Supplier & Buyer Engagement
At Knowde, the supplier and buyer engagement is the core of the product’s purpose. To gain a good user experience for the supplier varies depending on the type of company we’re working with (Enterprise vs. SMB). The basic motivation they share is they understand the target customer they are trying to reach, turn them into leads and eventually convert to a transaction.
Terms of Sale
Terms of Sale is a setting platform that allows the supplier to configure business policies for each product/SKU for a targeted segment of customers. These business policies are related to attributes/properties like MOQ (Minimum Order Quantities), lead times, ship from, etc. For example, suppliers can enforce a collection of defined attributes as a policy the buyer must agree to before they’re allowed to purchase. In layman terms, Knowde implemented a tool to narrow down the serious customers who are willing to adhere to their needs.
The Problem
Before this effort, suppliers were receiving a lot of spam emails from unqualified leads. This would frustrate the supplier as they had to sort through unqualified leads to find the qualified leads. This experience was also tarnishing Knowde’s brand as a platform that gave suppliers poor quality content and leads.
This is the Terms of Sale policy builder where the supplier can create, update and manage their policies.
The Scope
Policy Builder
The Terms of Sale policy builder is a settings platform that allows the supplier to configure business policies for each product/SKU for a segment of customers. These business rules or policies are related to attributes/properties like MOQ (Minimum Order Quantities), lead times, ship from, etc.
Instant Quote vs. Standard Quote
The policy builder will define not only if the buyer qualifies to purchase their products but also if they can receive an instant quote through the platform.
Instant Quote: The buyer qualifies to receive their quote online through the Knowde platform.
Standard Quote: The buyer will have to manually contact the supplier to discuss the quote either through email or over the phone.
Verified Knowde Members
Suppliers want to get the most serious of buyers on the platform to purchase their products. To ensure this, verified users of the platform have proven their identity through confirming their employer and work email.
Success Criteria
There were many KPI’s that we measured for success including an increase of traffic to the Supplier’s Storefronts, Total Sales Volume and Annual Sales, Conversion Rates, etc. One thing that led to the conversion to leads and then to sales is, what we call “Verified Knowde Members”, where the users of the Knowde Platform had to prove their identity and association to their company.
Supplier Policy Builder Prototype
Click to view a prototype I had built that will navigate the user through an end-to-end experience of how the policy builder can affect the buyers journey.
