My Role
I led the end-to-end design process from early problem discovery, through testing our iterations, to the final production ready release.
I collaborated closely with a Product Manager, 2 Software Engineers, and a Technical Writer.
We were supported and guided by internal feedback and input from various Customer Success, Implementation Engineers, and Stakeholders roles within the organization.
The Problem
Large Data Payloads Slowing Things Down
Tealium’s customers wanted to render personalized content on their websites based on the returning visitor’s audiences during initial page load. However, two key roadblocks stood in their way:
• In the existing system, it couldn’t be done because an event needed to occur in order to return the visitor’s audience.
• There was a lot of data returned as part of the visitor profile causing slow response times.
• In the existing system, it couldn’t be done because an event needed to occur in order to return the visitor’s audience.
• There was a lot of data returned as part of the visitor profile causing slow response times.
The Goal
An Intuitive, Fast, and Composable API
Our goal was to design an intuitive UI for configuring, leveraging, and managing API endpoint configurations, referred to as Engines. We focused on two primary objectives:
• Empower marketers with a fast visitor look-up service that retrieves specific Audience data before the page loads, enabling real-time personalization for returning users.
• Support developers by delivering a well-structured API and clear, developer-friendly documentation to facilitate easy integration and troubleshooting.
This aimed to drive marketing engagement through personalized experiences while providing developers with the tools to confidently implement and maintain the feature using Tealium’s APIs and documentation.
• Empower marketers with a fast visitor look-up service that retrieves specific Audience data before the page loads, enabling real-time personalization for returning users.
• Support developers by delivering a well-structured API and clear, developer-friendly documentation to facilitate easy integration and troubleshooting.
This aimed to drive marketing engagement through personalized experiences while providing developers with the tools to confidently implement and maintain the feature using Tealium’s APIs and documentation.
Discovery
Understanding the Bigger Picture
We began by identifying who would benefit from the solution and how it would integrate into their existing workflows. While the feature would live within Tealium’s UI, the endpoint it generated would be used by customers to deliver fast, personalized experiences for their users.
By collaborating across disciplines, we mapped user journeys and conducted Jobs-To-Be-Done, service mapping, and user flow exercises to shape a shared understanding of the holistic experience, ecosystem, and touchpoints.
A central discovery question guided our early efforts:
“If we build this, how might it fit into our customers’ existing workflows?”
Initial Designs
Exploring the Configuration Experience
The 1st iteration was to simplify and block in a guided configuration experience that allowed users to customize an endpoint to return only the data they wanted. To keep this simplicity, the configuration was designed for a single page. However, we received several critical feedback points that would change the design:
• Having the settings and response on one page made the page feeling busy and confusing
• The code well for the response felt secondary and lost in the other elements on the page. This is the most important part of the configuration so this should be prioritized.
• Having the settings and response on one page made the page feeling busy and confusing
• The code well for the response felt secondary and lost in the other elements on the page. This is the most important part of the configuration so this should be prioritized.
Testing Our Ideas
Validating Comprehension and Workflow
The Moments API introduced a new concept within Tealium’s product ecosystem, designed specifically for developers. Because this functionality and value proposition were unfamiliar to existing customers, we aimed to validate whether developers could understand its purpose, benefits, and how to configure an API Engine.
Our research goals were to:
• Assess user comprehension of the feature: what it does, how it works, and how to get started
• Identify usability gaps or friction points in the engine creation process
• Uncover additional information or guidance users may need to successfully implement the endpoint
Before recruiting participants, we defined three hypotheses to guide the discovery testing process:
• Users clearly understand the value of the feature from the landing page
• Users can grasp the Engine concept and create one independently or with minimal support
• Users understand what an Engine is and how to leverage it for their use case
Test Format
We conducted unmoderated usability testing on UserTesting.com with five participants who matched our target persona: developers familiar with Tealium.
Participants were shown a prototype and given a hypothetical task—understand the new feature and create their first instance by configuring a Moments API Engine.
Throughout the session, they spoke aloud to share their thought process and overall experience. At key interaction points, we gathered feedback through rating scales and follow-up questions focused on ease of use and workflow comprehension.
Participants were shown a prototype and given a hypothetical task—understand the new feature and create their first instance by configuring a Moments API Engine.
Throughout the session, they spoke aloud to share their thought process and overall experience. At key interaction points, we gathered feedback through rating scales and follow-up questions focused on ease of use and workflow comprehension.
The Findings
The Feature Landing Page
After synthesizing the user testing videos, we felt the Moments API feature was well understood and the How it Works section broke down the steps in a clear and easy to understand way. User feedback included quotes such as:
“I think it will give me an interface that will help me get and use the data I need, when I need it”
“Was wanting to click on Learn More but I think I have a good understanding without it”
“The information on the pages make it very easy to understand. I feel very confident in completing the steps.”
After synthesizing the user testing videos, we felt the Moments API feature was well understood and the How it Works section broke down the steps in a clear and easy to understand way. User feedback included quotes such as:
“I think it will give me an interface that will help me get and use the data I need, when I need it”
“Was wanting to click on Learn More but I think I have a good understanding without it”
“The information on the pages make it very easy to understand. I feel very confident in completing the steps.”
The Findings
Engine Creation Process
Overall users found the simplified steps and guiding content very helpful in understanding the workflow and what each step meant.
Users also favored the example response and seeing it change as the attributes were selected.
Users also favored the example response and seeing it change as the attributes were selected.
The Findings
Survey Ratings
The survey ratings of key points in the test prototype revealed favorable in the areas of ease of use, level of understanding of the content, and clarity of the task being assigned to them.
The Findings
Opportunities for Improvement
Despite favorable results and validation of our ideas and hypotheses, several participants had comments similar to “Ok I’ve created the endpoint but what are the next steps to use it?” We saw this as an opportunity to provide more guidance and clarity on what to do next. As a result we added additional guidance, resources, and use cases to help them make the use of the endpoint.
Launching Our Finished Product
Final Designs
Following multiple rounds of internal feedback, design workshops, critiques, user testing, and stress testing, the feature was launched through an Early Access program before being rolled out to Tealium’s full customer base.
This release introduced a new product area within the platform, offering customers an intuitive and powerful tool for building real-time personalized experiences.
Added feature tab to product and landing screen for users without account upgrade.
List of created API configurations, or Engines. From this screen the user can view, manage, and monitor the created endpoints and their performance.
New Engine creation with stepped guidance. As the user selects the data to be returned by the endpoint, they see the Example Response on the right update with added data included.
Usage insights for users to monitor their endpoint reads, writes, and rate limits.
Impact
Delivering Impact and Value
The feature launch generated internal excitement and industry buzz, empowering Tealium customers to deliver real-time, personalized experiences within their marketing campaigns. It was packaged as a standalone SKU add-on, contributing to increased revenue.
Adoption was strong, addressing a top request from both existing customers and prospective clients evaluating the platform.
As a result, Tealium strengthened its position as a Martech leader by delivering on true real-time personalization.