Design an ecosystem that streamlines the process of running a campaign between brands and influencers.
Company
Kofluence
Timeline
2 years
Team
Deeptha Ramesh, Swati Viswajit and Harshit Govindarajan
Context
Kolfuence is a pioneering influencer marketing startup based in India, boasting a formidable base of 150,000 influencers. Our project's overarching objective was to revolutionise influencer marketing by replacing the traditional agency approach with a data-driven product.
My Role
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Conduct secondary primary research, including desk research, market research, competitor analysis, literature review and user interviews
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Ideation and Wireframing of screens for mobile and web
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Development of design guide - components, text styles and icons
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QA Testing with the development team throughout all the sprints
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Delivery of the final design to the stakeholders
Challenge
Our primary challenge was to bridge the gap between influencers, in-house operations teams and brands, by developing a product-based solution that would enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing.
Outcome
We devised a multifaceted solution consisting of three distinct interfaces. Each interface was meticulously crafted to align with its objectives, from influencers applying for a campaign to in-house teams reviewing data and, finally, brands seeing their campaign metrics.
Adaptation of the Double Diamond Design Process
It allowed us to prioritise tasks effectively, prevent overlaps, maintain optimal efficiency, and foster seamless collaboration among the diverse teams. This approach ensured that each aspect of our project deserved attention, contributing to its overall success.
An altered version of double diamond indicating the steps that were taken in each phase
User Interviews
What are the pain points between brands and influencers?
Our first instinct and foremost aim was to understand how influencers and brands approach campaigns and what expectations come into the picture while applying for one and running one, respectively.
Pain Points gathred through user interviews conducted with both brands and influencers
Market Research
Current agencies in the market and their take on influencer marketing
While the interviews helped us form an essential foundation for the ecosystem, we wanted to understand the market and influencer marketing systems' reach on brands and influencers.
Competitor Analysis done across different influencer marketing agencies
Market Segments
Who are we designing for; the influencers
Having formed a good understanding of brands through market research and competitive analysis, we wanted to have a clear demarcation of our target audience, who we were targeting and the category of influencers they fall into, based on the interviews conducted.
Persona Archetypes made with respect to the interviews and the desk research
Understanding
How do agencies run a campaign between brands and influencers?
To understand the agency workflow and the steps they employ, we decided to analyse a few agency flows and make a template, making it easier to understand the steps and the actions it follows.
In the current process, we have an agent in the equation who controls the whole process of approaching the brands and understanding their
needs, making the current process tedious
Flow chart depicting how current influencer marketing agencies model work
Questioning
Where can we interject in the current workflow?
We looked at the current workflow and the tedious manual steps involved. There were points that Kofluence could interject within by employing a technological approach, reducing the touch points between brands, influencers and agents.
Flow chart depicting places kofluence can intervene in the system by using ML, analytical tools, recommendation system
Problem Statement
The primary challenge is to establish effective communication and collaboration among influencers and brands. This necessitates the development of a product-based solution aimed at bridging the existing gap and thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of influencer marketing.
Defining
Jobs to be done
We employed the jobs-to-be-done framework to identify the product's essential features in line with our research findings. Our goal was to translate the needs of influencers and brands into tangible experiences that are accessible, enjoyable, and, most importantly, do not pose any additional burden during the campaign.
Snippets of Jobs-to-done framework that was implemented to share with the stakeholers and developers
01 | Transparency in making Deliverables
Concept Exploration: Campaign Cards
To kickstart our project, we created initial paper sketches outlining key ideas for the main app screens. These sketches served as a foundation for developing features. Our focus was on providing users with a comfortable experience from the very beginning to enhance user retention.
Goal
To design the home page with the campaign cards, that could prompt the users to apply for campaigns they deem best for them.
Initial sketches made to start the designing of the app
The paper sketch was further developed into mid-fi wireframes to iterate and explore different concepts for the campaign cards
V1
V2
V3
V4
Approach
Streamline the campaign application process while still giving sufficient information to ensure transparency
Campaign Card
Kofluence aims to keep users engaged through active campaign and provided them with basic details of the campaign at first look
Campaign Details
The campaign details page briefly describes the goal of the campaign and what brands require influencers to do
02 | Payment Transfers
Multiple Use Cases Exploration: Kofluence Wallet
The Kofluence Wallet page was the most sensitive module to design as a whole. We explored use cases that could arise while transferring money through the wallet on the influencers app, ensuring users have a prompt for each transaction done by them.
Goal
Design use cases that could arise while transferring money from Kofluence to a third-party wallet or a bank account
Approach
An efficient way to keep track of earnings transferred to a bank account or third-party wallets
Activities
The activities page gives users an overview of their
transaction history
Transaction Status
The transaction status pop-up helps users stay up-to-date with their transactions and their statuses
Handover to the developers
We used Figma for designing the wireframes and the hi-fi prototypes, as our development team was most comfortable with, utilising Figma to its full potential we could generate links for each section of the app; account set-up, the home page, wallet, settings etc.
Snapshot of payments flow on the influencers app, shared with the developers
Visual QA and Bug Reporting
Working with agile methodology, the developers and the design team connected weekly to match the developed designs to the visual designs provided. The developers would send us a build at the end of each week and we would prepare a presentation with all the updates that need to be made and update the bugs on JIRA to track progress
Snapshots of bugs reported via JIRA to the developers
Prototype Snapshots
Transparency in campaign creation and deliverables
Challenge
How can we help brands and influencers have a trusted process when making deliverables for the campaign?
Solution
To make content creation more efficient and less time-consuming, Kofluence has been designed to help brands set straightforward campaign requirements such as the number of posts, types of posts, social media, and example posts, which can be visually communicated to the influencers to
On-time payouts to the influencers
Challenge
How can brands automated the payout process, and influencers receive payouts based on their profiles and reach?
Solution
Kofluence introduced a payment feature on the influencers app, where influencers can withdraw the payment they receive into their Kofluence Wallets, while brands can process the payment through just one click.
The recording shows the processing of payments to the selected influencers on the brands/operations interface
The recording shows the withdrawal of money from the kofluence wallet by the influencer on the influencers app
ROI Tracking through real-time analytical reports
Challenge
How can we make the ROI tracking process tangible for brands to track their campaign success?
Solution
Kofluence introduced an analytical dashboard for brands to track their campaign status through social media metrics such as likes, reach, impressions and views, making it tangible and relatable.
The recording shows the post insights on the influencer's app, which are then calculated to give a full ROI report on brands and operations
interface
Success Metrics
80,000+
Creators Onboarded
100,000+
Payments Made
150,000+
Play Store Downloads
60%+
Efficiency Increase
I have been working with Kofluence PMC campaigns, where I got collabs with big brands. The reason I love the Kofluence app is that despite having less followers, I get to work with big brands and still earn more.
Aditi Sharma,
Learnings
The whole process taught me how important it is to connect and empathise with users and their needs. We also learned numerous things about inclusive design and its stand in the present context. As we went along with our design roadmap, I also realised the importance of pre-planning the steps to be taken beforehand.
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Collaboration is Key
​Working closely with the developers helped us understand the technical limitations, allowing us to design more efficiently.
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Compromising Features
While understanding the MVP is a priority from a business perspective, it is also essential for designers to weigh the importance of each feature.
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