At Vodori, we take user experience seriously. Our goal is to create feature rich products that remain easy-to-use, best meet user needs, and make everyone’s jobs easier. That’s why each year we leverage our Pepper Flow Product Design Panel to ensure we’re designing a promotional review system with the end user in mind. With representation from PRC team members at dozens of life science organizations, the Product Design Panel weighs in on the challenges they face in their everyday jobs and provides feedback on the features we’ve built to address those pain points.
In 2018 we asked our panel about many different issues with their current PRC process, and three prominent findings emerged. Most of our respondents noted that promotional review systems helped their teams work more efficiently, but many told us that the following procedural obstacles still frustrate their review process and slowed approval times.
1. Organizing and consolidating source files across systems remains a pain point.
From package inserts to design files to photo edits, we heard from our panelists that tracking and maintaining each campaign’s source files can be unwieldy. Most organizations must manage a variety of documents before, during, and after their review process, but files are rarely kept in a centralized location. The lack of a single repository for digital assets causes delays and requires time-wasting searches across systems. The panelists said they wanted a better solution to consolidate the myriad assets into one system so they could link them to the relevant promotional pieces for faster review and future retrieval.
2. Adopting a promotional review system does not eliminate the need for review team meetings.
All respondents said they still met regularly with their review teams after implementing a PRC system, noting that these meetings require significant preparation to be focused and efficient. 75% of respondents indicated that their organization leverages a PRC gatekeeper, who coordinates and referees the meetings, as part of their process. While meetings still occur, most noted that their PRC system helped them make better use of their meeting time. Instead of discussing all comments and feedback, the teams shifted the focus of their meetings to answering specific questions and resolving discrepancies.
3. Reviewing web content is a headache, and no one feels like they have a standardized process.
Across the board, our interview participants said they had yet to find an ideal way to review their promotional web content. To tackle this challenge each organization devised work-around solutions that included multiple screenshots, endless uploads, and constant link checking. Because no clear, consistent process emerged, we found tremendous opportunity to design an innovative yet helpful solution. Our team got to work designing a feature that allows reviewers to annotate and comment directly on the interactive version of the web page, saving time and endless back-and-forth for both submitters and reviewers. We recently shared a prototype design of this concept with our panel and received excellent feedback to incorporate into our next design phase.
Based on these findings, we have already made several enhancements to Pepper Flow and are planning even more. These valuable takeaways remind us how important it is to listen to our users, and the Pepper Flow Product Design Panel helps ensure we improve our product continuously.
As we roll into 2019, we look forward to what we’ll learn from our panel next.
Some upcoming questions we will be asking this year include:
- What additional capabilities before and after MLR approval (e.g., concept reviews, editorial checks, and sending approved materials to a printer) could we integrate into the system to deliver more value to the user?
- How do users prefer to organize and find assets? Would features such as saved searches, a “my documents” filter, and archiving capabilities make that easier?
- What additional process and material usage metrics could we deliver to best address organizational priorities?
If you would like to share your expertise on these topics and improve the promotional review process, we invite you to join our panel.
How to Join the Pepper Flow Product Design Panel
Want to help shape the future of promotional review systems and gain insights to the new features that we’re building? Join the Pepper Flow Product Design Panel. You don’t need to be a Pepper Flow customer to participate. Panelists receive an Amazon gift card in exchange for each survey completed. Sign up here.