Research, UX & UI Design

Design Team

• Akanksha Joshi: UX and UI
• Izabela Usarek: User Research and Product Management

Why

As we scaled Peek Pro we received more requests from our operators to increase revenue by connecting them with resellers. Also, operators were having a hard time managing existing distributors as:

• Operators often manage the relationships on paper contracts.
• Operators have to track contracts, customer bookings, and payouts.
• Often each reseller required its own platform.
• As networks grow it's more expensive to manage these relationships.

It has become clear that we could help operators increase revenue and streamline by building, Peek Channel Management.

How

In order to create a solution, we first needed to understand the workflow. The project manager and I phone interviewed fifteen operators that differed by location and vertical. Understanding the workflow was harder than anticipated as we discovered several use cases. The initial results were a tangle of features and user flows:

Which we further refined as UX sketchs:

Channel Management Flow

As we defined the core use case, we found a critical division in how operators worked with different resellers. The split was based on which party collects and distributes commissions.

Net Rate Sheets

Once we defined the use flow and established commission structures, we focused on Net Rate Sheets. Net Rate Sheets were necessary to decipher as they represented the final terms of the agreement between the operator and reseller. Net rate sheets included:

• Ticket Prices per Activity
• Base Price: Pre Taxes and Fees
• Retail Price: Post Taxes and Fees, Price Charged to Customer
• Commission Earned
• Net Rate: Amount Due
• Start and End Dates

Net rate sheets included a detail that was critical to understanding: how commissions and taxes are split between operators and resellers. We discovered an additional key division:

Base and List Price with Commission

First it was important to understand Base and List Price.

• Base Price: Price before taxes
• List Price: Price with taxes

Next, we defined that commissions and taxes could be applied either to the Base or List Price which was important regarding sales tax payout.

• Commission on Base Price: Taxes fully paid out by operator
• Commission on List Price: Taxes split between operator and reseller

Finally, we discovered that a commission could be subtracted or added to either price.

• Commission subtracted from List or Base Price
• Commission added on to Base Price

We documented example use cases into a spreadsheet:

And refactored in a matrix to highlight patterns:

We found that a majority of reseller use cases deduct commissions. Subtracted commissions are from either the base or list price. We visualized the finding in a clear infographic:

Catalogs and Channels

Catalogs and Channels also define Net Rate Sheets:

• Catalogs: Collection of tickets and their prices
• Channels: Reseller commission and details

Catalogs

We first sketched out catalogs. The core use case was:

• Create Catalog
• Assign Activities
• Add Date Range

• We explored the concept of adding date ranges but we removed them as they added too much complexity.

• Except that we added a date range to the entire catalog.

• We explored arranging catalogs by date but layouts were awkward.

• Resulting in the final Catalog UI:

• We also decided to include a default catalog. Default catalogs include all activities to allow a quick setup without customization.

Channels

As we designed Catalogs, we simultaneously designed Channels. Channels include:

• Channel Profile
• Payment Method
• Select Catalog
• Apply Commission
• Preview Net Rate Sheet
• Publish Agreement

Since we defined a majority of the use case during Catalogs, we only had to refine a few points for Channels.

• Adding permissions for operators to control reseller functionality.

• Include Commission on top of price as an advanced option.

• We also realized that Channels will contain multiple catalogs over time. Channels require a Catalog overview.

• Resulting in the final Channel interface.

Example Integrations

An example of a Peek partner with two reseller integrations powered by Channel Management.

Infographics

We also created infographics for our staff to explain the steps in the channel management workflow.