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Scalable Referral Programs SaaS
Scalable Referral Programs SaaS
Rechain started as an internal startup in a company that makes AI marketing tools, including outreach. I was hired as senior IC designer to create end-to-end design that would cover flows and referral programs of the existing customers. It was meant also to easy onboard them. We worked together with the lean product and development team.
setup
Role: Senior IC designer
Team: product manager, business analytics, FE developer
Project duration: 2 months
Context
AI evolution enabler
While being not AI-based itself, rechain was meant to be a part of AI-driven ecosystem, playing crucial role in establishing trust and driving userbase growth.
process
Research
Together with the business analysts we did a series of user interviews to discover their needs. Among other our finding were:
- There are completely different kind of users — corporate administartors, corporate partners (those, who promotes referral program as their daily job), external partners, who have limited access to the programs and promote the programs mostly as side hustle
- External partners are not very tech-savvy
- Corporate users need tools to manage multiple programs
- Program creation by itself is quite daunting job
Business process analysis
We also analysed current business processes to learn how exactly program is created, controlled, being promoted, to define requirements for the MVP and to start translating them into the product language.
Usage scenarios with personas
Mike
Plumber, who has his own established client base. He earns additional money by promoting referral programs. He has only mobile phone with him and about 1-2 minutes time to add his customer as referral.
Painpoints: time and accessibility.
Jane
Young mother visiting restaurants promoting them B2B programs, has phone or tablet with her.
Painpoints: time and accessibility.
Bob
Manager at company who is selling services and onboarding clients via referral program is one of the products.
Painpoints: avilability of materials.
Chris
Manager, who creates and manages referral programs in company, not being the promoting partner themselves.
Painpoints: data relevance, compliance checks.
Wireframes and prototyping
I've started designing with wireframes and prototypes to save time, costs and to validate user flows before we settled with the most optimal ones. I've also helped team with the BPMN-diagrams to fine tune the process logic better.
Validation
I've used a multistep validation: first within the product team, then with the stakeholders from the business and their clients. First with wireframes, then with more refined layouts.
Also I was tightly collaborating with the development to ensure design can be implemented and stay resource-sparing.
On pic: one of the early-stage design ideas.
Outcome
Program details
We got partners covered: from easy program onboarding up to marketing materials and CRM-integrated referrals management
Company management tools
Departments, employees, partners, programs, metrics — everything needed to run referral propgrams smoothly.
Program creation
Wizard + configurable details
Partner tools
Clean one-page dashboard with all necessities: fast sharing and acquisition, and access to details in seconds.
Results & Impact
Impact
- Delivered MVP ready for $14B total market size and enabled future development on scale.
- Influenced client's market growth strategy saving multi-millions USD budget.
Key takeaways
One key learning was prioritization under conflict, balancing user value, business urgency, and technical constraints. In an MVP, business and technology often pull in different directions. My role was to make trade-offs explicit, sequence decisions, and focus on what created the most impact with the least risk.
linkedin.com/in/andy-ad
and.derbenev@gmail.com
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Case Study:
Scalable Referral Programs SaaS
Scalable Referral Programs SaaS
Rechain started as an internal startup in a company that makes AI marketing tools, including outreach. I was hired as senior IC designer to create end-to-end design that would cover flows and referral programs of the existing customers. It was meant also to easy onboard them. We worked together with the lean product and development team.
setup
Role: Senior IC designer
Team: product manager, business analytics, FE developer
Project duration: 2 months
Context
AI evolution enabler
While being not AI-based itself, rechain was meant to be a part of AI-driven ecosystem, playing crucial role in establishing trust and driving userbase growth.
process
Research
Together with the business analysts we did a series of user interviews to discover their needs. Among other our finding were:
- There are completely different kind of users — corporate administartors, corporate partners (those, who promotes referral program as their daily job), external partners, who have limited access to the programs and promote the programs mostly as side hustle
- External partners are not very tech-savvy
- Corporate users need tools to manage multiple programs
- Program creation by itself is quite daunting job
Business process analysis
We also analysed current business processes to learn how exactly program is created, controlled, being promoted, to define requirements for the MVP and to start translating them into the product language.
Usage scenarios with personas
Mike
Plumber, who has his own established client base. He earns additional money by promoting referral programs. He has only mobile phone with him and about 1-2 minutes time to add his customer as referral.
Painpoints: time and accessibility.
Jane
Young mother visiting restaurants promoting them B2B programs, has phone or tablet with her.
Painpoints: time and accessibility.
Bob
Manager at company who is selling services and onboarding clients via referral program is one of the products.
Painpoints: avilability of materials.
Chris
Manager, who creates and manages referral programs in company, not being the promoting partner themselves.
Painpoints: data relevance, compliance checks.
Wireframes and prototyping
I've started designing with wireframes and prototypes to save time, costs and to validate user flows before we settled with the most optimal ones. I've also helped team with the BPMN-diagrams to fine tune the process logic better.
Validation
I've used a multistep validation: first within the product team, then with the stakeholders from the business and their clients. First with wireframes, then with more refined layouts.
Also I was tightly collaborating with the development to ensure design can be implemented and stay resource-sparing.
On pic: one of the early-stage design ideas.
Outcome
Program details
We got partners covered: from easy program onboarding up to marketing materials and CRM-integrated referrals management
Company management tools
Departments, employees, partners, programs, metrics — everything needed to run referral propgrams smoothly.
Program creation
Wizard + configurable details
Partner tools
Clean one-page dashboard with all necessities: fast sharing and acquisition, and access to details in seconds.
Results & Impact
Impact
- Delivered MVP ready for $14B total market size and enabled future development on scale.
- Influenced client's market growth strategy saving multi-millions USD budget.
Key takeaways
One key learning was prioritization under conflict, balancing user value, business urgency, and technical constraints. In an MVP, business and technology often pull in different directions. My role was to make trade-offs explicit, sequence decisions, and focus on what created the most impact with the least risk.
linkedin.com/in/andy-ad
and.derbenev@gmail.com