Who is our client?

BizBridge is a digital platform that simplifies business buying and selling by transforming interactions into a seamless, AI-driven experience. It creates an efficient marketplace that empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to realize their business dreams through intelligent, user-friendly matchmaking, while also assisting retirees with wealth transfer and retirement planning.

Solution Overview

(Left:Previous Version | Right:Redesigned Version)

About the Market

According to the US Small Business Administration, more than half of the nation’s small-business owners are over the age of 50, As of February 2024, baby boomers owned about 51% of the privately held businesses in the United States, which is about 3m businesses valued at $10tn. (Reed, Betsy. “Boomers Are Selling Businesses to Millennials in a Generational Handover.” The Guardian, August 18, 2024. )

Client Interviews

During the interview, our client, Randall recounted the story behind his initial idea. A few years ago, his grandfather, who owned a local restaurant, decided to sell the business because none of his children wanted to take it over.



Throughout the selling process, Randall’s family faced numerous challenges:

1. high costs associated with hiring agents
2. finding a trustworthy buyer
3. navigating the complexities of the entire process

Given that Randall’s grandfather had dedicated his entire life to building the restaurant, the family wanted to ensure the sale was handled with the utmost care.

After interviewing Randall and reading through the company’s past research, we came up with the user persona of their target audience. We have also clarified that during the four-week design process, we will be focusing on redesigning the SellerSpan service provided to the Seller.


We have also clarified that during the four-week design process, we will be focusing on redesigning the SellerSpan service provided to the Seller.

Week 2: Usability Testing / Find the Problem Space

The primary objective of usability testing is to evaluate the platform's user experience, identify pain points, and gather actionable insights to improve the overall usability and effectiveness of SellerSpan. We designed scenarios for users to complete, specifically focusing on the "Determine Asking Price" section. The scenarios included:



Our UX design team conducted usability testing sessions with boomers at a local cafe, resulting in four participants.  Below are the key findings from these sessions:



None of the participants could complete the tasks without assistance, indicating the need to rearrange the wireframe to better support user needs and expectations. Then, we addressed the How Might We questions to align the team’s goal in design.



Based on the "How Might We" questions, I've developed a user flow to reorganize the platform's user experience.

AI Agents

Our client, Randall, actively engaged in discussions about the conversational UI of our AI Agents with our team. He introduced that the bots, as a key selling point in the product, could significantly reduce the need for real agents, thereby lowering costs for sellers.

How much does it cost to hire a business broker?
For Businesses valued under $5 million, most brokers charge:
10-15% commission for businesses priced under $1 million
8-12% commission for businesses priced between $1-5 million
(Source: organandwestfield.com)

Therefore, Randall envisions the interaction between users and AI agents as exciting and engaging. He proposed using generative AI images of real human agent to simulate AI agent chat rooms, enabling users to video chat with "real broker" and creating a more professional experience.

Randall aims to improve the bots' appearance, making them more appealing and relatable to Baby boomers.


Previous AI agent character designs

Together, we explored portrait video generation technology like SimoneAI, which Randall plans to integrate into Biz Bridge products.

(Meeting on April, 2024)

After reviewing the example videos, our team found the results unsatisfactory. Although the AI generated accurate lip shapes, the facial muscles still not very realistic.

Survey

To solve this problem, my team and I decided to conduct quantitative surveys to gauge our target audience's acceptance of AI interactions. The key results are listed below.



Based on the survey results, we tempered Randall’s enthusiasm with practical considerations. I clarified that our focus is on launching an MVP, with the core service being business sales, not AI bots. For effectiveness, AI bots must align with real user preferences and needs.



Temporary Solution:

We decided to start with basic, classic interaction methods, while remaining committed to exploring more innovative human-centered solutions in the future. These future visions will rely on iterative versions, with designs refined based on user feedback. Starting simple and straightforward is the best approach.
 

Design

Before starting the design, I aligned the UX team on accessibility principles. Here are the three key design standards that require special focus for our product:

Prototype

(Feature breakdown)

Beyond Design

Towards the end of the presentation on the user testing, I shared a concern:

"Given the large amount of input required on each Seller Span card, users may feel overwhelmed. We should explore ways to reduce stress during the input process. One option could be designing a new experience that breaks the information into smaller, more manageable sections, with less input required each time."

Randall expressed strong agreement with my suggestion, and following the meeting, developer Winston implemented this idea by overwriting the original webpage without a design, which inadvertently interrupted the workflow and increased costs due to the need for tests and adjustments.

Communication

To understand the issue, I arranged a meeting with the dev team. Winston, the head developer, explained that the BizBridge team’s development process didn't include visual design or a style guide, and they were not very familiar with Figma.



 As a designer proficient in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I saw an opportunity to help. I shared my approach for translating Figma designs into CSS, including the use of Figma’s dev mode and auto layout. Additionally, I introduced several Figma plugins to streamline the development process.

Roadmap

At this point, we all recognized the value of using a roadmap. Coding without a design not only increases development time but also complicates making changes based on user feedback. While everyone is eager to contribute, it's crucial to understand each team member's strengths and how to leverage those capabilities effectively.

Takeaways