Shipment Quotation Feature

Help forwarder sales build quotation and profit share for new booked shipment on mobile

Company

GoFreight

Year

2021

Role

Product Designer

Core Responsibilities

UI/UX Design, Visual design, App Design

Background

Two of our freight forwarding users are collaborating to manage shipping operations, from ocean export to import.

It is common for export and import forwarding companies to collaborate in order to provide a streamlined shipping experience for customer.

In this case, 2 of forwarder users have decided to collaborate in order to handle the shipping requirements for exports from China to the USA. There are 3 roles involved in this collaboration process:

Ocean export forwarder: Responsible for receiving booking and arranging shipment export to the U.S.A
Ocean import forwarder: Responsible for providing quotation arranging shipment import to the U.S.A
Customer : Need to ship cargoes to the U.S.A

Planning

In order to provide a streamlined experience for the users, we discussed the optimal location for implementing the feature.

Forwarders are the users of the GoFreight's FMS system, so we can offer them a co-working flow for two companies within the system. However, the only way to communicate with customers was through offline methods such as email or messaging apps at that time.

How do we effectively communicate with customers, and notify them to respond the preferred plan?

After several discussions, we have concluded that we can implement the communication feature within the tracking app that allows customer to track their shipments.

Quotation feature will be developed for the App, using by OI Sales & Customer, while booking creating feature will be designed for the FMS system, using by OE OP

As the flow is related to 2 of our products, the FMS system and the App, the team has decided to assign the task to 2 designers and split it into two distinct features. One feature will be developed for the App, using by OI Sales & Customer, while the other feature will be designed for the FMS system, using by OE OP.

My task

My Task : App flow (OI Sales & Customer）

This was the first big App project owned by me at GoFreight. Before I started, I studied the complicated background between import & export company

App's Goal

Build a quotation feature in tracking App to provide a communication place for forwarder and customer

There are 3 main goals on app based on the requirements from product manager:

Allow sales edit the quotation price on app
Send the quotation price plan to customer and respond it to sales
After quotation confirmed, sales can also update the profit share price to agent as well.

🙋🏾 What is profit share and agent?

In freight forwarding, profit share means sharing profits with agents or partners who bring in business. An agent is someone who works for a freight forwarder and earns a commission or profit share for generating business. They help expand the reach of the forwarder and provide services such as sales and customer support.

Problem

Current system only have desktop version, but forwarder sales want to respond to customer wherever they are

We decided to implement the app only because it allows us to provide a more personalized experience to our customers. As we will be sending a quotation to the customer, the app enables us to respond promptly and directly to their inquiry, which can improve their overall satisfaction.

Forwarder sales prefer the mobile version, they want to update the quotation and profit share wherever they are

Additionally the sales representative for the forwarding company is frequently away on business, they rely heavily on their mobile phone to quickly respond to customers who want to book new shipping requirements. The current quotation page is currently only accessible on the desktop version, making it challenging to edit on a mobile device.

Flow chart

Create a flow chart based on our goal

Before I started to design, I made a flow chart based on our goal and requirement from product manage. I was responsible for the UX flow in App end:

I was responsible for the app flow

Design Deliverables - OI Sales

Promptly receive new booking notification and update quotations

Whenever there is a new booking request, OE OP will send it to the OI Sales app, enabling the sales team to promptly receive the notification and update the quotation for the customer.

Add quotation price

Easy for the sales to update the quotation price, and we have also included the cost price below the input field to enable them to quickly calculate the profit margin.

Update email recipients

In addition to the email notification, we have also added an email feature that allows other colleagues to receive the quotation information.

Design Deliverables - Customer

Customers will receive the quotations and select the preferred plan

Quotation is is designed for ease of use, allowing customers to easily scroll through and compare multiple options to select the one that best suits their needs.