Product Requirements: Networking Genius

As I was going through old work related to product management, I came across one where it focuses on CRM for networking. It is called "Networking Genius: Maximizing relationships with actionable intelligence". I have created the product requirements for this mobile application that include the problem statement, product vision and detailed feature list. Enjoy!

 

 

1. OVERVIEW

1.1 Background and Problem Statement

With the fast-paced life and the number of interactions that occur for an entrepreneur, it is a challenge for him/her to build and sustain meaningful long-term relationships within their massive network. 

The entrepreneur may not have the right insights that he/she can use to reach out to individuals in their network. For example, if someone has published a book recently, the entrepreneur would like to know this data so that he/she can get in touch to congratulate this author. As well, if a new opportunity, such as a unique business idea, is presented for the entrepreneur that he/she wants to share, he/she faces difficulties in finding the right contacts as they may have been lost over time. 

Today’s CRMs are heavily sales-oriented with multiple features that do not address the pain points of an entrepreneur and their network. In regards to personal relationship tools, they lack the much-needed intelligence to provide essential acumen about the entrepreneur’s network.

The entrepreneur needs an effective and motivating tool that provides deep insights into their contacts to be able to intelligently nurture the relationships in their network. Therefore, a networking relationship management tool would need to be developed to address this current problem.

 

1.2 Product Vision and Features

For the product vision, the team has envisioned to develop a digital platform, called ‘Networking Genius’, that provides deep insights about the user’s contacts leveraging artificial intelligence in a motivating manner. This integration with artificial intelligence will position the team as a forethinker of predictive and actionable relationship management for the users. These insightful predictions will allow the user to formulate intelligent interactions with their network, while getting rewarded for their actions. As a result, the user is viewed as a ‘networking genius’!

Key features of this product are:

• User to log into the tool with their social login.
• User to import their contacts from an external source (e.g. LinkedIn, Google Contacts) or manually.
• User to have a consolidated view of the contacts with key information to take the necessary next steps.
• User to use the outreach suggestions to engage with their network intelligently and meaningfully.
• User to determine tasks and its deadline so that the user does not forget to complete the tasks.
• User to create notes about their contacts to remember all the little details and focus on building meaningful connections.
• User to set reminders to touch base with their contacts.
• User to add tags for their contacts so the user can easily find the right contact based on specific attributes.
• User to send messages or emails to their contacts to keep in touch.
• User to be asked about their updates on contacts. 
• User to participate in the Genius Rewards Program and receive a badge based on their points collected as part of the incentives to use the tool.
• User to update their profile and billing information.

2. DETAILED REQUIREMENTS

This section of the document provides the detailed requirements of the Networking Genius tool.

To view the initial wireframe prototype: https://www.figma.com/proto/bksjh3RU33ogcNn4vcyGAi/Networking-Genius-App?node-id=1011%3A1369&scaling=min-zoom&page-id=324%3A1&starting-point-node-id=1011%3A1100

2.1 Foundations

Since the Networking Genius tool is catered to a market with fast paced lives who are primarily on their mobile devices, this tool will be built and optimized for mobile devices, such as iOS or Android. Once the traffic and demand increase for this tool, its web version will be explored to develop. 

It is also vital that this tool can perform any user action very quickly as these targeted personas have limited time and attention. Security must be robust as this tool will be extracting data from external sources (e.g. syncing the contacts from LinkedIn or Google Contacts). 

 

2.2 Sign Up, Registration, Log In

The goal behind the sign up and registration is that they should be quick and easy. Once the user has downloaded the mobile app, it will present a ‘Sign Up’ screen. The user has the option to sign up with an email address or a social login (i.e. Google). The user must accept terms and policies before proceeding. These terms and policies can be read in detail by clicking on their link, which will open a new screen.

The ‘Sign Up’ screen will also include the option for the user to log into their account if he/she has already created it. The user can learn more about the Networking Genius tool by clicking the ‘About’ link, or contact the support team with the ‘Contact’ link if the user has any questions or technical issues.

The next step of the registration is where the user will submit their first and last name, along with an option for the data source for their contacts. If the user selects ‘Manual’, then the system proceeds to the ‘Home’ screen. If the user selects ‘Import’, then the system provides the following options to import the contacts: LinkedIn, Google Contacts, Phone or a CSV file.

