AI is an opportunity for us to short-cut the most boring and difficult part for clients: filling out the brief to start projects. Since starting a project is the main friction point for customers, yet a necessary investment, any opportunity to improve it slightly has a huge return. With AI, clients could simply say the basics about a project and AI would fill it out. The challenge was also how to make this visual experience as straight-forward.
Comparing the first screen the customer would see to the AI version customers see now
We started by building a beta site to test the theory and see if we could use the AI. We had a system that worked: users could say what kind of project they need, and the AI would input info and give likely options. The UI was confusing: users had one field and no guidance through the flow.
AI brief in beta
We live tested the live site and looked at metrics to see completion rate. We did not promote the AI site. Instead, we worked with PMs to get their feedback on the old brief while having them open up the brief to clients. The initial UI proved much too difficult to interact with.
We broke up the customers into 5 user groups, ranging from a new customer from a new account to a seasoned customer from a prolific account.
A chat prompts the user while also guiding the user to fill out the brief. Each side mirrors the information and caters to both newer users and power users.