A UX journey to product redemption from the ashes of the pheonix

Ditching the Combyne marketplace and cultivating a crop marketing powerhouse for farmers
The Problem
Combyne's Market Network stagnated at <5% MoM user growth, revealing a product-market mismatch through low user sentiment.
The Challenge
It took a few months for the company to realize the current product wasn't going to work... and we only had a few more months of runway to get a new idea off the ground in time for harvest.
Results
New marketing management features were launched in time for harvest. Within the first month, 10% of existing users adopted the new features. Within 6 months post-launch we had 1.94X MAUs.
Team
  • Product Owner
  • 2 Designers (UX & UI)
  • User Researcher
  • 5 Developers
  • Product Analyst
My Role
  • UX Lead
  • Research Lead
  • Product Manager
  • Product Strategy
Timeline
  • Overall: 4 months
  • Problem Definition: 2 weeks
  • Design & Testing: 6 weeks
  • Development: 8 weeks
Tools
  • Brainstorming: Miro
  • Design: XD & Figma
  • Testing: Google Meets, Maze
  • Research: Airtable, Amplitude, Typeform
  • PM: Aha, YouTrack

An Overview: Marketplace Evolution

Marketplace to marketing management in 4 months

I led research, design, and product validation on a growing team of 15 to launch a crop marketing tool in AgTech

Jan - Jun 2021

Identifying a New Opportunity

Through ongoing discovery research conducted with existing Marketplace users, I was able to identify new areas of opportunity in the crop marketing space.
Jul 2021

Defining & Validating the Problem

Using findings from previous research, we defined some key problems farmers were facing in the crop marketing cycle, and interviewed over 30 farmers to evaluate current workflows.
Jul - Aug 2021

Designing & Testing the MVP

After validating key pain points, our team worked on designing and defining an MVP for crop inventory management. With less than 2 months for development it had to be small, but big enough to show a change in direction for the company.
Sept - Nov 2021

Launching & Evaluating the MVP

Once the initial MVP was designed and scoped down through usability testing and prioritization using the Kano model, it was developed and launched on target. We established 3 core hypotheses to evaluate impact post-launch.
October 2022

Launching a Revamped Experience

A revamped experience was launched in October 2022, with the complete removal of Marketplace features and buyers from the platform to become a farmer-focused tool. This led to exponential growth of the new inventory and contract offerings, driving a drastic change in product perception.

Company timeline

A marketplace business model was not sustainable, so the company pivoted…twice. If at first you don't succeed, try again.

Discovering the problem

Combyne’s Marketplace product was not getting the traction the business needed, with less than 5% user growth MoM

1
Less than 10% of users had connections
2
Only 5-10% of users were posting listings
3
Listing prices were not aligned with the market
4
Majority of listings were out of date
5
Attempts to engage users were unsuccessful

Farmers did not have a regular need to find new buyers or source bids, making Combyne's Market Network a one-off tool

1/year
The average farmer only needs to add one new buyer to their network a year, if they add any at all.
85%
The percentage of existing buyer relationships that are long-standing, based on deep trust built over time.
90%
The percentage of buyers that already have their own tools and processes to manage bids and communication.

Re-DEFining the problem

Research showed that the marketplace was getting in the way of established processes between farmers and buyers
So we applied a new lens to the crop marketing cycle, identifying new pain points through discovery research with existing users

Consistent pain points appeared in multiple steps of the customer journey, highlighting new opportunities to support farmers with decisions about their crop sales.  

Pain Points Identified

Tracking and comparing bid prices
Overselling crop, resulting in loss of revenue
Determining how much inventory to sell at once
Storing and sharing contracts with stakeholders
Planning monthly cashflow based on grain deliveries
Verifying payments against contracts for accounting

Validating the problem

After defining new problems in the crop marketing cycle, I conducted in-person interviews with over 30 farmers in Western Canada along with our User Researcher, to validate a new idea.

Research Goal

Gain a better understanding of current crop inventory and contract tracking habits to validate previously uncovered pain points in the workflow and determine highest area of need with opportunity for improvement.

