Project Overview
Sensorama partnered with Ambev, the world’s largest beer producer, to overhaul their internal telesales system, VDI. This ambitious project aimed to align with Ambev’s aggressive growth goals by improving the sales process and supporting telesales staff in delivering qualified sales. Given Ambev’s scale and expectations, we applied a strategic, user-centered approach validated through multiple studies and direct feedback.
Team and Collaboration
Our team included:
Sensorama: Michelle Chaussard (Project Manager), Marco Lindoso (UX Specialist)
Ambev: Carolina Gasperoni (Product Manager), Laerte Marquesini (Process Analyst)
HBSIS: Technical team
I worked on-site at Ambev to gain deeper insights into the company culture and sales environment, fostering collaboration between our teams in São Paulo and Florianópolis - Brazil.
The Challenge
Ambev’s sales model included e-commerce (40%) and phone-based sales (60%). The VDI (vendor-initiated calls) team faced difficulties in meeting aggressive KPIs due to limited support from their current system, rising turnover, and lack of adequate guidance for vendors. Our goal was to increase VDI-qualified sales by 70% through a redesigned telesales experience.
Design Process
1. Understanding
We kicked off with a stakeholder meeting to clarify pain points, expectations, and align on our design approach. I then interviewed telesales vendors to gather direct feedback on their challenges, which helped us identify key issues impacting sales performance.
2. Research
To gain hands-on insight, I spent time shadowing telesales vendors, observing their routines, and attempting qualified sales myself. This immersion revealed significant system limitations, such as unclear guidance on product recommendations. Additionally, I spent a day with Ambev’s external sales team, where I observed how “small talk” and personalized interactions enhanced customer satisfaction and sales success.
3. Benchmarking
I also observed Sky’s telesales process (a cable TV company with a close relationship to Ambev). Sky’s friendly, scripted approach provided valuable ideas for making the VDI sales process more approachable and effective.
4. Architecture
I designed a new telesales flow based on the successful practices of Ambev’s external vendors. This flow focused on three key moments: planning, offering, and selling. To overcome internal resistance to more personalized customer interactions, we invited an external vendor to share how small talk positively impacted sales.
5. Functional Documentation
Key features were outlined for the new system:
Welcome Board: Displays relevant product updates, local events, and client history.
Chat Integration: Enables collaboration between external and internal vendors.
Enhanced Visualization: A human-centered interface to help vendors communicate effectively.
Ideal Order Tracking: A visual indicator to guide qualified sales.
Improved Checkout Process: Clear presentation of products, customer information, savings, and costs.
WhatsApp Confirmation: Adds convenience with a message confirmation via WhatsApp.
6. Prototyping
Informed by our research, we developed wireframes and UI prototypes that incorporated survey findings, industry benchmarks, and feedback from interviews. We designed the interface to be clean, intuitive, and aligned with Ambev’s business goals.
7. User Testing
We conducted qualitative tests with five VDI vendors of varying experience levels to evaluate the new interface:
Advanced Vendors: Found areas to be overly scripted, but ultimately valued the guidance.
Non-Experienced Vendors: Appreciated the structured script and noted that the new design could make them more productive.
8. Presenting to Stakeholders
The final presentation of our test results and initial UI design was met with enthusiasm. The improvements aligned well with vendor expectations, clarified processes, and showed significant potential for increasing qualified sales. Stakeholders appreciated the clean and minimal design, though minor adjustments were requested, such as improved functionality in the menu, tooltip additions, and icon labels.
9. Handoff and Playbook
This six-month project involved fast-paced innovation. To document our findings, I created a playbook that outlined our design process, insights, and benchmarks, serving as a resource for future projects at Ambev.
TL;DR
Sensorama partnered with Ambev to redesign their VDI telesales system, aiming to increase qualified sales by 70%. Through immersive research, benchmarking, and prototyping, we developed a user-centered system with improved sales guidance, streamlined workflows, and enhanced functionality. The final design, validated through user testing, provided Ambev with a clean, effective interface and an adaptable design playbook for ongoing improvements.
All findings are in the playbook - enjoy!
↓ Download playbook