Once the user clicks on the ‘Save’ button, then the system saves the data and imports the contact list (if applicable) into the app.

The ‘Log In’ screen allows the user to log into the Networking Genius tool. This screen is basically similar to the ‘Sign Up’ screen, with the addition of a ‘Forgot password?’ link. When the user clicks on this link, he/she can reset their password.

2.3 Header and Footer

The header of this app are the following:

• Networking Genius logo
• Search
• Notifications
• Badge (based on a tiered connection/interaction)
• Profile

The ‘Search’ feature will allow the user to search keywords throughout the whole tool, such as contact, tags, reminders, notes, or tasks.

The notification icon displays a dropdown of various important info for the user to be aware of, such as their credit card is expiring or a new invoice has been created.

The badge is part of the ‘Genius Rewards Program’ that illustrates what stage the user is in this program. By default, the user will be a ‘Starter Connector’, and will transition to the next stage based on the collected points.

By default, the profile picture is the initials of the user. He/She can update this by uploading a picture. When this ‘Profile’ is clicked, the system displays the following options: ‘Profile’, ‘Billing’ and ‘Log Out’. 

The footer consists of the following buttons:

• Home
• Contacts
• Plus 
• Inbox
• Calendar

When the plus button is clicked, the user has the option to add one of the following: contact, reminder, tasks, or notes.

 

2.3 Home

The ‘Home’ screen provides key information about the user’s upcoming reminders and tasks. It also suggests various outreach that the user can touch base with their contacts. These outreach suggestions can be:

• a potential introduction between two contacts that have multiple similar tags;
• a contact that has not been in touch for more than a period of time (e.g. 1 year of no interaction);
• a new social media alert of the contact; 
• new tags that have been automatically generated by the system based on social media or the internet for the contact.

The user will also be asked on this screen for any updates about their contacts. If ‘yes’, then the user will state for which contact, when they both connect and any notes that the user wants to add about their contact.

When the user clicks on the profile picture of their contact, the system will navigate to the detailed screen of the selected contact.

A summary of components on the ‘Home’ page:

• Series of questions to gather info about the user’s recent interactions with their contacts.
• Outreach suggestions:
• Contact’s profile picture
• Reason for outreach
• New social media mentions
• New automated tags
• Potential introduction
• Outdated connection
• Option to send a message or delete the suggestion
• Upcoming reminders (e.g. birthday, connection) for today and the next 7 days.
• Contact’s profile picture
• Reminder type (e.g. touch base or birthday)
• If the reminder is for today: Option to snooze reminder to 1 hour later or to say that the user has connected with the contact.
• If the reminder is for the next 7 days: Date of reminder
• Upcoming tasks for the next 30 days.
• Contact’s profile picture 
• Task name
• Deadline
• Checkbox or Delete option

 

2.3 Contacts

The ‘Contacts’ screen is a consolidated list of all the user’s contacts. For each contact:

• Contact’s profile picture (which is clickable to their detailed profile) with relevance color
• Last connection date
• Tags
• Manual tags added by user (tags with background as blue and font as white)
• Automated tags added by system based on external sources (tags with background as white and font as blue)
• Option to update/add new tags
• Option to message the contact

There is a ‘Filter’ button so that the user can sort or filter their list of contacts. When clicked, this dropdown displays:

• Filter by
• Tags
• Untagged 
• Manual tags
• Automated tags
• Sort by
• First name
• Last name
• Last connected date

When a contact is selected, its details are displayed. The user will help an overview of the contact’s bio, relevance, reminder frequency, general info, social media info, media alert, and a timeline.

For the ‘relevance’, it is defined as the relevance the contact has to the user. There are 3 options: High, Medium, and Low. Based on the selected option, the ‘ring’ around the contact’s image changes to green (for High), yellow (for Medium), and red (for low).

The reminder frequency is set by the user on how often he/she would like to be reminded about touching base with this contact. Suggested options are: daily, weekly, monthly, every 3 months, every 6 months, annually.

In the ‘General’ section, it includes various information about the contact, such as email address, phone number, company, role, website, birthday, address, and social media.

