Evercore

UX RESEARCH

UX RESEARCH

Project Overview

Evercore has made a significant investment in a customized Salesforce CRM to streamline bankers' workflow and optimize client interactions. However, the platform's adoption has been limited, with users citing usability challenges and functionality gaps.


Our objective was to increase adoption rates, enhance usability, and improve the efficiency of Evercore’s Salesforce Desktop CRM by identifying specific pain points and recommending actionable improvements. Through a series of usability tests and in-depth interviews with key users—Evercore bankers and administrative staff—we focused on enhancing critical areas such as the homepage layout, interactions, and contact management.


Research Process

User Interviews and Feedback Analysis

We conducted 5 interviews with bankers and admins regarding the desktop CRM, then consolidated this feedback into actionable design recommendations.


First Design Draft

The design recommendations were utilized to create initial wireframes for user testing.


Usability Testing Sessions

Conducted 3 usability tests with four bankers who use the CRM homepage in their daily workflows. The tests were structured around key tasks, such as navigating the homepage, locating meeting notes, and accessing client contacts.


Design Development

Based on the results from usability testing, we reviewed the homepage structure to identify unnecessary elements, areas of cognitive overload, and the general effectiveness of information prioritization.


Final Design

The final design includes a simplified homepage and navigation that aligns with the user’s wants and needs identified during research.


Research Findings - Existing Design

Based on our usability tests and interviews, several key issues emerged, along with specific insights into how users navigate and experience the CRM homepage:


Finding 1: Difficulty Locating Key Information

Users expressed frustration with locating frequently accessed items such as meeting notes and client contacts. The design did not intuitively direct users to these sections, often requiring multiple clicks to navigate to critical information. Users wanted a simplified structure where key resources could be accessed within one or two clicks.


Finding 2: Cognitive Overload from Unused Features

The homepage presented a “smorgasbord” of tabs and features, many of which were seldom used by employees. The inclusion of outdated or unnecessary elements (e.g., Factset information) was a common source of distraction and led to cognitive overload, ultimately impeding efficient task completion.


Finding 3: Manual and Time-Consuming Processes for Meeting Notes
Adding and searching for meeting notes was frequently cited as an inefficient, manual process. Many users noted they had to rely on external applications like Outlook or Word documents to log or retrieve notes because the CRM’s note-taking function was too cumbersome. The lack of intuitive labeling further complicated searching within the CRM.

Finding 4: Data Privacy and Sharing Concerns
Users raised concerns about the privacy and accessibility of sensitive information within the CRM. Some avoided entering data into the system, instead using external tools like Excel spreadsheets to manage confidential data, which hindered the CRM’s effectiveness as a central information repository.

Finding 5: Inconsistent Contact Management
Users found the contact management feature particularly time-consuming, especially when adding new contacts or syncing information across Outlook and Salesforce. The lack of integration between platforms led to missing or duplicated information, introducing potential inaccuracies in the CRM database.


Based on our usability tests and interviews, several key issues emerged, along with specific insights into how users navigate and experience the CRM homepage:


Finding 1: Difficulty Locating Key Information

Users expressed frustration with locating frequently accessed items such as meeting notes and client contacts. The design did not intuitively direct users to these sections, often requiring multiple clicks to navigate to critical information. Users wanted a simplified structure where key resources could be accessed within one or two clicks.


Finding 2: Cognitive Overload from Unused Features

The homepage presented a “smorgasbord” of tabs and features, many of which were seldom used by employees. The inclusion of outdated or unnecessary elements (e.g., Factset information) was a common source of distraction and led to cognitive overload, ultimately impeding efficient task completion.


Finding 3: Manual and Time-Consuming Processes for Meeting Notes
Adding and searching for meeting notes was frequently cited as an inefficient, manual process. Many users noted they had to rely on external applications like Outlook or Word documents to log or retrieve notes because the CRM’s note-taking function was too cumbersome. The lack of intuitive labeling further complicated searching within the CRM.

Finding 4: Data Privacy and Sharing Concerns
Users raised concerns about the privacy and accessibility of sensitive information within the CRM. Some avoided entering data into the system, instead using external tools like Excel spreadsheets to manage confidential data, which hindered the CRM’s effectiveness as a central information repository.

Finding 5: Inconsistent Contact Management
Users found the contact management feature particularly time-consuming, especially when adding new contacts or syncing information across Outlook and Salesforce. The lack of integration between platforms led to missing or duplicated information, introducing potential inaccuracies in the CRM database.


