CREATURES OF HABIT
TL;DR
I was tasked with leading the effort on devising a plan to address the lack of users switching over to the new Marketo refresh. This was a committee assembled comprising of Designers, PMs, and Experience Researchers. I led workshops and regular meetings and oversaw research sessions.
This effort led to ~5,000 opt-ins from under 600 prior.
Workshops
Leadership
GTM
Growth Strategy
Design Strategy
Research
Cross-functional
SOME CONTEXT
Marketo was founded in 2006 to give Chief Marketing Officers a way to demonstrate the value of marketing. Marketo Lead Management (MLM, now "Classic") launched in 2008, with a couple iterations since then, but the tech hadn't changed much. I joined in 2016, and at the time, there was an initiative to update the tech stack while also providing an update to the design and the UX of the application. This first round of redesign was dubbed internally as "Avengers".
Marketo being the behemoth application that it is, redesigning and updating the UX was no small task for a design team of six. During my tenure, there had been some turnover, and I helped grow the UX team to 12 members (including being instrumental to hiring our Director) to ramp up efforts. With the birth of the design system, the internal name for the project became "Sky". Something, something...something, something...alpha launch, bugs, stomping bugs, two systems co-existing—you get the story.
THE PROBLEM
Workgroup
As one would imagine, the creation of a new product entails a sizable investment. A less than acceptable adoption rate calls for immediate action.
An initiative started by the Vice President of Product and Chief Product Officer as stakeholders, a team was assembled that comprised of myself as Group Lead, two UX Designers (not including myself), two Product Managers and a UX Researcher. To start off, I initiated discussions to clearly define the problem (as described above) to ensure that we were all operating using common terms and agreed-upon goals.
Preliminary research done by a separate team provided a good basis for our discussions via an exploration of what other companies did to move their users to their newer products.
Research & Exploration
Exploring switching methods and the resources created around these efforts to bring users to their newer products. Products observed include Salesforce Classic/Lightning, Pendo, Asana and Amplitude. Salesforce and Asana used a more centralized, complete rollout, while Pendo and Amplitude employed a more modular rollout.
Complete Rollout
Modular Rollout
Will a more lean, concentrated modular approach be a better bet for us to move users into the new experience?
Talking to Customers
Users we interviewed suggested that the biggest factors for not using Sky are incompleteness and low quality, which has resulted in a loss of trust for Sky. Users working in Sky run into roadblocks where particular Sky features are not complete. In order to avoid these roadblocks, users are staying in Classic so as to not disrupt their workflows.
Customer Joe
Customer Frank
Customer Anne
Customer Justine
Some positives
Customer Elisa
Customer Shahid
Armed with Information
Our task force identified the two approaches from preliminary research. Also, we discussed further alternatives and weighed our options against their respective advantages and challenges.
Given these methods, how might we provide the best pathway forward for our users, while crafting an experience with the least friction? While both approaches have their advantages and challenges, could we move forward with a blend of the above two approaches?
Things to Consider
Seamless Transitioning vs Switching
A focus on seamless transitioning versus switching implies explicit control by the user. With our findings, this will result in status quo—no change.
Re-establishing Trust
Our messaging should be friendly, transparent and upfront, while placing the ball of decision in the user’s/customer’s court to rebuild trust. Forcing a switch is a non-starter.
Gamification Techniques to Drive Success
Set task-based milestones to get users into the new features to let them experience the benefits of our newly improved experiences and workflows.
Feature Completeness and Quality
A complete Classic to Sky switch can only happen once Sky is has reached parity with Classic and more.
Discussing Options
Straight Migration from Classic to Sky
Migrating from Classic to Sky as a forced switch occurs on the product level and would require the entirety of Sky to be complete before any migration is considered. This method is time intensive and stretches our timeline considerably. Classic remains as-is, but we scale back usership of Sky to test with them to collect data and usage numbers and iterate until all of Sky reaches a high level of completeness and quality. Classic would be sunset at that point.
Given the steep technical and time requirements, this option was ignored in favor of more user-conscious options.
Switching Between Classic and Sky on a Functional Level
Switching on the functional-level mandates that entire functional areas in Sky are ready before being made available to users. This would entail scaling back other functional areas currently in progress in Sky to put all-hands effort on singular functions one at a time and sequentially. Functions that are incomplete in Sky will only be delivered in the MLM experience.
Switching Between Classic and Sky on the Feature Level
In switching on the feature-level, Sky features will be released upon meeting readiness criteria and will live in parallel to their Classic counterparts with a switch mechanism that will allow users to quickly switch between Classic and Sky. Features that do not yet exist in Marketo Sky will be delivered in the current Classic experience.
