Social graph data mining at scale
The early pioneers of social graph data mining, Volvant, hired me to design a complex product that's part data visualisation tool and part campaign builder. It's the first tool of it's kind to facilitate integrated marketing campaigns connecting HTML5, social web, mobile and tablet devices.
I was part of the core team of early stage seed-funded startup, Volvant, and worked in the capacity of Head of Product and Design with hands-on design involvement. It was incredibly fun and challenging to work alongside CEO and the remote technology team from the inception stage to launching the startup and gaining early B2B customers.
Our premise was based on the fact that brands were trying to generate clicks and sales via social channels in a completely wrong way by forcing people to "LIKE" them for special offers and then spamming their feed to reach out to their friends. It all looked a bit rude, insincere and... well, antisocial.
We firmly believed that long-term engagement with customers will be based on trust-based relationship and reaching out to the right target audience in first place instead of anyone and everyone you can talk to.
I designed an arsenal of operational and business intelligence tools for Volvant that covered:
Cross-platform campaign management like contests, sweepstakes, coupons, deals, rewards and incentives
Visualising how campaign is spreading, identifying the influencers and narrowing down the right target audience
Targeting audience through social graph data mining who have opted-in (no spamming)
Delivering customised message based on the opt-in channel like post to Facebook, email, QR codes in store, Foursquare check-in etc.
Results
The app was successful in resolving the needs of many large corporations, who would earlier need to put together a team of developers and lawyers because of the technology infrastructure, legal terms of service, privacy issues, opt-ins/out, analytics, campaign set-up, and all apps had to be custom built.
During my tenure, the few brands who signed up for the paid beta version ran successful campaigns and ended up becoming long-time partners.
The product was later rebranded to "Bolzter" and acquired by Gravity4 - AI marketing cloud leader sometime ago.
Dashboard screenshot from working version of the app. It was designed directly in the browser.
Screenshot from working version of the app. It was designed directly in the browser.
Product requirements document
The User Centered Design process defined and followed for Volvant.com, bubbles highlight the size of design activity.
Harpal is the guy who gets things done. He's a man who doesn't just theorize about questions, he actually goes out and and gets the answers, which is one of the most important skills in business. He also has a keen eye for something that too few people do: man-machine interfaces, one of the most critical part of SaaS software. On the Internet, one can't expect users to read manuals. I'd say that if you manage to get Harpal as a partner, you're already halfway there.
— Kristof Kovacs, CTO, Volvant
What I did for Volvant
Strategy & Execution
Product vision and roadmap
Business strategy
Go-to-market strategy
Market research and competitive landscaping
Design & Research
Hands-on UX design work for all projects
Data visualisation & UI design
Wireframing and user journeys
Clickable prototypes
User interviews with marketing professionals in UK & Europe
Behind the Scenes
Remote working with distributed teams in Palo Alto, Moscow, Budapest and London
Product pitching and demos
Preparation for Techcrunch Disrupt and other startup competitions
Year: 2011
Engagement period: 7 months
Industry: Digital Marketing & Advertising
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