Self-Service Freight Forwarding Marketplace
Marketplace | Feb-Dec 2022 | e-Commerce Growth Concept Development Clients want fast and accurate freight quoting, so they can make the best freight decision for their business easily, quickly, and confidently
Clients want fast and accurate quotes. For every quote request that comes in, it takes an Account Manager 15 hours to fulfill a quote by processing the request, manually assembling and stitching together a bespoke end-to-end transportation solutions, and to sending the quote to the client to approve or reject.
Summary of the Problem Space
Flexport’s manual quoting process was slow, repetitive, and labor-intensive, taking an average of 11 hours per request. Account Managers manually assembled every quote, leading to inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and 66% of prospective customers being turned away due to limited capacity. Customers wanted faster, more accurate quotes to make informed shipping decisions, but the existing system required 4,000+ hours of manual effort monthly.
The Opportunity
Through user research and stakeholder alignment, we uncovered a key insight: Clients didn’t want a faster quoting form—they wanted instant pricing. This shift in perspective led us to explore self-service models, reducing dependency on Account Managers and scaling the business to serve more customers efficiently.
How might we establish trust with clients and provide an easy self-serve pricing and solution exploration experience for freight and freight-related products?
Key Outcomes & Results
Quote turnaround time reduced from 11 hours to under 5 minutes.
79% of quotes automated through self-service capabilities.
98,400 hours saved annually, cutting operational costs by $5.1M per year and allowing Account Managers to focus on high-value client relationships.
Improved price transparency and trust, increasing customer retention and repeat business
SOLUTION
To address these challenges, I designed a self-service “Instant Price & Book” experience, enabling customers to:
A self-service “Instant Price and Book” experience for the prospective and existing clients, where clients will be able to find our competitive offerings by providing basic shipment details, explore and select services that provide the best value, and instantly book by placing orders.
Compare multiple options (Air vs. Ocean vs. FTL) in a mode-agnostic search experience. Flexport provides multiple options (Air for faster shipment vs Ocean for cheaper, with inland delivery through FTL) for clients to evaluate before selecting the best option for their business.
Enter shipment details and see instant pricing without waiting for a manual quote.Customize their shipment with optional add-on services like insurance and customs clearance.
This self-service model transformed the way customers interact with Flexport, shifting the quoting process from a high-touch, account-managed workflow to a scalable eCommerce experience, positioning Flexport for future growth and automation.
ROLE
Project Lead
UX Designer
PARTNERS
UX: Ann, Yefeng
PM: Haris, Sofie, Greg
EM: Kenny + 9 Developers
CONTRIBUTION
Requirement Discovery
Service Design
Wireframe
Prototype
Engineering Documentation
Want to Learn More?
Shoot me an email! Let’s discuss your questions, comments, and organizational needs.