Bizworks Plus App
Summary
The Bizworks Plus Mobile App provides near real-time business insights, opportunities, and reports to distributors, enabling timely and targeted actions and communications. It uses AI for insights, push notifications, social media, and messaging integration with WhatsApp and Telegram. Launched in 94 countries with every language in over a year, the app has had over 3 million visits since July 2021.
The app and team received the Global Business Impact Award at the Herbalife Nutrition Innovation Award 2021, chosen from 450+ submissions to the Herbalife Global Innovation Council.
Available on the App Store and Google Play, the app has a current rating of 4.7 and 5.0 stars.
My Role on the Bizworks Team
My role on the Bizworks team is UX/UI Manager. I oversee UX/UI designs and often UX research. As manager, I handle UX/UI issues, plan program increments every 10-12 weeks, track backlog items, and present to the team during demos.
Project Length: Ongoing
Work Style: Agile SAFe Methodology - 2 week sprints
Team Size: 50+ across four countries (UX Designers, UI Designer, Project Managers, Developers, Functional, and QA)
Understanding the Problem
Herbalife distributors aim to create large health and nutrition communities to achieve their goals. These communities use and sell Herbalife products and participate in healthy activities together.
Distributors access various reports to understand their performance and grow their business and community. They manually find custom metrics and use this data to coach and encourage their downline members.
Many distributors create Excel spreadsheets to compare data and follow up with members on social platforms or phone calls.
Distributors also share achievements with their downline members. They congratulate them publicly on social media or in chat groups and create graphics and celebratory announcements using various apps and social media platforms.
The manual calculation of metrics and graphics creation consumed a significant portion of our users’ time, hindering their growth and team building.
Working Towards the Solution
The Bizworks Plus Mobile App aims to solve problems faced by distributors. It eliminates manual tasks, freeing their time to grow their businesses and communities. The app provides on-the-go metrics and easy communication with members, enabling them to share achievements on social platforms.
Research and Usability Testing
A lot of research was done to understand users. Interviews with distributors were conducted to understand their challenges. Stakeholders are constantly in touch with users via various communication channels to ensure they receive the necessary tools. The team is user-focused, so all feedback is recorded and addressed.
Usability tests were conducted on Zoom using Figma prototypes as moderated think-out-loud tests with distributors. Other testing was done through UserZoom as surveys or A/B testing.Each test takes users through a specific flow to complete a task. Results are recorded and analyzed to inform the team and build backlog items to address issues.
A larger research piece was conducted after the beta launch of the Bizworks Plus Mobile App to assess its value and gather feedback.
* Data was collected from three sources: initial feedback surveys, in-app feedback, and stakeholder feedback (emails, text, voice recordings, etc.)
The raw data was compiled, color-coded participants, and sorted into patterns and themes.
Metrics and findings were presented to the Bizworks team and stakeholders, providing validation for many features already in production.
UX Briefs
Initiating proposed features, I first research and document the problem. Then, I conduct a UX Brief with stakeholders. Our stakeholders communicate with users via email, text, phone, and Zoom calls, giving them valuable insights into users’ needs. The UX Brief helps me understand the issue, the feature, and its purpose from both users’ and business perspectives.
Information Architecture (Site Map)
Following the completion of the UX Brief, we proceeded to develop an initial site map for the Bizworks App. The primary objective of the architecture is to organize the application in a manner that facilitates user comprehension and navigation, ensuring an enjoyable experience.
User Flows and Drawing Session
Plot the user’s path through their issue by creating a user flow from the brief. Research, comparative and competitive (if applicable). Look for common patterns in other top applications.
Once organized, I sketch ideas and present them to our UX and functional teams. I explain the problem, research, and proposed solution, which is also a brainstorming session. Team members can comment and contribute ideas. We discuss these ideas to decide on our initial path forward
Wireframes & Lo-fi Prototyping
Wireframes are created from research and drawings. I made them in Figma using components I’m creating for my low-fidelity product UI Kit.
I designed the prototype for the various paths and states users could encounter. I presented it to the team and stakeholders for feedback. I completed any necessary iterations before handing off the prototype for UI design.
Visual Design and Hi-fi Prototyping
The UI designs and hi-fi prototypes are based on lean UX work. The team meets with stakeholders for feedback after the prototype is ready. The designs also undergo an iterative process.
After stakeholder approval, the UX and functional teams create a handoff with technical and functional design specifications and documentation links.
Next Steps
The Bizworks Plus Mobile App, released in July 2021 after a year of design and development, received positive feedback from daily users, some received an email for Beta testing.
We plan to focus on usability testing, iterations, and interviews with three target groups: Bizworks subscribers who haven’t used the app, those who’ve tried but abandoned it, and regular users. This testing will gather metrics to inform our team’s planning.
We plan to focus on usability testing, iterations, and interviews with three target groups: Bizworks subscribers who haven’t used the app, those who’ve tried but abandoned it, and regular users. This testing will gather metrics to inform our team’s planning.
Beta Testing Email
Key Takeaways
Working at Herbalife’s Bizworks team has been enriching. It’s one of the most complex teams due to numerous business rules required to design the product. The learning curve was steep but achievable. I’ve been fortunate to have great mentors. Leadership emphasize high-quality design, thoughtful solutions, and problem-solving, aligning with the company philosophy of “Build the right thing, build the thing right.”
Available on App Store and Google Play