Merge & Blend
Merge & Blend is a phased approach that gives users a mix of both Sky and Classic experiences to facilitate a non-disruptive workflow for our users.
Phase 1 gives users the Classic tree on the left with ready Sky features in the right main stage as they are made available.
Phase 2 reskins the Classic tree navigation with Sky visuals to acclimate users to the Sky tree navigation.
Phase 3 replaces the Classic tree nav with the new Sky tree navigation provided that the Sky tree navigation has reached parity with the Classic tree (with new Sky enhancements and capabilities)
Phase 4 delivers the full Sky experience
* NB— Sky features that meet readiness criteria will be made available for switching.
We pitched these scenarios and showed prototypes and wireframes where applicable to gather responses. We talked to 13 users, including both Champions and non-Champions (Champions are Marketo power-users). Users responded positively to the Merge & Blend approach, both in the Champions forum in which the group unanimously chose "Merge & Blend” over “Switching,” as well as in the 13 1:1 interviews the team performed.
Customer William
"I'm really grateful for you guys thinking about these things and making sure that we have a very smooth transition. Not just with the Champions, but all the other users. You know, coming from the consulting side, I think it's just awesome that you guys are diving into this deeper. So, thank you for all your hard work and Sky is beautiful, and I appreciate you guys."
Users prefer the Classic tree to be used over the Sky tree, however it’s important to note that people inherently prefer what they are used to. Change comes hard to many. The Sky tree lacks some functionality, but almost more importantly to those interviewed, was less familiar and therefore less preferred. Some users disliked the visuals of the Sky tree, stating the icons are harder to differentiate than those in Classic. Overall, users felt that the Classic tree was less jarring and more seamless than the Sky tree in the Merge & Blend approach.
One user said regarding using the Classic tree in the Merge & Blend approach:
Customer Charlene
"I personally love that because it gives you a little bit of what you're used to, and a little bit of something new, so you're not feeling completely uprooted from what you know and how you know how to work."
While not entirely unanimous, most users expected the experience switch to apply across the functional area.Nearly all users expected and preferred the toggle to remember where they left off. I.e. if a user toggled to Sky within a specific email program, left, and came back, they’d expect the toggle to remain on Sky because that is how they left it.
Customer Reba
"I would expect it to stay (in Sky) because if I wanted to stay in Sky, I'd be annoyed that I had to keep toggling on and off"
Customer Allison
"I really like the toggle, and I like it being in front of me because part of the problem is if you don't see it, you don't think to do it. And because I don't typically use the 'Super Ball' (Marketo's Classic Navigation button).In the current form, that little 'View in Sky' is so small and nowhere you would typically click at all, I never go there"
THE PATH TO SKY-AS-DEFAULT
As we move forward with the Merge & Blend approach, discussions surrounding the flow of Merge & Blend touched on global switching and tiered switches occurring on both the functional and feature levels. The challenge was in differentiating between functional-level switches and feature-level.
Sky Tree Nav Readiness
As we move forward with the Merge & Blend approach, discussions surrounding the flow of Merge & Blend touched on global switching and tiered switches occurring on both the functional and feature levels. The challenge was in differentiating between functional-level switches and feature-level.
Enablement
User Opt-in
Marketo Admins enablement of Sky gives users the opportunity to opt-in to preview Sky. Users can opt to stay in preview or opt-out. Opted-out users will receive periodic messaging outlining benefits for Sky as an entry point back into the preview. Similarly, a widget in My Marketo will be available for this purpose.
Feature Readiness
As features become ready, they will become available for users in the preview program to switch between Sky and Classic.
Functional Readiness
When all of the features of a functional area reach readiness, Sky becomes the default experience for that area with toggle switches available to return to MLM as needed. Admins will have the ability to set Sky as the sole experience.
OUTCOMES
As of the time of writing this case study, I have since been moved back to leading the Sales Apps efforts, and progress remains steady on the Sky migration effort. The project got renamed internally as the Marketo Engage Unified Experience (MEUE) project.
There is now parity between both Classic and Sky tree navigation rails both aesthetically and feature-wise, and Adobe's Unified Navigation is implemented. Currently, there have been 5,000 subscriptions that have opted-into the new experience, with Classic properties displaying for Sky properties that haven't yet reached readiness. The switching experience to ease users into Sky is set to go live in Q1 2021, with all efforts to bring Sky into readiness remains ongoing.