Based on our usability tests and interviews, several key issues emerged, along with specific insights into how users navigate and experience the CRM homepage:


Finding 1: Difficulty Locating Key Information

Users expressed frustration with locating frequently accessed items such as meeting notes and client contacts. The design did not intuitively direct users to these sections, often requiring multiple clicks to navigate to critical information. Users wanted a simplified structure where key resources could be accessed within one or two clicks.


Finding 2: Cognitive Overload from Unused Features

The homepage presented a “smorgasbord” of tabs and features, many of which were seldom used by employees. The inclusion of outdated or unnecessary elements (e.g., Factset information) was a common source of distraction and led to cognitive overload, ultimately impeding efficient task completion.


Finding 3: Manual and Time-Consuming Processes for Meeting Notes
Adding and searching for meeting notes was frequently cited as an inefficient, manual process. Many users noted they had to rely on external applications like Outlook or Word documents to log or retrieve notes because the CRM’s note-taking function was too cumbersome. The lack of intuitive labeling further complicated searching within the CRM.

Finding 4: Data Privacy and Sharing Concerns
Users raised concerns about the privacy and accessibility of sensitive information within the CRM. Some avoided entering data into the system, instead using external tools like Excel spreadsheets to manage confidential data, which hindered the CRM’s effectiveness as a central information repository.

Finding 5: Inconsistent Contact Management
Users found the contact management feature particularly time-consuming, especially when adding new contacts or syncing information across Outlook and Salesforce. The lack of integration between platforms led to missing or duplicated information, introducing potential inaccuracies in the CRM database.



Wireframes

‍Building on the research findings, we implemented several key updates to streamline the homepage and navigation based on user feedback.

The main revisions included:

  • Simplified top navigation

  • News/watchlist panel added to the right side for quick access to market insights

  • New quick-action buttons for frequently used features like adding contacts or meeting notes.

Additionally, we introduced dedicated sections for "upcoming notes" and "lonely clients" to help bankers effectively prioritize their day and ensure no key tasks or clients are overlooked.



Usability Testing

We conducted usability testing sessions with three bankers to assess their impressions of the redesigned homepage, including what initially catches their attention and how they interpret the displayed information.


Users were asked to complete tasks relating to:

  • Locating news and updates about clients or companies

  • Using the CRM to prepare for client meetings effectively

  • Adding and sharing meeting notes

  • Adding new contacts

  • Identifying colleagues at Evercore connected to an external contact


This usability testing aimed to uncover pain points and verify that key features were intuitive and easily accessible for users.



Testing Results

Users expressed that the updated design still felt overwhelming and lacked a clear visual hierarchy. Problem elements are outlined in red in the above screen.

Although most participants were able to complete the tasks after spending some time familiarizing themselves with the homepage, many struggled to finish the flows on their first attempt, indicating that the design could be more intuitive.

Frequently used sections, such as meeting notes and contact lists, were overshadowed by less relevant elements like the "Lonely Clients" section.

Additionally, users found the deal status feature unhelpful, and the display of current stock prices was often considered redundant, as this information is readily available on other platforms.



Implemented Design Revisions

From these findings, we implemented the following actionable steps to enhance the CRM’s usability:

Streamlined Homepage Design
Simplify the homepage layout by removing unused features like stock prices and news and reorganizing it to highlight essential tools (e.g., upcoming meeting notes, primary coverage companies, etc). This adjustment aligns with user feedback, where quick access to relevant information was a consistent request. Unused functionality was removed from the top navigation and relocated under ‘More’.

‘Quick View’ Functionality
Give users access to a company’s information and related interactions/notes with one click directly from the homepage instead of having to search or navigate through multiple layers.

Personalization
The homepages focuses on displaying information and news relating to the companies that the banker covers rather than a seemingly arbitrary list of companies. Users can also create custom watchlists to suit their needs.

Sharing & Privacy Enhancements
Introduce clear guidelines and permissions settings for sharing within the CRM to address privacy concerns. Adding collaborative features for shared data management across teams would reduce the reliance on external spreadsheets.


Conclusion

Our research revealed the need for Evercore’s CRM platform to close key usability gaps by refining features and reducing cognitive load for users.

Implementing these recommendations will create a more efficient, intuitive platform—driving higher adoption and satisfaction across teams.

Once the updated design is launched, the team will be guided on how to gather feedback through user testing to inform future iterations.