Interview Context

  • Business overview (farm size, crops grown, farm setup, location, team, etc.)
  • Current workflows, tools used or tried
  • Likes and dislikes of existing tools
  • General pain points in crop marketing
  • Important data used to make decisions
  • Farm stakeholders and data exchange

Interview Structure

  • Intro, learn about the farmer
  • Deep dive into crop marketing workflow
  • Farmer walkthrough of day-to-day
  • Farmer walkthrough of tools
  • Present a storyboard for feedback
the findings

We found that farmers were using an average of 2-3 methods to track crop inventory and contracts, with over 60% using spreadsheets coupled with manual methods like whiteboards and paper

Paper doesn't remind you, you've got to remember, and that is tough with so much on-the-go all the time.
- Farmer, Stettler, AB
key user needs identified

We discovered that ~80% of farmers are not able to tell you how much of their crop is sold at any given moment even though this was key to making marketing decisions

Inventory Tracking

Track how much grain has been sold against total inventory to give a ‘marketed position’ as a % sold to know what’s available to sell.

Contract Tracking

Track price, quantity, and delivery details of each contract to know cashflow, upcoming deliveries, and average price sold/unit at a glance.

Data Sharing

Sharing inventory and contract data with farm stakeholders, hired hands, and service providers to improve collaboration and reduce error.

Manual Data Entry

Existing tools and systems are not connected which creates a lot of time-consuming manual data entry to keep on top of paperwork.
conclusion

Blind Spot: Farmers lack real-time data for selling decisions and current tracking processes are outdated

When I get asked about my marketing position, I have to go to Dropbox, download my spreadsheet, then review it to know what I have.
- Farmer, Grayson, SK

I used these insights to develop a storyboard with rough mockups created by our UX designer, that ignited additional farmer feedback and refined a vision for the 'ideal' crop marketing tool

This would be handy, whether the crop is sold on Combyne or not, even if only 15% of my sales go through Combyne, if the rest of it is still trackable then I know where everything is and that would be so helpful.
- Curt M., Leduc, AB
My inventory is all in my head. Used to have a whiteboard that mapped out my bin yard but it was destroyed in the shop. It’s been about a year and [I have] yet to buy one.
- Monty S., Watrous, SK
Contracts are a pain because some buyers send you a physical copy, some have a digital platform, some send you a Docusign, then you have to go back to the office, print it out, sign it, scan it, and send it back.
- Merle B., Oyen, AB

I worked with our user researcher to map a typical farmer’s crop marketing lifecycle stages, highlighting key areas of opportunity

Defining personas

Using the research insights, we defined five target personas.  Two of them showed high needs for a new tool, correlating with areas of opportunity from the user journey.

We honed in on these two personas to inform the development of new features to help them manage the crop inventory and sales.

MVP Definition

I spearheaded the design and scoping of a minimum viable product (MVP) for embedded inventory management features

Must Haves

Track inventory for past/current/future years
Upload contracts as PDF, image, or take a photo
Use contracts to show available inventory (% sold)
See average price sold as a $/unit for each crop 

Nice to Haves

Use inventory to fast track listing posting 
Compare this years average price to previous years
See upcoming deliveries and cash flow by month
See daily market price for the crops in my inventory

Future or Not Needed

Upload load tickets to track delivery progress
Upload settlements to track final payments
See how much crop is in active listings

UX Design & Testing

I sketched out ideas for the new product in a collaborative brainstorming session with our UX designer, who then created mid-fidelity mockups to put into usability testing.

We conducted two rounds of unmoderated usability testing with 10 users in Maze, using virtual follow-ups to gather qualitative feedback. Final designs for the MVP went into development across three sprints to launch in time for harvest (a key time of year for farmers to change tooling and tracking methods).

Testing Results
1
Crop list was shown as one element >>> Separated by crop to include more detail
2
Legend was shown at the bottom >>>
Shown with each crop for easier reference
3
Grain in listings was shown in graph >>> Removed due to lack of usefulness
4
Listings & Contracts on main page >>> 
Relevant Listings & Contracts with each crop profile

Launch

Inventory launched in November 2021. Usage began one day after launch. We continued rapid iterations over the next 4 months. 

We conducted diary studies with farmers as they adopted the new features:

1
Farmer uses Inventory feature
2
Phone interview within 1 week for initial feedback
3
Determine relevance of feedback based on persona
4
Invite to participate in on-going feedback
5
Conduct informal call once a month for 3 months
6
Review usage data per user to establish patterns
Pre-Launch Hypotheses & post-Launch Impact

After 4 months, we had a small group of farmers actively using new features, but the majority were adding inventory and dropping off

50% of new users will add inventory within 30 days of signing up
60% of users who add inventory will add contracts within 7 days 
The number of users adding contracts will grow by 20% MoM post-launch

ITERATING

In March, I started a research initiative with dropped off users to uncover the reasons behind the lack of engagement 

Research Goal

Uncover current user perception of the Combyne product. We were 5 months out from the MVP launch and had sent many marketing communications to users throughout that period explaining the new direction, but did they actually know the product had changed?

