For the first design iteration, we took the approach of featuring best selling products at the top in a carousel and having the users answer questions that help to narrow down a list of our recommended products based on their responses. Once the questionnaire was complete, we would populate the screen with a grid of product options that fit the user needs based on the answers they provided in an attempt to recreate the conversation our sales team has with the customers they represent.

In this phase of the design practice, it’s important experiment with multiple approaches to see where they might lead, following each “what if” to better understand where design opportunities exist and where there might be gaps in the ideas.

For the second iteration, we kept the questionnaire format, but wanted to provide transparency to the users about how their answers were influencing the list of recommended products. We moved the questions to the left quadrant and condensed the copy in an attempt to further streamline the process. But ultimately, we found that the questionnaire was a rigid, laborious task for users to complete and negated the journey of returning customers trying to replenish products they already know they love. The design also felt antiquated, sterile, and lacked innovation.

After reflecting on the research, we realized that starting with the desktop design wasn’t the best approach. Looking at our interviews, we realized that our users are typically on the go, finding inspiration out in the world, and making decisions for their business anywhere but in front of a desktop screen. On average, the users we interviewed said they spend less than an hour a day behind the desk at their computer, and this was reinforced by the analytics from the existing site, with access from desktops being 71% lower than mobile access.

It became clear that a mobile first approach was the way forward.

For the mobile design, we took the idea of the questionnaire and transformed it into categories and filters that users could apply to narrow their product search. The horizontal scroll categories align with the category tags in Salsify for easy integration and the additional filters further winnow the product list. The ideal search results provide users with products that align with their search criteria, offering higher value products marked by “Tyson’s Choice.”

The key product attributes that were most important to our users were price, bulk weight/size, and the cooking method. We adapted the product tiles to include these three attributes on each listing. For the price, we had to navigate around proprietary pricing strategy and implemented a dollar sign price indicator - $ - low, $$ - medium, $$$ - high. This adjustment allows users to quickly identify products that fit the unique parameters of their business.

To better serve returning customers, we designed a “favorites” and “area favorites” category. These features offer two fold benefits - returning customers can easily favorite products they love or want to try in the future and then reference them all in one personal list on the website. Using individuals “favorites” and IP locations, we can populate “Area Favorites.” The “Area Favorites” category also allows users in a given location to pool their preferences and ensure distributors are carrying the products their customers want. Both of these features require an active customer login for storing preferences and accessing local preference data as well as acknowledgment of location sharing.

Innovate: Barcode Scanning and Inspiration

After we determined a mobile first approach, the opportunities to innovate became clear. Did you know there is a data pool for barcodes and the product information they represent? Yep. It’s wild. Using this to our advantage, we designed a barcode scanner using the mobile camera. This was a new-to-enterprise innovation that we worked on closely with our development team. If you’ve ever used a barcode scanning feature in other apps like MyFitnessPal or Think Dirty, this feature works similarly in that it is able to collect the product name, type, nutritional values, and ingredients. The big difference is that the Tyson app is able to take that data and compare it against Tyson products to populate the closest matching products in the company inventory.

The app detects key phrases from the product details and applies them as filters to the product search. It prompts the user to add further filter details to narrow their search and then populates a list of results that best match the constraints. High margin products are marked with a “Tyson Choice” banner and populate to the top of the list of results.

In addition to giving users the ability to scan barcodes, we also created a social space where they could find inspiration and contribute their creations to inspire other users in the industry. Based on the feedback from interviews, we found that the best way to know what our users need was to get insight into what inspires them. By designing a space to share, connect, and engage with other creators, we are creating a one-stop shop for operators to find inspiration, share what they are creating, and discover new ways to innovate using the Tyson products they already buy.

Outcomes:

At it’s simplest form, Value Up the Operator allows customers to find the Tyson products they need accurately and efficiently by shifting the website away from serving only the internal sales team and brokers to, instead, focus the information and data on what customers care about and how they make decisions. Our partners in the Prepared Foods business segment are working with Salsify to better align product listings to focus on the key attributes we heard the customers actually care about: price, preparation, and weight/storage.

At its core, this was the main goal of this redesign. All of the other features are what I like to refer to as “gravy attributes” or the extra opportunities we discovered in research and innovated towards.

Gravy attributes:

A simple win from the beginning was creating the “Tyson Choice” banner that is used for high margin or high value products that match the search criteria. This is a very clear win for the company as the more high margin or high value products consumers buy, the more money the company makes. But what about the users? At the end of the day, the design seeks to guide users to the product that best fits their need. Without divulging company secrets, if users purchase higher value products, they will see a direct correlation in the product quality.

Besides being able to introduce a new way of using existing technology and data to the enterprise and customers, the barcode scanner allows users to find products when inspiration or a need arise out in the wild, not stuck behind their office computer - at the super market, a food convention, or at a street food stand in Cambodia (true story from one of the chef’s we interviewed!)

What if, not only could we know what types of products grabbed their interest, and leveraging that knowledge to find the perfect Tyson product match to create brand loyalty, but also how they were using those Tyson products in their businesses? This is made possible through the Inspiration portion of the design. With this section, the company can anticipate food trends, educate the sales team and brokers on customer needs, and influence future product innovation.