Salesforce
Design Consultancy: Shaklee
Topics
SaaS, Consulting
My Role
Creative Director, Team Manager, Account Lead
Through comprehesive design consulting my team empowered Shaklee distributors with intuitive, relationship-driven digital tools, strengthened executive alignment, and deepened the Salesforce partnership.
Objective
Shaklee is committed to transforming lives through natural, safe products worth sharing. I led a design consulting team at Salesforce, enabling Shaklee to harness technology to connect its data with distributors and members' digital touchpoints, maximizing potential and driving long-term impact.
Shaklee distributors faced significant challenges, particularly in managing relationships within their selling groups (downlines). Maintaining consistent communication, tracking progress, and providing effective support had become increasingly difficult.
To address these obstacles, my team identified the need for intuitive, mobile tools that would empower distributors to seamlessly manage their business relationships while on the go.
​
We tackled the Shaklee digital hub for its distributors, Shaklee Connect, and completely re-imagined its capabilities to better serve its audience.
Key Learning
Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies approach their distributors as small business owners, providing them with tools and support to grow their businesses.
After interviewing over 50 Shaklee distributors, we observed that these businesses are built on networks of friends and family, not anonymous customers, and the communication style reflected these personal relationships.
As a result, communication and organizational tools needed to support the “casual familiarity” expected in these interactions, including:
-
Sending impromptu text messages
-
Crafting personal 1:1 emails
-
Celebrating important life events
Our efforts focused on customizing enterprise-level tools to create a more personal, intimate customer experience, aligning with the unique relationship-driven dynamics of Shaklee's distributors.
Outcomes
-
Achieved alignment across the entire executive team, resulting in user-validated designs and flawless delivery.
-
Strengthened Shaklee's relationship with Salesforce, fostering a renewed account partnership.
-
Delivered exceptional results, as recognized by Roger Barnett, CEO of Shaklee:
“We have had our most successful technology delivery ever, since working with Salesforce.”
Summary
Before starting any design, our guiding principles must be articulated so the team is oriented in the right direction and our stakeholders are aligned to the work.
Starting Provocation
“Using Salesforce and Slack, how might vendors and companies align on business goals, receive critical signals to better manage workflows, and make collaboration more seamless and efficient?”
Experiential Themes to Highlight
Stakeholder brainstorming identified three core themes:
-
Integrate the power of CRM while honoring Slack’s casual communication model
-
Assist each individual’s unique responsibilities
-
Enable effortless connections between people and systems
Key Screens Overview
Below are a selection from the final presentation for the new Shaklee Connect experience that was delivered.
