Inflated design capacity
Together we turned ideas from the backlog into reality.
- Client
- Inventory Planner by Sage
- Sector
- Technology and software
- Duration
- 3+ years
- What we did
- Interface design
- Digital strategy
- User research
- Product design
Inventory Planner helps small to medium sized businesses manage their stock and cashflow using powerful prediction algorithms. It’s classic software as a service, built as a classic start-up. Then the start-up was acquired by Sage, who we’ve worked with before.
The Inventory Planner team were ambitious about strategically uplifting their product experience in multiple areas but Sage’s in-house designers were already at capacity. That’s where Clearleft came in.
We ended up working with Inventory Planner multiple times and each time we were building on the previous work we’d done with them. And we don’t just mean the work on the product itself.
Partnering with Clearleft across multiple projects has helped us take a strategic approach to product design. This collaboration has transformed customer experiences at Inventory Planner, building trust, improving retention, and reducing customer drop-off with a user-first focus.
The Results
Increased customer acquisition and retention
Inventory Planner got more new customers while keeping existing customers happy.
Improved ways of working
Clearleft introduced a research-led project workflow that is being adopted across the business.
The Full Story
How do you turn a single engagement into a long-term partnership?
Hiring an outside agency can be risky for a business. Sure, they say they’re good, but can you trust them? The first time you work together with an outside agency, it feels a bit like going on a date. You’re sussing one another out, hoping for the best but wary of getting your heart broken.
The first time we worked with Inventory Planner, it went well. But what if that was just a fluke? So they hired us again. Again, it went well. And again, they asked us back.
We ended up working together on a range of significant product improvements:
- onboarding new users
- helping customers to take the next best action, so they realise the value of the product quicker
- introducing people to new features, or features they haven’t used
- making a streamlined version of the software for smaller companies who need fewer features
Our work together started with interface features. Any changes we made weren’t just applied to the product; we also fed those changes back into the overall design language. With each project, this design language was becoming more considered and consistent.
Over time the work evolved. We focused more on outcomes than outputs. Clearleft became a strategic design partner for Inventory Planner. Together we worked on improving customer acquisition and retention by focusing on user needs, with every strategy decision backed up by user research and insights.
How do you build momentum?
The advantage of having an in-house design team is in their institutional knowledge. They know how things work around here. But sometimes it can be hard to see beyond those boundaries.
Bringing in an outside agency means you get a fresh perspective. You get introduced to new ideas and new ways of working. But it can take a while for that outside agency to get up to speed on your specific culture.
By working with Clearleft on multiple projects over time, Inventory Planner got the best of both worlds. We’ve still got that fresh outside perspective and the focus you get when there’s a time limit on a project. But each piece of work we did built on everything we’d learned from the previous project.
Every time Clearleft worked with Inventory Planner, we were building up trust. That didn’t happen by accident. After each engagement, we made sure that everyone at Clearleft had a better understanding of Inventory Planner’s goals and priorities. No matter who ended up working on a project, they were able to hit the ground running. Sharing project learning via all-staff lunch and learns, practitioner retrospectives and a carefully managed client knowledge base are just a few of the ways that everyone at Clearleft stays up to date on client work.
For us, the learning curve was less steep each time. We had more prior knowledge of their acronym-heavy world. Initial meetings were more about re-establishing relationships rather than starting from scratch.
How do you get the most value from Clearleft?
Agency work can be intense. You’ve got a limited amount of time so you’ve got to work fast. Usually that means putting all your energy into a project and then wiping the slate clean so that you can take on the next project. Often you don’t even get to see the fruit of your labour until weeks or months later, by which time you’re working on a completely different project.
With Inventory Planner, it was different. Instead of wiping the slate clean, we were updating the slate each time.
We design something with Inventory Planner. They build and launch it. Then the next time we work together, we get to find out what they learned. That’s great for us!
And for them, their team has grown and matured just as the product has grown and matured. If they were starting with a new outside agency each time, it would be hard to see all the improvements accumulating.
Throughout our partnership:
- the product changed and improved over time,
- the ways of working changed and improved over time,
- the design language evolved over time making the product more consistent.
At Clearleft, we don't look to trap clients into extended retainers. Clients can hire us for the short or long term. But you get real value out of Clearleft when you hire us for repeat work. We’re small enough that there’s continuity on your projects—the same team with the same relationships building on existing knowledge.
Your strategic design partner.