Building a B2B platform to enable entrepreneurs to start and run profitable delivery companies
Over the past 8 years Amazon has built a global last mile delivery network that delivers millions of packages to customers every day. In 2018 Amazon announced the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program to help entrepreneurs start and run last mile delivery companies. Amazon DSPs make up the backbone of Amazon’s last mile strategy, and the program has scaled from just a hand full of companies in 2017 to thousands of delivery businesses across 13 countries–and this is just the beginning. I led the strategy, design and the UX team that shaped the DSP program and the suite of products that DSPs use to manage their business with Amazon.
Read more about our customers – https://blog.aboutamazon.com/transportation/after-the-military-an-entrepreneur-is-born
“As soon as we saw Amazon was running this program, we immediately knew we wanted to be a part of it.”
Challenge: Design an end-to-end product experience to enable entrepreneurs to start and run a profitable delivery company.
Our goal for the Amazon DSP program was to build a suite of products to enable entrepreneurs to own and operate a last mile delivery company with Amazon at their side. The core product features of the offer are business deals, simplified operations, and business management tools that help make customers successful.
Project goals:
Create a simple, intuitive suite of products for DSP owners and drivers
Make the delivery operation more cost effective
Improve the end-customer Amazon delivery experience
Grounding in research
Research methodology
Collectively the team talked to 50+ DSP dispatchers, owners, and schedulers in various stations across the US and UK. Our research consisted of the following activities:
1. Customer shadow and service design interviews. Our goal was to gain a first-hand understanding of the DSP experience by interviewing and shadowing delivery business owners and their employees.
2. Product design validation interviews with existing DSP owners. Building on the foundation of customer input and pain-points we sketched out a suite of products to support the business based on company roles and task hierarchy.
3. Synthesis of existing primary and secondary research relevant to DSP experience. The team leveraged market analysis and customer feedback collected over years of operations – combined our own research findings and generated a set of key insights that guided our design decision making.
In-station observation
Documenting key workflow tasks with a DSP owner
Key design opportunities:
How might we support the launch and scale of the new offer with products for DSP’s?
How might we build a foundation for the right long-term customer experience?
How might we use design to help make the DSP offer competitive with other franchise opportunities?
How might we reduce costs to the business by improving the DSP customer experience?
How might we leverage DSP customer feedback and research to drive product direction?
How might we adapt to future changes in the business direction?
Documenting the user journey and imagining the “North Star” experience
Story telling was a critical part of our design process. We knew that in order to get alignment with our stakeholders we needed to synthesize our research and experience in the field into consumable deliverables that would help the team develop a shared vision for the product experience. The team created customer journey maps, a Day in the Life of a DSP Owner presentation, and storyboards of the “North Star” customer experience. The storyboards helped the team communicate a high-level vision for the customer experience before getting into the details of the core tech products, program support, or policies that would shape the DSP program.
User goals and task analysis
Storyboards of the ideal customer experience - beyond the software
Creating the product
Design-led stakeholder workshops with project managers, tech leads and operations staff
Stakeholder workshops
Once the team had a solid foundation of first-hand research and clear key design opportunities we hosted a series of workshops with our stakeholders. We brought together product management, operations, and technology partners for collaborative sessions with the goal of generating solutions to key customer pain points across the end-to-end customer journey. The outcome of the workshops was a shared understanding of the customer experience and the beginning of a product architecture that would scale to support the DSP business.
Communicating a cohesive vision
The team documented our creative process and findings in a series of design briefs. These living documents were used to preset our vision and customer research to key leaders and decision makers. As part of this effort we synthesized our research and design explorations into a set of core design design tenets. These tenets were especially helpful when the team had to make tough decisions regarding the priority of features, and to resolve tension between internal business and customer needs:
Sample design brief document
Design Tenets:
1. Prioritize the DSP’s business. Our responsibility is to help DSPs with every part of their business and we prioritize helping them solve their most challenging and detrimental problems even when they don’t directly benefit Amazon.
2. Surface insights that drive actions. Running a delivery operation depends on real time data that informs the DSP business about events on the ground and in the stations that can impact their business. We move past raw data to surface actionable information at the right time to help DSP’s make critical decisions.