Who Was Targeted

12 total in-person sessions with farmers in Western Canada
  • Users who had only used the new inventory feature once and never again
  • Users who had been to the app but not used the new features

What Was Asked

  • Walk us through your last experience with the Combyne app
  • What were you trying to accomplish? Were you able to complete your task?
  • How would you describe the product to a friend?
The Findings

Maintaining the marketplace functionality was clouding the new direction, blocking growth of the crop marketing management tool.

What Was Uncovered

  • Farmers were creating inventory because they thought it was required to post a listing
  • They still viewed the app as a marketplace to sell their grain
  • Farmers were worried that buyers could see their inventory data, so they were hesitant to add it

Problem Causes

There were still buyers on the platform, and the home page of the product was largely devoted to building your network, finding, and posting listings. This perpetuated the perception that the Marketplace was still Combyne's main functionality, despite the addition of the new inventory features.

Resulting Issues

Farmers were hesitant about putting their inventory on the platform because they were concerned that it would be visible to the buyers and other farmers on Combyne. Those that were adding crop inventory, were under the impression that it was required in order to post a listing of grain for sale.
10/12 farmers still viewed Combyne as just a Marketplace to sell their grain.
NEW APP EXPERIENCE

I recommended the complete removal of marketplace and buyers to unlock growth of the new product, leading design of a revamped app experience to transform Combyne into a farmer-first tool.

Expected Outcomes
1
Focus on one core target audience (farmers) would speed up development time, enable faster iteration, and result in more impactful solutions
2
Improved perception of Combyne’s value as a crop marketing management tool and not a marketplace, increasing active use
3
Increased trust and willingness to add inventory and contract data to the product (without fear of buyers having visibility)
Ideation

I ran an open brainstorming session with our team, using rapid wireframing to develop new ideas for the home page experience of our product. These are some of the sketches I created in the session.

final Design

Our team's UX Designer and UI Designer collaborated to create the new designs for a big release that was launched in October 2022. With removal of all marketplace functionality and buyers from the app, we were able to focus the product experience on the crop marketing cycle itself, with sections for each core stage.  

I used the research insights to map out an ideal user journey for the product, guiding the new experience and future iterations. I highlighted a key habit loop as a core focus for product iteration that would generate active users, making the product sticky.

Results

After the revamped experience was launched (Project Phoenix as our team dubbed it internally), we saw exponential growth of the product over the next 6 months.

Growth Stats

Over the next 6 months we saw an average of 14% MoM growth, with a notable 26% jump in January
The average rate of new user activation (users adding inventory within their first month) went up to 50%, from ~10% pre-launch  
Total bushels of inventory tracked in the app went up by almost double, with a 90% increase from 13.6M bu in Oct '22 to 25.7M bu in Mar '23
competitive advantage

Qualitative insights from active users showed that the new Combyne product had two main competitive advantages

New Product Space (Blue Ocean)

No other tools existed in the AgTech space with a niche focus on crop marketing management, filling an unmet need in the market.
"The space that Combyne fills is very needed in the agricultural industry… I am always switching between spreadsheets or pen and paper to follow what I have in my bin, what’s sold, what’s not sold. It’s never flowed very well, especially because you’re using different spreadsheets and it’s so labour-intensive to keep up. I’ve been thrilled with how this brings together the marketing side of the farm; it really holds everything in one place."
- Active User of Combyne

User-Friendly and Mobile First

No assisted onboarding or manuals to get started, and built mobile first for farmers on-the-go, which was uncommon in the AgTech industry.
"t’s so easy to use. It felt like it just fit before I even had it in my hand. I didn’t have to sit and read a manual, or learn how to use this app, or try to re-train my brain. It was just completely seamless. That was one of the best things: how easy it was to integrate into my farm."
- Active User of Combyne

Combyne Ag was acquired by Bayer CropScience in January 2023. The crop marketing tool continues to grow today, where I have sat at the forefront of developing and establishing its vision and strategy.

Utilizing on-going research we identified multiple areas of opportunity for expansion that were added to the product:

Managing grain deliveries
Managing contract payments
New contract types available
Financial insights
Managing stored crop
Integrations with other tools

Want to work together?

If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!

© 2024 Kellie Wright Idea | All Rights Reserved