Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI CRM Platform | UX Design

Research

Project Timeline

• The rebuild moved through three connected phases rather than one continuous sprint. Research came first and answered a specific question: where do SMB sales teams actually lose time inside this crm ai software, not which features look impressive in a pitch deck. That phase is also where the target audience became concrete, averaging 27 years old and working primarily on desktop, a detail that shaped every screen built afterward.

  Design and implementation followed, translating those findings into the AI assistant's placement, the navigation structure, and the insights list that now unifies stories, reports, and calls. Testing came last, running across the device sizes a real sales team actually uses day to day, since a redesign that only performs well on a demo laptop doesn't survive contact with an actual SMB workflow.

Research

Social Media

• Social content followed the same discipline as the product itself: clear, direct posts explaining what the AI assistant actually does, without overselling a feature that still has to prove itself inside a real sales workflow. The goal wasn't reach for its own sake, it was setting the right expectation before a prospective SMB buyer ever opened the app, so the first login matched what the marketing promised rather than undercutting it.

Research

The Process

• We went through several brainstorms, team calls, schedule breaks. We don’t hide, that it was hard, but answering “Was that worth it?” - is rhetorical.

• 01 - Research

  Research focused on where SMB sales teams actually lose time inside Dynamics 365, not on a generic feature audit. That's also where it became clear this needed to be crm software with ai built around actual friction points, not a checklist of trending features. The average user profile emerged here too, skewing young at 27 years old and favoring desktop over mobile.

• 02 - Process & Work

  Wireframes, UI, and user journey mapping followed, all built around the AI assistant's role as the coordination layer, closer to a proactive research partner than an ai crm bot living in its own chat window waiting for a typed question. This is also where the insights list, the navigation structure, and the card system took shape.

• 03 - Outcome

  Testing ran across every device size a real sales team uses day to day, validating the desktop-first assumption research had already surfaced, the same rigor most ai powered crm software tools skip once a demo looks good enough to ship.

User Insights

Research into Opinions

• The research target audience skewed young for an enterprise CRM buyer, averaging 27 years old, and desktop remained the dominant device by a clear margin. That combination mattered more than it might read at first glance: a younger, digitally fluent user base has less patience for a dated interface, and a desktop-first habit meant the assistant's coordination features could rely on more screen real estate than a mobile-first product would ever have. Both findings shaped where in the interface this ai supported crm surfaced results, rather than assuming a phone-first pattern the way most CRM AI launches do by default.

Users

User Profiles

• Between them, these two profiles describe the actual range this ai crm software has to serve inside one SMB team. A manager wants the interface to communicate status at a glance. An intern wants to reach transaction-level detail without five clicks to get there.

   

Users

User Interview & Insights

• Interviews with 34 users surfaced the friction points that shaped these ai crm tools directly, rather than relying on assumptions about what an SMB sales team needs from an AI assistant. Those conversations are also where the numbers behind this case originate.

   

Users

User Survey

• The numbers below are the same benchmark most ai platform companies use to judge whether a redesign actually landed, not just whether it shipped on time.

   

Statistics

• 46% of employees

  highlighted design and visuals as a top priority. This shows how important first impressions are for user satisfaction and retention.

• nearly 42% of users

  struggle with finding what’s need. Fixing this can reduce bounce rates and increase conversion.

• 31% of employees

  focused on functionality. Improving this drives smoother user flows and higher engagement.

• approximately 29 % of users

  liked performance on mobile devices. Optimizing mobile speed helps boost traffic and lowers churn.

UX Phase

Problems & Solutions

• Problems

  New hires struggled to adapt to a complicated, outdated interface with unreliable functionality, a specific onboarding cost that showed up directly in churn.

• Solutions

  The team rebuilt the UX rather than patching the old one, refreshed the design system end to end, and built in a feedback loop that keeps shaping the product, the kind of rebuild any serious ai crm company would recognize as necessary rather than cosmetic.

Research

App Flow

• The updated flow adds a dedicated communication branch directly inside this crm ai platform, a top-priority request that came out of the same round of interviews that shaped the rest of the redesign. Messaging now sits where sales teams already are, instead of requiring a separate tool.

UI Phase

UI design solution

• Navigation holds full functionality without adding visual noise. The insights list unifies stories, reports, and calls through one distinct gradient built to read as recognizably Microsoft Dynamics. Cards use large, comfortable type built for scanning fast, the baseline every ai software crm interface has to clear before the AI features layered on top of it matter at all.

   

• Navigation

  Without any lose of functionality we made it safe & sound in pretty interface.

• Insights list

  Stories, reports, call are made in synergy with such unique gradient. These colors will wind anybody to Microsoft 365.

• Cards

  It’s made in comfortable big and readable text for any human eye.

UI Phase

Typography & Color

• Urbanist carries the interface with a clean, geometric structure that holds up at any screen size.

   

• Engagement
   

  High-contrast gradients paired with minimalist type build a visual hierarchy that draws the eye to what matters first.

• Retention

  Stripping visual clutter cuts cognitive load directly, which is what actually lowers churn, not the ai automated crm layer alone.

• Conversion

  A steadier, more legible interface builds the trust that turns a first login into daily use.

UI Phase

Landing Page

• The landing page leads with clear calls to action and concise messaging built to lift click-through and lower bounce. Visitors find what they need and act on it, the same standard serious crm ai companies hold their own marketing site to before they ask a client to trust the product itself.

The Finals

Results

• Every number here traces back to the same decision made at the very start: build for the SMB sales team's actual day, not a feature list. The 46% who cared most about design and visuals got an interface built around exactly that. The 42% who couldn't find what they needed got an assistant built to do the finding for them. And the churn new hires were driving got addressed directly, with a redesign built to be learned in a day rather than survived for a quarter.

Outcome Insight

• 48% user engagement lift

  Reflecting more interactions and more time spent inside the app.

• 27% revenue gain

  A direct measure of stronger conversion and sales performance.

• Massive increase of user retention

  A meaningful lift in user retention, with more users staying active longer after the redesign shipped.