Sebastian Krestin | Event Forms

It's a long story, but here's a

A quick walkthrough

CONTEXT

AMEX Travel Agents use an internal CRM along with 3rd party booking tools like Resy to book and manage events for their card members.

AMEX card members can leverage expert AMEX travel agents to book events like dining reservations, flights, limo services, and cruises. My team focuses on enhancing both the agent and card member experience by empowering AMEX travel agents to work more efficiently and quickly.

AMEX's goal

Reduce Call Handling Time (CHT): amount of time it takes for an AMEX travel agent to create and manage an event.

Lowering CHT allows AMEX to handle more calls with fewer agents, saving money and improving the card member experience by reducing call times.

PROBLEM

AMEX travel agents were wasting time with redundant data entry between their internal CRM and 3rd party booking tools

Agents spent hours inputting the same data into multiple systems. This made their jobs tedious and led to unnecessarily long call times.

HYPOTHESIZED SOLUTION

We believed that an API would remove redundant data entry by transferring recurring data points between the multiple softwares.

The solution wouldn't change much of the front end, but would transfer data points between the softwares which meant that agents didn't have to take notes by hand or manually re-enter information that could be automatically transferred.

USER TESTING RESULTS

The API would in theory speed up the booking flow, but the events page had so many issues that they weren't actually using it in the first place.

100% said that the API would speed up their workflow

The current events page does not account for all booking scenarios

73% found the events page confusing

NExt STEPS

We convinced AMEX with data that in order to reduce CHT significantly, we would need to redesign the events page addressing the issues found in user testing

The ROI of implementing the API was not worth it without redesigning the current events page. The current events page was confusing to navigate, lacked a clear flow, and did not account for all possibilities when making a booking.

MY IMPACT/ROLE

I was given ownership of this project after the decision to create the API was made and right before we conducted user testing.

I was personally responsible for...

Creating the script and conducting analysis for the moderated user testing
Managing AMEX stakeholder relationships, using data to push for a redesign

With my awesome teammate, Lewis...

We redesigned the UI/UX booking experience

A step-by-step overview of the

New Event Form

We redesigned the events “page” to act more like an events form that could guide the travel agent through a more consumer booking experience

STEP 1

Agent Inputs Event Request in CRM

When the CM calls in for support, the AMEX travel agent records the initial event request into the new event form.

STEP 2

Agent Completes Booking in 3rd Party Tool

Upon request completion, the agent is directed to the third-party booking tool with pre-filled event and card member information, avoiding redundant data entry.

STEP 3

Agent Reviews Booking Details in CRM

The final booking details are then transferred automatically to the event form as static content for review and future reference.

STEP 4

Agent Adds Additional Admin Information

The final step includes the event management tasks (follow up date, event status, etc) travel agent need manage the event.

Testing showed that we

Saved AMEX $1.5M

AMEX implemented the design changes to a small percentage of the US market and came up with these numbers.

46%

Time to set up an event

60%

Time to Complete an event (CHT)

56%

Time to find event info. post booking

Here are some

Key Takeaways

I'm incredibly proud of this project, not only because of the results it's provided AMEX, but also becuase of the lessons I learned along the way.

Finding the right balance between discovery and speedy testing is an art.

Our journey highlighted the importance of balancing discovery and rapid testing. Despite thorough planning, critical insights about the events page's limitations only emerged during testing, showing the value of this dual approach.

B2B can be just as delightful as B2C....and it should be

B2B software should be as pleasant and straightforward as B2C software since both serve humans. The key is to empathetically understand the needs of all involved, aiming to create an exceptional and delightful user experience that efficiently achieves specific goals.

Stakeholder buy-in is key to impact growth

Our five-year partnership with AMEX was key in building trust, enabling us to propose and test a complete redesign of their event management experience. Gaining decision-makers' buy-in is vital, as even the best designs need it to be fully utilized.