Process
Problem
We are starting from scratch; the product is yet to be developed.
Goal
Our primary goals are to attract marketplaces as customers or design partners and to devise effective integration strategies.
Team
I am part of a team comprising six engineers, along with senior stakeholders from sales, risk, and payment operations.
Context and challenges
Being new to the company presents its own set of challenges, including a lack of familiarity with B2B marketplaces and payment processes, compounded by the absence of a product manager.
Adapting to a new settting
Embarking on my inaugural project with the company, I find myself in unfamiliar territory, lacking knowledge about the subject and the internal team. To bridge this gap, I initiate one-on-one meetings to understand the team's insights on the market and customers and attend numerous external meetings to connect with potential marketplace partners.
I quickly realise that working with a product designer is a novel experience for many of my colleagues, encountering resistance to some aspects of the design process, like discovery workshops, which are perceived as non-essential.
A strategic pivot is necessary.
Impactful work focus
I choose to concentrate on aiding the sales team in securing new customers, a critical component for the project's success. To facilitate this, I streamline the prototype development process, reducing creation time from 12 hours to 3-4 hours, thereby accelerating our ability to engage with more prospects.
These interactions with potential customers double as valuable user research sessions, enriching our understanding and shaping the product development. Based on these insights, I design three integration methods:
- A comprehensive API integration for a seamless checkout experience.
- A simplified integration tool ("Payment Journey") that demands considerably less engineering effort while directing customers to complete checkout via the Kriya Payment website.
- Integration options through eCommerce platforms, such as WooCommerce.
Customer collaboration
In terms of integration, I play a hands-on role in ensuring customers implement the design effectively. For instance, I've collaborated with Opply, a search platform for food and beverage suppliers, to integrate Kriya Payments into their checkout process, as demonstrated in the Opply x Kriya GIF created by Leanor Hanny, Kriya's Marketing Designer.
Result
Impact
- Developed three types of integration solutions and successfully launched the product across four marketplaces between Q2 and Q4 2022.
- Notably, one marketplace, Nivoda, an online diamond platform, experienced a 14.6% monthly average increase in orders and a 24% quarterly growth in customer numbers post the credit launch. Additionally, there was an 11% quarter-on-quarter increase in expenditure from existing customers
Learning
This project enriched my understanding of payment technologies and B2B marketplaces significantly. As a designer, I assimilated several crucial insights:
- Maintain a focused approach on addressing the company's challenges.
- Adopt a flexible stance towards the design process.
- Strive to illustrate the value design contributes to the company.
