Cvent White Label

Revamping Cvent's white label platform for venue sourcing and Request-For-Proposal (RFP) management.

Company

Cvent

Role

Design Lead

Timeline

Jan 2021 - Aug 2022

Background

Planning a big event like a wedding, corporate gala, or conference starts with finding the right venue. The Cvent Supplier Network (CSN) is of the largest platform that helps thousands of event planners search, compare, and book venues every day.

But what if a hotel chain or venue brand wanted to offer this same service on their own website? That is where Cvent’s White-Label Platform helps. This tool lets venues add Cvent’s venue search features to their own sites, making it easy for users to find and book locations. However, the original platform had problems. It needed big improvements to meet user needs. Here is how we made it better.

Problem

The original white-label platform came had several problems:

Outdated design: The UI felt clunky and unappealing.
Fragmented Experience: It used two separate systems:
- The Venue Database for searching and exploring venues.
- The RFP Form for submitting inquiries.
  
  These systems barely communicated, passing only the list of selected venues from one to the other.

Customization limitations: The RFP form couldn’t be tailored to meet the unique needs of clients.
Technical bugs and slow performance: Users often reported bugs, slow performance, and other frustrations.

Planners struggled with a disconnected workflow, and clients often expressed their dissatisfaction. A modernized and unified experience became a priority.

Our mission was simple but ambitious:

Create a seamless, connected experience.
Modernize the design to align with Carina, Cvent’s design system.
Address client pain points while respecting the limitations of existing technologies.

Solution

In 2019, Cvent introduced Carina, a design system to streamline and improve the UI across all platforms. With Carina, my team took the charge to reimagine the white-label experience. Here’s how we approached it:

1. Research-Driven Design

We began by diving deep into how both venues and planners used the white-label platform:

User Interviews: Conversations with venue managers uncovered frustrations around the lack of customization and inefficient workflows.
Planner Insights: By mapping planner journeys, we identified where the experience felt clunky or disjointed.
Performance Analysis: We studied user data to identify which features worked well and where users encountered obstacles.

2. Prototyping and Testing

Using these insights, we designed raw prototypes that incorporated:

A streamlined workflow: The Venue Database and RFP Form were visually and functionally unified to create a more cohesive journey.
Customizable RFP features: Clients could now tailor the form to better suit their needs.
Enhanced usability: Borrowing from CSN’s redesign, we introduced improved gallery layouts, better information flow, and a polished interface.

We tested these prototypes with real users, planners and venue managers, and iterated based on their feedback to ensure the experience met their needs.

3. Balancing Innovation with Constraints

Of course, there were limitations:

Two separate technologies: Rebuilding the entire system from scratch was too costly, so we had to work within the confines of the existing infrastructure.
iFrame implementation: Because the platform needed to be embedded on client websites via an iFrame, we had to carefully manage performance and limit overly complex interactions.

Despite these challenges, we delivered a solution that was faster, simpler to use, and visually consistent.

Outcome

The redesigned white-label platform was a game-changer. By leveraging Carina and focusing on user-centered design, we achieved remarkable results:

Clients reported fewer complaints, and the white-label solution became a more attractive offering for venues looking to simplify their group lead management process.
Planners found the streamlined workflow reduced the time needed to find the venues with required facilities and send inquiries fir proposals.
The updated design resulted in an increase in user satisfaction scores, as measured through post-launch surveys.

The new experience is currently in use with hotel chains like Radisson Hotels, Sonesta, IHG, Accor, etc. with an excellent SUS score.

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