Real-time insights and AI-powered content recommendations delivered to sales reps in their flow of work, tailored to their buyers' interests and interactions.
Spekit Smartsend allows you to send a link to a piece of content (deck, case study etc.) to your customer directly from your email or any other tool and track how they interact with it . It's the fastest, most effective solution to connect sales reps with the content they need to close deals, while delivering real-time insight into content adoption and engagement.
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This strategic initiative unified teams across R&D, mobilizing resources from every department. Despite our compact two-person design team, we orchestrated the complete product lifecycle—from initial opportunity analysis and user research through iterative design, validation testing, and a successful beta rollout.
Our customers directly felt a positive impact during testing as well as after the initial launch of SmartSend. During a 2-month beta program, we evaluated the effectiveness of our customers current process for sharing content. When the beta program concluded, we found that when using SmartSend, content sharing effectiveness increased by an average of 70%.Âą
1. When comparing pre and post beta survey results from 7 users
2. Adoption metrics 3 months after launch
Of all the content created by marketing and enablement, 65% goes unused by sales reps.Âą
Sales reps often face challenges in determining the most suitable content to deliver to the right recipient at the opportune moment. Consequently, they tend to rely on familiar materials, which can result in less effective conversations, potentially leading to lost deals that could have been won or missed opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling.
1. Forrester content preferences study, october 2021
Through the problem, we identified a critical market pain point: both sales and marketing teams were overwhelmed by fragmented content systems. By centralizing valuable sales materials within Spekit's platform, we could directly address the the pain of having multiple content management systems. However, this transformation came with its own set of challenges.
Content adoption and discovery
Content insights and impact
Our R&D team collaborated to define the initiative's scope, establishing clear objectives and developing user stories that aligned with our strategic goals. We utilized the role-goal-benefit framework to help us write effective user stories and define feature requirements.
Due to the fast-paced nature of this initiative, some parts of the design process were accelerated. This means that we didn't allocate time towards the lo-fidelity design phase which typically includes sketching and wireframing. Based on our extensive market research and discovery period, we felt confident moving forward with hi-fidelity design ideation right away to increase our velocity.
We strategically distributed work across our squads based on the agreed-upon scope and detailed user stories. Our early start on design exploration set us up to rapidly prototype and validate solutions, delivering a working end-to-end version that allowed development to begin on core functionality.
A key phase of SmartSend was expanding Spekit’s CMS capabilities. This meant allowing for users to upload their own files into the product. We started by supporting PDF and PowerPoint (PPTX) files, marking the first phase of our broader vision to support diverse content types and integrations within Spekit.
Select files to upload
Configure the file settings
Upload files into Spekit
To help users instantly distinguish between different content types in Spekit, we established visual recognition through intuitive color schemes, graphics, and badges. Our scalable approach allowed us to seamlessly accommodate new content types as the platform evolved.
Color schemes
We closely followed file color associations established by products such as Google Drive and SharePoint to help create visual recognition.
PDFs
Presentations
spreadsheets
Documents
Images
Misc
Graphics
To visually differentiate various file types, we added prominent graphics to the content cards so they could be identified at a glance.
PDFs
Presentations
spreadsheets
Documents
Images
Misc
Badges
File type badges, displayed at the top of the content cards, ensured that users could clearly identify the exact file type through labels like PDF, PPT, or DOCX.
PDFs
Presentations
spreadsheets
Documents
Images
Misc
SmartSend also introduced secure content sharing through generated links, enabling sales teams to distribute materials both inside and outside the organization. This streamlined sharing capability helped sales reps deliver content to customers and prospects while providing valuable engagement analytics.
Select the external share option on the file
Configure the share link settings
Copy your share link
Spekit maintains essential Content Management System (CMS) functionality by allowing team members to view files both within the organization and, when enabled, share them with external stakeholders. This flexible sharing system ensures seamless collaboration while maintaining control over sensitive content.
View internally
View externally
SmartSend's share link tracking revolutionized how users monitored content engagement. Real-time notifications in the Chrome extension instantly alert you when recipients view your shared content. Whether through notification alerts or the analytics dashboard, you can access detailed insights about how your shared content is performing.
We rebuilt core design system components to enhance visual consistency and streamline functionality across the platform. Comprehensive developer documentation accelerated implementation time and reduced technical bottlenecks.
See how I did it
I proactively established a centralized feedback system in Airtable, streamlining our research operations by systematically cataloging user insights and interview data. This structured approach enhanced our data analysis capabilities and created a single source of truth for the team.
I led the research strategy for our beta program, designing a comprehensive feedback framework to capture both qualitative and quantitative insights throughout the product lifecycle. The program successfully engaged 12 active customers who participated in a structured two-month evaluation process including kick-off sessions, real-time testing with asynchronous feedback, and bi-weekly review meetings. This systematic approach informed our post-launch enhancement roadmap with actionable user insights.
We strategically distributed work across our squads based on the agreed-upon scope and detailed user stories. Our early start on design exploration set us up to rapidly prototype and validate solutions, delivering a working end-to-end version that allowed development to begin on core functionality.
Areas for improvement
Users requested enhanced white-labeling capabilities, specifically the ability to customize external links with company branding and domain masking,
Users requested improved filtering options, specifically for tag-based searching and the ability to filter by sharing permissions.
Users requested expanded content organization capabilities, specifically the ability to add more contextual information by implementing a flexible tagging system with specialized categories (industry, stage, and content type).
Users reported that their materials are currently split between several content management systems. They expressed a desire to consolidate by moving almost all content into Spekit to create a single, centralized location where users can reliably find the resources they need.
While running the SmartSend beta program, our team started development on AI-powered content recommendations for the Spekit Chrome extension. Our research revealed that users consistently struggled with content discovery, leading us to prioritize this enhancement.
The true value of content isn't just in it's quality, it's in users being able to find and access it precisely when they need it.
By meticulously mapping the user flow and page-scraping algorithms, we gained crucial insights into how to surface the most relevant content within users' workflows. This visual approach to understanding our recommendation engine enabled more strategic decision-making.
We strategically integrated the recommendation feature into our extension's home page interface, optimizing existing space to enhance content discovery. By prioritizing recommendations in the visual hierarchy, we ensured users could immediately access contextually relevant information upon launch, maximizing efficiency while maintaining a clean, intuitive experience.
To gather continuous data on our recommendation algorithm, we implemented a multi-tiered feedback system that enabled users to provide both general input and granular content-level responses. This strategic approach to user feedback collection helped the team determine what was working and what wasn't when deciding what could be improved in the experience.
Review recommended content
Provide feedback on hover
Recieve success confirmation
The launch of SmartSend represented a significant milestone for Spekit, mobilizing a comprehensive cross-functional initiative that spanned multiple departments. Our coordinated go-to-market strategy, anchored by a strategic social media campaign, generated immediate market traction and substantial user engagement, validating the high anticipation surrounding this feature release.
"Designing products around the people that will use it the most, embedding their feedback, and a commitment to making their lives easier... YES!"
Founder & CEO, Avenue Talent Partners
"It was 100% easier finding content through Spekit. Before we would put it in SharePoint or a Team's folder that has a ton of other information. I thought it was really hard to find in those formats. I thought it was really easy to navigate in Spekit."
Director of Accounts, Jackson + Coker
"All of the content at a sales reps fingers without having to search in multiple systems is a game changer. More time spent with the prospect than having to find content. Congrats Melanie and Spekit team on this awesome launch!! Let's go!"
Chief Customer Officer, Qualified
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