Mouser's Trade Compliance
Timeline
June 2023 - January 2024
Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Overview
Streamline export order processes while ensuring that the business and customers stay compliant with US Export regulations.
Problem statement
Today we have End Use Forms (PDFs) that don’t capture all of the information we need about the customer to be able to make informed decisions about their order. We have separate teams working with siloed data which creates mismatches and can potentially lead to us shipping incorrectly or putting orders on hold when they don’t need to be.
Our solution will aim to improve the current process to make sure we are getting the right information from customers, as early as possible, while also ensuring we are following Mouser business rules and government export laws and regulations.
Problem for customers
The current documentation process was outdated and can result in orders being on export hold for a prolonged time. Due to the manual process it was possible that customers could miss the request to complete a form, increasing the export hold time.
Problem for the business
Ongoing global conflicts were pushing government regulations and laws to be more strict about what and who Mouser sells their products to. Current processes were not scalable if we needed to increase the number of forms that were sent to customers.
Problem for internal export team
Due to each document needing to be manually reviewed, the export team and export review process was becoming a bottleneck. They needed a solution that would allow them to review forms quickly, and only manually review when necessary.
Our solution
A multi-step process to meet our needs.
Me and the Site Commerce team spent multiple months ahead of development working on the discovery phase of this project. We gathered information and requirements, looked at competitor solutions, spoke to internal stakeholders, and finally, designed a prototype before we finally landed on a solution that met our complex list of user and business needs.
Step 1: Export control notice
The first step of this project was to include an Export Control Notice to the bottom of the order review page. By including this messaging we are:
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Informing customers of Mouser Export responsibilities.
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Warning customers that some orders may be required to full out an End User Certificate (EUC).
Step 2: Digital Trade Compliance Form
The second thing that was launched in this project was a digital Trade Compliance form. By utilizing a digital form, we are:
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Condensing multiple EUC documents into one form. This allows us to gather all required information in one form and reduces asking duplicate questions.
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Speeding up time to complete export compliance forms. Before the digital export forms, processes were manual and slow. This allows the user quicker access to export forms, which means it can be filled out and reviewed quicker.
This solution was originally used for all orders that required an export form, but long-term will be used for users who complete non-web orders. Users are sent the form via a link in their order confirmation email.
Step 3: Trade Compliance Form in Checkout
The third and final step to this project was to implement the trade compliance form into our online checkout. By adding the form into checkout we are:
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Streamlining the order flow process. Gathering export compliance information upfront, while users are in checkout, speeds up the order flow process and allows less back and forth between customer service and the customer.
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Ensuring we have the information we need. By collecting this information in checkout, we are ensuring we have all necessary information before a user completes their order. We will not allow a user to move forward until they enter all required fields.
This solution will be used for users who complete web orders. This is the second step in checkout if applicable to the order (depending on billing/shipping address, parts in cart. country risk level, etc.)
How did we get there?
Analyzing competitor solutions
One of the first steps we took when starting this project was to see if any of our competitors had an export or trade compliance process within their order process. We found that our biggest competitor, DigiKey, did in fact have an export form directly in their checkout process.
We took time to analyze the types of questions they asked, how they were displayed, and even submitted an order to see if there were any post order communications related to the export form .
Conversations with Stakeholders
Another important thing we had to do in this process was sit down with leadership to understand why this project was needed and what their goals were. After many conversations, we ultimately understood that export rules in the US were starting to get stricter and if we did not comply, the company could be fined. Additionally, we have a slow and disjointed review system that was no longer sustainable.
We also sat down with members of the export team to better understand where their pain points were. While they were originally not open to anyone changing their process, it was helpful to understand that they had a huge number of export forms come in every day that needed to be reviewed.
Studying the Current Process
We got a lot of great information about the current export processes when speaking with the export team. We learned that the current process involved a customer receiving an email from Mouser asking them to complete a form. The form is a PDF that the customer must print, fill out, scan and send back. When the export review team receives the form they they manually review it. This is a long process that all happens post purchase and the customers order is on hold the entire time .
We knew we had to digitize the form, but we didn’t know what questions to include. There were 6 different forms that a customer could be sent depending on the parts they ordered or where it was shipping. We created a matrix and evaluated what questions across all the forms were the same, and proposed to leadership that those were the questions in the digital form.
Outcomes
Customer feedback via Qualtrics
Along with the form, we launched a Qualtrics Survey that would target users who had completed the form during checkout. This allowed us to gather insights related to the Trade Compliance step within checkout.
2,357
Responses
5.6
Average Score
58
Countries reached
Fullstory metrics
We also tracked metrics using Fullstory. We found that our time in checkout did increase with the addition of the trade compliance form. This was expected as users would have to adopt the form for the first time, and at time of launch we had no 'memory' feature. This means that we could not pull a users previous form and either fill in data or use it for future forms, even if they were logged in.
We found that the median time on page for the standalone form was only 14.36 seconds compared to the checkout form which was 1 minute 15 seconds.
4m 30s
6m 10s
Median time in checkout (time to convert)