3. Automate and act on low-judgment tasks. With too many things to track and keep in mind it is difficult to focus on the right set of decisions to successfully run the company. Our products automate simple tasks and prioritize high-judgement strategic decisions.
4. Coach DSP’s actively to improve. Through the portal we proactively provide information, and insights to help DSP’s improve their operation before they get in trouble. We act as an active coach and don’t wait for the customer to ask for help.
5. Listen to owners and drivers - advocate for their experience. We use research and insights to bring the customer’s voice into product decision making. We believe that when we help the company and their employees succeed it will contribute to the flywheel of capacity, cost and quality.
Creating an end-to-end customer experience
The team created detailed user flow diagrams to define the connection points between the key moments in the customer journey with the proposed software tools needed to support each step in the process. The diagrams showed the critical touch-points between DSP Owners, drivers and internal users across the end-to-end customer journey. This helped the team understand that the DSP customer experience was part of a service ecosystem with lots of moving parts.
Building a product ecosystem
Wireframe explorations
The team used low fidelity sketches and wireframes to sketch out the customer experience. We started with collaborative whiteboarding sessions and evolved into detailed wireframes of the core products that DSPs use to manage their business. Working in low fidelity helped the team explore a wide range of ideas quickly, and helped stakeholders understand the design intent and key feature without getting distracted by high-fidelity visual and interaction design.
Developing the core products
As the team refined the core DSP products we increased the fidelity of the design, developing the visual and interaction design. Throughout this process it was important to keep the entire ecosystem in mind. We used a combination of service diagrams and high-fidelity prototypes to help stakeholders and customers understand how each product worked, while continuing to highlight the connected nature of the products. The team developed a series of core products based on the core roles and responsibilities of the DSP customers–identified by our generative research.
DSP product ecosystem diagram
Concept validation and user testing – from paper to the screen
Extensive rounds of internal and external reviews, and evaluative research studies helped us validate our design direction and refine the details of the products. We made frequent trips to the field throughout the design process, sharing early concepts with sketches and low fidelity mockups as well as clickable prototypes built with Invision.
Launching the program
Designing an external brand and marketing website
Ahead of the public launch of the Amazon DSP Program the team created an external marketing site. The primary purpose of the recruiting site is to generate high-quality leads for the program – specifically targeting entrepreneurs and individuals who want to start or grow a delivery business. The core value to our customer is that they can build a business on the back of Amazon’s volume. It appeals to both an emotional desire to be excited about Amazon and eCommerce growth and it presents itself as a low risk business opportunity because Amazon is lowering your start-up costs, removing fees, and giving you access to its volume. The intent for the site is to be like a brochure, with a flat structure and progressive narrative flow. It should communicate the high-level opportunity, highlight the competitive aspects of the program when compared to other franchise opportunities, and then provide details on the daily operations, requirements, and responsibilities of the owner. The voice and tone of the site is friendly and professional. The opportunity should feel approachable but the content should also inspire confidence, similar to a conversation with a representative at a trade show. The imagery should communicate the environment and job roles (i.e. warehouses, trucks, packages, and deliveries) but also promote Amazon’s brand and customer-obsessed values.
DESIGN CHALLENGES
How might we generate interest in the Amazon DSP offer?
How might we communicate the benefits of working with Amazon?
How might we educate candidates about the program requirements to make an informed decision to apply?
How might we prepare candidates for the operational challenges of running a delivery business?
How might we optimize content for novices without alienating experts?
Rolling out the program
In the spring of 2018 Amazon launched the DSP program and within days thousands of candidates completed the online application. Over 2018 and ‘19 more than one thousand entrepreneurs have successfully built companies with the DSP program and software that we designed. While the launch and positive feedback from customers was exciting for the team, we have not slowed down. In 2019 the team has used evaluative research studies and customer feedback to develop improvements to the program and the products. The program has also scaled to 13 countries and is projected to continue expansion and growth in 2020 and beyond.
“I didn’t have a logistics background at all. Amazon was able to help me become an entrepreneur, a successful one at that.”
For more information about the Amazon Delivery Service Partner program, please visit www.logistics.amazon.com