old Avon Flows
Original checkout processes incorporated legacy system requirements, unnecessary validations, time consuming and system-intensive processing.
New Avon Flows
Re-thinking customer process flows without remaining trapped in legacy systems allowed us to completely redesign processes while leaving some mission-critical systems in place.
Microservices and CRM
Field reps often need help selling more effectively, struggling which product to recommend, when to follow up, what products complement one another. We integrated with an existing CRM and back-office management tool (Vibe) that could be accessed via an independent API. Results included an average increase in cart size, significantly improved reorders, and a reduction in support calls to up-line reps and corporate.
Making Your Next-Best Move
Because CRM interfaces were originally designed by engineers then customized for Avon, they missed the mark with users. Our approach leveraged APIs to remove unnecessary limitations.
Knowing what to recommend to a customer is sometimes overwhelming, especially for a Rep just getting her bearings in a new direct marketing environment. We provided everything they needed.
First-Time Ever, Responsive Cross-Browser Performance
Extensive improvements to all code at every layer, combined with rigorous testing on every page improved usability and transferred information necessary to carry responsive standards forward.
We successfully designed, developed, and executed the company’s first on-time product launch in nearly 15 years. Our process ensured that we were able to complete our obligations accurately the first time, resulting in numerous launches that delivered ahead of schedule and under budget—something no agency or consultancy in recent memory was able to accomplish.
In a corporate environment shaken by restructuring, falling revenues, and uncertain leadership, we were able to produce a wide range of updated digital products that helped Avon increase sales and find their way back to financial stability.