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peggy

chien

Enhancing Sales Reps’ efficiency with daily planning and prioritizing, ultimately increasing the CRM’s engagement among sales team.

Daily Catch-up

Contribution

UX Strategy

Interface Design

Information Architecture

Wireframing & Prototyping

User Research & Testing

Year

2024

What Prompt this Design Intervention?

Sales Reps are underutilizing the CRM, particularly for daily planning and prioritizing tasks.

In the exploratory interviews I conducted, only 1 out of the 6 interviewees mentioned they use the CRM in some capacity for planning. For others, they typically note down their priorities and tasks on pen and paper, or checking their Outlook for flagged emails.

Upon discussion with the Product Manager, it was a feedback coming from the customer as well that there is generally a lack of engagement on the CRM from the Sales Reps.

Why aren’t Sales Reps using CRM for planning & prioritizing?

“

I haven’t found a solution that works for me, so I’ve kind of reverted back to using emails each time.”

Sales Rep, 44, Canada

Unintuitive Interface

Many CRMs are feature-packed with numerous functionality, the complexity on a mobile screen contributes to challenges to simply update a task.

Lack of Immediate Value

Most CRM doesn’t always provide actionable insights or reminders, making it seem like extra work with no pay-off.

Disjointed Workflows

CRMs don’t sync seamlessly with tools like email or calendars, forcing reps to toggle between platforms, creating friction.

Misalignment with Goals

CRMs often prioritize activity tracking and reporting over helping reps hit their quotas or close deals, making the system feel misaligned with their primary objectives.

But why is using Outlook or email app a problem?

Lost in Outlook.

“

Right now I’m using MS for information when I’m heading to a meeting, then I have to look and think about where to find that info.”

Sales Rep, 28, UK

Email is not time-efficient and more issues arise as a result of using email to keep track of their priorities.

Tools like Outlook, is not designed for task management. They usually present things in a chronological order rather than a priority-driven manner, so it still requires Reps to spend a relative amount of time and cognitive effort to actively look for items that they need to follow-up on. From how the items are displayed, it’s also difficult to identify the ones that need their attention the most.

Key Insights

Sales Reps end up missing customer visits and necessary follow-ups — arguably the most important part of a Sales Rep’s role.

Priorities are scattered across multiple tools and platforms

Things could be more easily missed

Duplicated effort upon reporting & documentation

Missing important insights that the CRM could’ve offered them to progress a deal

Design Proposal

A tool that brings forward actionable insights and quick actions that Sales Reps can quickly knock off on their to-do-list, and knowing exactly what they need to do, without the mental strain of figuring out their next steps from their long laundry list of unclear “urgent items”.

Today’s Activities

Missed From Yesterday

Other Important Items

Real-time overview header categorizing priorities by area and type

Map preview illustrating upcoming route visually

Activity Card showcasing appointment details, deal specifics, and timeline insights—right at your fingertips.

Item-based Quick Actions to help you complete tasks efficiently.

Summarized Latest Events for follow-up context.

What is Daily Catch-up?

A quick 3-step process to start the day with focus and accomplishment.

The goal of Daily Catch-up is twofold:

(1)

Provide Sales Reps with a quick snapshot of their day, including upcoming visits, appointments, tasks, and any missed items from yesterday—along with key priorities derived from pipeline insights.

(2)

Boost CRM engagement by delivering up-to-date, contextual, and relevant insights that keep Sales Reps informed and proactive.

When to Catch-up?

Catch-up is designed to align effortlessly with the Sales Rep’s daily workflow.

I entered the design process with the belief that this feature would help Sales Reps start their day with greater focus.

When I tested the design with end users, they validated that its value extended beyond the morning—it also proved useful throughout the day, especially during downtime between customer visits.

“

The problem it does solve is figuring out what to do during the downtime in between meetings.”

Sales Rep, 47, US

11 AM

Customer Visit

8 AM

Check upcoming tasks and activities

Start the Day, Focused.

9 AM

Team meetings to review pipeline and align team goals

10 AM

Client call

Prepre

Fuel your downtime with Clarity

12 to 3 PM

3 PM

Customer Visit

What is the main challenge?

How are we going to intrigue user to engage with the feature when they don’t use the CRM to begin with?

One of the biggest challenge with this project is to identify the format and launch point that will resonate and pique our user’s interest the most.

Prior Iteration

Catch-up didn’t start as a separate flow in the beginning, it was imagined as a Homepage re-design.

However, the issue still exists with getting users to launch the platform, and overcomplicating the current homepage experience.

Prior Iteration

Then Catch-up evolved into a distinct summary flow.

Initially, each item was designed as an independent card, but this approach proved unsustainable due to the potential volume of items, highlighting scalability concerns.

Design Rationale

Multiple entry points improve discoverability, boost engagement, enhance contextual relevance, and provide greater flexibility.

The final Catch-up flow eliminates the need for users to open their CRM to discover and start using the feature. Instead, it leverages an external trigger—a morning push notification—to drive engagement from the start of the day.

To further improve discoverability and accessibility, Home Screen Widgets allow users to view key information directly on their phone screen without opening the CRM app.

For those already using the CRM, a dedicated Catch-up card on the CRM homepage serves as a third launch point, ensuring seamless access.

By providing multiple entry points, users can engage with Catch-up in ways that naturally fit their workflow. This makes the feature feel more intuitive, encourages frequent use, and reinforces habit formation.