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Designing an AI sales assistant for Nigerian SMEs
Vendure.AI is a concept for an AI-powered sales platform that helps businesses manage customer conversations, qualify leads, close deals, and accept payments across their sales channels.
The product was designed around a simple goal: help business owners close deals without having to manage every customer conversation themselves.
- Scope
- UX Research, Product Strategy, Interaction Design, High-Fidelity UI, Prototyping
- Year
- Feb 2024
- Role
- Product Designer
- Platform
- Social Media Chat
- Tool
- Figma
The Problem
Helping businesses manage sales across multiple channels
Many Nigerian SMEs rely on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social channels to speak with customers and close sales.
Managing these conversations across different platforms can make it hard to keep track of leads, follow up with customers, and move conversations through to payment.
Vendure.AI was designed to bring this process into one place and use AI to handle sales conversations around the clock.
The main goal was simple:
Help business owners move from customer conversation to completed payment with less manual work.
Process
Leading the product design from research to prototype
I was the sole Product Designer on the project, working directly with two stakeholders.
I owned the design process from product research and strategy to the final prototype.
- 1
Product Research
Studied how businesses manage customer leads across sales channels.
- 2
Product Strategy
Defined the main user flows around conversations, leads, orders, and payments.
- 3
UX & UI
Designed the core experience for business owners and their customers.
- 4
Design System
Created reusable components to keep the product consistent.
- 5
Prototype
Built the interactive prototype to show how the product would work.
Designing the Conversation Experience
The main challenge was helping business owners manage many customer conversations without losing track of which chats needed attention.
I designed the conversation workspace to show the most important information at a glance, including the customer, conversation status, lead stage, and recent activity.
Conversation View
The full customer conversation stays visible alongside key customer details.
Lead Status
Each conversation shows where the customer is in the sales process.
AI & Human Handoff
Businesses can take over when a conversation needs human input.
Key Design DecisionI treated conversations as the main workspace because closing a deal starts with the customer conversation.
AI Sales Flow
Helping AI move conversations toward a sale
The AI needed to do more than answer customer questions. It needed to guide conversations toward a completed order while keeping the business owner in control.
I designed the flow around:
- Customer message
- AI response
- Product recommendation
- Customer details
- Order
- Payment
AI Conversation
The AI responds to customers and keeps the conversation moving.
Product Recommendation
The AI can suggest products based on the customer's needs.
Order Creation
The conversation can move from product interest to an order.
Human Handoff
The business owner can take over when the AI needs human input.
Dashboard
Giving business owners a clear view of sales
The dashboard brings key sales activity into one place so business owners can quickly understand what is happening across their business.
I focused the dashboard on the information they would need most, including leads, conversations, orders, revenue, and sales trends.
Integrations
Making setup simple for non-technical users
Vendure.AI needed to connect with the platforms businesses already used to reach customers.
I designed the integration flows with non-technical business owners in mind, keeping the setup steps clear and showing what was needed at each stage.
Business owners can see their connected sales channels in one place.
The setup flow guides users through connecting their WhatsApp account.
I simplified the connection steps and made the required information clear.
Connection StatusClear states show whether an integration is connected and ready to use.
Orders
Helping businesses manage orders from one place
Once a customer agrees to buy, the business needs to track the order through fulfilment.
I designed the order system to give business owners one place to review orders, check their status, and act on them.
Order List
Business owners can review orders and their current status in one place.
Order Details
Each order brings the customer, products, amount, channel, and status together.
Order Status
Clear states help businesses track an order from pending to delivery.
Store & Products
Giving businesses control over what they sell
The AI sales flow depends on accurate product information. Businesses therefore needed a simple way to manage their store, products, prices, stock, and product variations.
I designed the product management experience for non-technical business owners, with the focus on making common store tasks easy to complete.
Business owners can view products, stock levels, prices, and availability at a glance.
Product information, variants, pricing, and descriptions can be managed in one place.
A guided flow helps businesses add products without dealing with complex setup.
Product VariantsDifferent options such as size, colour, or other variations can be managed within one product.
Outcome
From product idea to tested prototype
Vendure.AI reached the prototype stage, giving the stakeholders a working view of how the product could help businesses manage conversations, leads, products, orders, and payments in one place.
The project gave me the chance to take the product from research and strategy through UX, UI, design system, and prototyping as the sole designer.
What I delivered
- AI sales flowDesigned the journey from customer conversation to order and payment.
- Conversation managementDesigned a workspace for managing active chats and lead status.
- Order managementDesigned the tools for tracking customer orders.
- Store & product management
- Integrations
- Design system
The final prototype brought the main sales and store management workflows into one connected product.
Designing AI for real sales work
Vendure.AI helped me think about AI as part of a wider product, rather than as a feature on its own.
The main challenge was connecting AI conversations, products, orders, payments, and human support into one clear sales flow for non-technical business owners.
As the sole designer, I worked across the full product experience and turned the initial idea into a working prototype that could be reviewed before development.
The project strengthened my approach to product strategy, complex workflows, AI experiences, and system design.
Thanks for Viewing@designsbyteekay
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