Improving compliance in a breeze

Nike B2B case study

The Story

Enhancing Athlete Contract Compliance Monitoring at Nike

Nike’s Sports Marketing team faces the challenge of managing legal contracts with athletes, specifying how branded merchandise should be presented during sports performances. Breaches of these contracts are documented, and penalties are recorded in the database. Managing many athletes posed difficulties, as the system was outdated and unintuitive. Cumbersome search functionality, excessive fields, and complex UI elements hindered efficient usage.

The Challenge

The woman who designed the system was retiring. Worse, the cheatsheets she created were not being used.

Although users had received training on the existing system, interviews conducted by the Experience Dynamics team revealed a discrepancy between user behavior and the system’s design. Few users employed search filters correctly, illustrating that the system did not align with their workflow. User feedback indicated that the existing system was overcomplicated and not intuitive for everyday use.

The Turning Point

Recognizing the primacy of search functionality, Experience Dynamics decided to centralize the search UI in the Information Architecture. They also identified the need for keyboard-friendly interactions, prioritizing users’ preference for keyboard use over mouse precision. The team swiftly created prototypes introducing new search filters and layouts, simplifying searches, and improving player matching for aliases or ambiguous names. Usability testing, featuring the “Think Aloud” protocol, allowed users to vocalize their thoughts while interacting with the prototypes.

The Strategy

The streamlined search approach, featuring more intuitive and straightforward filters, doubled ease of use metrics. Usability testing validated the design with stakeholders and demonstrated how users could effectively search, even incorporating novel features like a workflow queue. The redesigned system resonated positively with both users and the Agile development team, ensuring a seamless implementation according to schedule.

The Results

Nike’s journey to enhance athlete contract compliance monitoring showcases the power of user-centric design thinking. By aligning design with users’ needs, Experience Dynamics successfully transformed an outdated system into an efficient tool that streamlined search, improved usability, and garnered stakeholder support. This case study underscores the importance of continuous user feedback and iterative design in optimizing digital solutions for improved usability and user satisfaction.