Redefining CRM for Small Businesses: End-to-End UX Design
Project Overview
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is crucial for businesses aiming to retain customers and streamline their sales processes. Ratin CRM was developed as an integrated solution to help small businesses manage customer relations, opportunities, and tasks efficiently while reducing complexity.
Goals
Ratin CRM's primary objectives were:
Increasing customer retention.
Shortening the sales cycle.
Reducing customer acquisition costs.
Enhancing sales effectiveness.
Competitor Analysis
A market study was conducted to identify where Ratin CRM stands among its competitors. Key findings
highlighted that many CRM solutions are either too complex or too expensive for small businesses.
Features and best practices:
User Interviews
To understand what users need, I conducted surveys and interviews
(2 CSM interviews, 3 stakeholder interviews, and 10 user interviews).
Key Findings:
CRM fatigue was real
Many users had tried other CRMs but abandoned them due to overcomplicated workflows, unclear terminology, and too many required fields.Speed > Features
Small teams needed to log calls, add contacts, or check deals in seconds—not minutes. The idea of a “quick action panel” came directly from this pain point.One-size-fits-all CRMs don’t work
Small business workflows are incredibly diverse. Users wanted customizable fields, views, and pipelines without needing technical knowledge.Mobile access is essential
Many users manage tasks on the go. Mobile responsiveness and a future native app were flagged as high priorities.Lead entry was painful
Entering a new lead often required too much information upfront. We prioritized progressive data entry with only key fields at first, and optional fields revealed later.
Who is our user?
Problem Statement
Small businesses often struggle with adopting traditional CRM platforms due to their complexity, high costs, and steep learning curves. Instead, many rely on spreadsheets and manual processes that lead to scattered data, missed opportunities, and inefficiencies in managing customer relationships. There is a critical need for a user-friendly, affordable CRM solution that simplifies lead tracking, task management, and customer communication—empowering small teams to grow their business without being overwhelmed by the tool meant to support them.
User journey mapping
We mapped a typical user's experience from discovering a new lead to closing a deal. Pain points emerged at lead entry, task visibility, and data retrieval. These maps helped align the product team around high-friction areas and opportunities.
MVP Goals & Feature Prioritization
First, we had to set some goals for the MVP; What would success in this project look like?
Enhanced data analysis
Easier customer data access
Streamlined invoicing
User friendly lead conversion form
Feature Prioritization
After the previous analysis, we got out with a long list of ideas, features, and solutions. But trying to develop everything simultaneously will be overwhelming and could make the team stuck at specific points. So making a plan and defining the features with higher priority is necessary. so we used MoSCoW prioritization methodology.
Information architecture
In collaboration with the Product Manager, we structured flows to reduce cognitive load. The architecture was organized around key user actions: Add > View > Act. We reduced depth of navigation and grouped frequent tasks under a Quick Action Panel.
Design System
We built a flexible, component-based design system to:
Accelerate development
Ensure consistency across modules
Support future scalability
Design
Usability testing and iterations
We tested mid-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes with 6 users performing real scenarios (e.g., logging a lead, assigning a task).
Feedback Highlights:
Users missed mandatory inputs.
Too many fields upfront caused cognitive overload.
Nested forms and disappearing placeholders led to confusion.
Users expected fewer clicks for frequent actions.
Design Improvements:
Simplified lead entry with progressive disclosure.
Clear indicators for required fields.
Reorganized form layout for better flow.
Persistent labels for easier reference.
What's next?
There’s still room to grow:
Deeper CRM analytics
Integrated email and message logs
Expanded customization of reports and dashboards
Next projects
Data vault
Designing an app to make data sharing activities transparent.
