In an effort to automate and customize ad campaigns for our customers, we designed the Automation Canvas at AdRoll. This tool focuses on creating Automated Flows that drive personalized, event-based communications. By triggering messages based on key customer actions—like joining a list, clicking an email, viewing a product, adding an item to a cart, or completing a purchase - these flows help nurture relationships throughout the customer lifecycle. Leveraging synced data, the system creates event-based audiences, ensuring that communications are timely, relevant, and impactful.
Hotel Engine inc, an upcoming corporate travel booking platform.
I led the design of the Automation Canvas at AdRoll, creating a seamless experience that enables customers to manage and customize multiple campaigns with ease. From conceptualizing brand-new UI components to crafting UX flows that align with the broader automation initiative, I owned every aspect of the design process.
Collaborated with five engineers and the Design System team to ensure the new design components seamlessly aligned with AdRoll's technology, enhancing customer experience and interaction. Partnered with the product manager and leadership stakeholders to ensure the design project was delivered swiftly, meeting business goals while significantly improving the customer experience.
2 months
Enabled customers to track campaign performance and make real-time adjustments.
Resulted in higher customer satisfaction, increased user retention, and improved conversion rates.
Supported personalized and automated communications throughout the customer lifecycle.
Triggered messages based on key actions, such as email clicks, product views, cart additions, or purchases.
Allowed customers to engage with their audience at the most impactful moments.
Leveraged synced data to create event-based audiences, enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of communications.
The design of the Automation Canvas was both methodical and user-focused, with key steps including
Canvas Area: Defined as the main workspace for building and managing automated flows.
Movable Components: Designed with flexibility in mind, offering multiple states for users to customize their workflows.
Fixed Components: Provided stability and consistency, ensuring essential elements remained accessible and functional.
A default state was established, allowing customers to easily customize it to meet their specific needs.
A default state was established, allowing customers to easily customize it to meet their specific needs.
The primary focus was on the design of the Automation Canvas itself, which involved:
Emphasis on creating an intuitive and seamless UI and UX within the canvas.
Different states were defined for movable components, enabling greater flexibility for users to tailor the tool to their specific requirements.
The design process for the Automation Canvas involved a systematic approach that included:
Divided the canvas into distinct parts and analyzed each as a whole.
Classified the different components by their functions, identifying those that are customizable and those that are fixed.
Defined multiple states for each component, focusing on both macro and micro interactions specific to their functions.
Included key functionalities such as:
Reordering Items in a Sequence
Adding Items to a Sequence
Individual Item (Card) Anatomy: Detailed design of micro and macro interactions for each card.
UI for Seven Different States: Created specific UI designs for seven different states of individual items (cards).
Adding and Editing Content
The design process also involved determining essential visual elements such as color schemes, button types, font choices, and the shape and size of components, ensuring consistency and usability across the canvas.
The design process for the Automation Canvas was thorough and collaborative, involving close coordination between design, engineering, and the design system team. The primary goal was to create components that could be seamlessly implemented and customized across various email campaigns and social media platforms. Although this marks the initial phase of the project, there is much more to come. Future enhancements will focus on improving interactions and expanding the library of pre-built campaigns and templates, enabling users to set up their campaigns more quickly and effectively.
The wider design team strategically integrated the following essential flows into the product to streamline the setup of quick email campaigns.
The team designed a flow that automatically triggers a welcome email, thanking new subscribers and introducing them to the brand. This ensures that users can easily set clear expectations for future communications right from the start.
To help re-engage potential customers, the team developed a flow that sends a subtle reminder to subscribers who have shown interest in products by browsing. This flow was built to seamlessly encourage users to add items to their cart, improving engagement.
The design team created an intuitive flow that activates when subscribers add items to their cart but don’t complete the purchase. This flow was integrated to help users recover potential sales through timely follow-up emails.
To foster repeat business, the team implemented a loyalty flow that targets one-time buyers, encouraging them to return for future purchases. This flow was designed to be easily customizable, allowing users to maintain customer engagement over time.