The ‘Media Alert’ allows the user to see what social mentions are being made about this contact.

The ‘Timeline’ feature shows all the actions that the user has done for this contact, such as adding a note, or sending a message. 

The user can update any of the information or delete this contact.

Detailed components when user views the detailed screen of a selected contact:

• Full name
• Profile picture (to be automatically populated by contact’s social media) with relevance color
• General Bio
• Relevance
• Frequency of reminder
• General
• Email (personal, work, other)
• Phone number (cell, home, work, other)
• Address
• Company
• Role
• Address
• Birthday
• Social media
• Tagging
• Manual (User adds these tags as attributes of the contact)
• Automated (System automatically adds new tags to the contact based on external data)
• Social Media Posts/Media Alerts
• List of the contact’s acquisitions, investments, job changes, social media, and other notable events.
• List of recent social media posts by contact
• Timeline
• Date stamp
• Type of event (reminders, notes, tasks)
• Description of event

 

2.4 Inbox

The concept behind the ‘Inbox’ section is to encourage the user to interact with their network. This section allows the user to send new messages or reply to their contacts. For each message, the user will be presented quick intelligent replies or a customized reply. The user can also use preset templates for longer messages to send to their contacts. 

2.5 Calendar

The ‘Calendar’ screen allows the user to see a consolidated view of their tasks and reminders. The user first sees a monthly calendar with dots under dates to highlight if there is a task or/and reminder for that day.

For the ‘Today’ section, the user will see a list of their tasks and/or reminders along with actions he/she can take. For the task, the user can complete it or delete it. For the reminder, the user can say it is done or snooze it.

For the upcoming tasks, there is a date associated with each task or reminder. In the ‘Complete’ section, the user can view a list of completed reminders and tasks, and delete them if desired.

 

2.6 Add

When the user clicks on the ‘plus’ sign found in the footer, the user can add any of the following: reminder, task, note, contact.

For the reminder, the user can select for which contact the reminder is for, the starting date and the frequency of this reminder.

For the task, the user can select the contact, the description of task and the deadline.

For the notes, the user selects the contact and adds the details.

For a new contact, the user will add the following information:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address and its type
• Phone number and its type
• Address
• Company
• Role
• Birthday
• Website
• Social media handles and its type
• Reminder frequency 
• Tags

2.7 Profile and Billing

In the ‘Profile’ screen, the user can view their account details, such as name, email address, password and any linked data sources for the contacts. The user can sync their contact list with the selected source to ensure that the list is always up to date. The user can also update their name, email and password anytime.

The user can also view their progress in the ‘Genius Rewards Program’ along the number of points collected.

The ‘Notifications’ section allows the user to determine how frequently he/she wants to be asked about the updates on their contacts and their interactions.

Lastly, the user can deactivate their account anytime.

 

For the ‘Billing’ screen, the user can view their subscription details, payment methods and invoices.

 

2.8 Genius Rewards Program

The Genius Rewards Program has been created to provide incentives for users to continuously use the Networking Genius tool. By using the tool frequently, the user can optimize the relationships in their network.

In this program, the user will get a badge based on the points collected. There are 3 stages in this program:

• Starter Connector: 0 to 25 points
• Super Connector: 26 to 100 points
• Supreme Connector: 101+ points

There are multiple ways for the user to collect points, such as:

• 5 points = Creating an account
• 3 points = Providing an update or messaging an outreach suggestion
• 1 point = Adding a reminder, task, note, or contact

The user can see how many points he/she has collected and what stage he/she is at by looking at the badge in the header of the tool (and also in the ‘Profile’ screen). The user will be rewarded a digital gift card (e.g. Starbucks) with $X based on the stage they have achieved.

2.9 Future Ideas

Here is a list of ideas to consider in the future for the Networking Genius tool:

• To merge contacts (if there are duplicates)
• To create groups manually or automatically (e.g. based on tags)
• To add events 
• To set targets and graph of the number of contacts to interact every month
• To prioritize tasks (High, Medium, Low)
• To export the contact list to CSV file
• To suggest new contacts for the user to add based on social media presence and tags used on their current contacts
• To have a file or content management