MACxpress
MACxpress is an iPad app built for Prudential Annuities’ internal sales force that would enable the wholesalers to have an up-to-date marketing material library available at their fingertips.
Our wholesaling audience was spread remotely across the country in different territories. They had very tightly scheduled days filled with sales touch points. Many of them had very specific pieces of marketing materials that they liked to use, and were often driving around with literally a trunk full of marketing material, some of which was outdated and non-compliant.In addition, in order to get any material sent to a sales contact, they had to depend on their sales consultant teams at the home office, and were not able to directly handle any sending of material themselves. In addition, it was nearly impossible to keep a direct line of communication with them about marketing updates and material compliance, given the nature of their on-the-move schedules.
Our wholesalers needed a solution that:
- Enabled them to search and organize their most-commonly used material and present it on a tablet.
- Ensure that the material they were using was in compliance for their particular sales division.
- See up-to-date communication from the marketing department
- Share marketing material instantly with their sales contact without having to contact their home office team
- Technology that could be used on the user’s own tablet along with business controls that were respectful of their personal device.
In addition, the business needed a solution that:
- Gave the user access to the complete marketing material library, filterable by the user’s sales territory
- Ensured that the user could only operate with material that stayed within company compliance parameters
- Could operate with data and authentication pulled from an existing legacy DAM system
- Kept the user updated with the latest information from the home office
The process towards the solution:
Since it was virtually impossible to make any meaningful contact with enough of our sales individuals to deliver good user research, we had to use what we already knew along with discussions with a few wholesalers, sales leadership at the home office, and balance the needs with what the business required as well.
I worked closely with our fulfillment team, sales reps, compliance/regulatory teams, business analysts, project management, internal technology associates, marketing executives, as well as two external development vendors. The needs of the users and the business as well as it’s specific functionality, had to be documented, wire-framed, presented, and tested extensively to ensure a quality experience.
All throughout the process, I had to constantly be aware of our audience and how they were going to experience the technology. The business often came up with requirements that were overbearing or intrusive; I constantly brought up the point that “although this is business software we are requiring them to use, it doesn’t mean that it needs to be a headache for them”.
The result:
The app was voluntarily adopted by roughly 75% of our field sales force onto their personal devices. The reason that we didn’t gain any traction with the remaining 25% of users, was not due to the app itself — but rather issues that they had with the company’s Bring Your Own Device policy. According to our qualitative information collected after launch, it was responsible for faster access to relevant materials, greater adherence to material compliance, better communication with the sales field, and faster servicing of materials to business partners.
