Case Study: Redesigning the Filtering Experience at Quantive

Overview

Quantive Result is a performance management and strategy execution platform built around the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) methodology. It helps organizations align goals, track outcomes in real time, and drive strategic decision-making. But one core piece of the product was failing users: filtering.

Company

Quantive

The Problem

The filtering experience in Quantive Result was a known frustration point. Users found it overly complex, inflexible, and unintuitive. For a product built around data and visibility, this bottleneck severely impacted user satisfaction, adoption, and even retention. It was a pain echoed by support tickets, user interviews, and internal feedback loops. Simply put: users couldn’t get to the insights they needed.

The Objective

Redesign filtering into an intuitive, flexible experience that scales with user needs from entry-level team members to power users managing complex cross-functional OKR views. The redesign needed to:

• Reduce cognitive load

• Improve discoverability and speed

• Preserve flexibility without overwhelming

• Align with accessibility and inclusive design principles

Screenshots of the filtering experience before the redesign

Approach: Empathy-Driven and Research-Backed

1. User Research & Stakeholder Interviews

I led discovery interviews across departments: end users, product managers, customer success managers, and tech support. Each revealed variations of the same issue: filtering was simultaneously too complicated and too rigid. Users struggled to customize views to fit their workflows.

2. Surveys & Data Audit

We followed interviews with a broader survey. 60% of users cited the filtering system as their biggest daily frustration. I also analyzed bug reports and suggestion tickets to identify high-friction points.

3. Competitive Analysis

I benchmarked filtering patterns from Tableau, Power BI, Monday.com, Asana, and Smartsheet. While Tableau and Power BI offered power and flexibility, they were intimidating to less technical users. Asana and Monday were simple but limited in depth. This gap is where I saw opportunity: an experience that could flex based on user level.

4. Usability Testing

Before jumping into design, I observed users completing real tasks with the current filter UI. These sessions gave me clarity on pain points I wouldn’t have uncovered from tickets alone:

• Confusion around default states

• Confusion on results from filters

• Unclear hierarchy in session and team selectors

5. Persona Development

I defined two primary personas:

• Jane (Basic User): Needs simplicity, defaults, and clarity to get her job done

• Michael (Power User): Needs flexibility and full control over multiple views and data states

Designing for both meant having a dual-mode experience ensuring each mode wasn’t a compromise—but tailored for actual behavior.

Design: A Dual-Mode Filtering Experience

I proposed a dual-mode experience:

• Quick Filter Toolbar for everyday users who need fast access to key filters

• Advanced Filter Sidebar for power users who need granular control over large data sets

This approach allowed us to support different user mental models without sacrificing usability.

Wireframes & Design Principles

Using Figma, I built out wireframes for both modes and led iterative sessions with stakeholders. Key principles:

• Clarity: Visual hierarchy and interaction patterns that reduce cognitive effort

• Consistency: Components used across modules follow the same logic and interaction

• Feedback: Active filters are visible at a glance with count indicators and reset options

• Accessibility: Labels, contrast, and keyboard navigation tested against WCAG standards

Collaboration and Delivery

I partnered closely with engineers, participating in daily syncs and async documentation to ensure technical feasibility matched design intent. I also provided developers with embedded Figma specs, interaction prototypes, and fallback behavior notes.

To ensure design quality, I QA’d during development and updated components to align with our new design system rollout.

Deployment Strategy

We ran a beta rollout for high-touch accounts. Champions were trained via CS teams, and onboarding popovers guided first-time users. I introduced recovery mechanisms to preserve saved filters and reduce disruption.

User Feedback Highlights

• Users loved the "Clear All" button as both a reset function and a visual reminder of applied filters

• Color-coded indicators boosted scanability and helped users track progress

• Quick filter became the default for most daily use

• Advanced filter enabled power users to adopt modules they had previously abandoned

Quantitative Impact (Closed Beta Launch)

↑ 40% filter usage

↓ 25% task completion time

↑ 30% interactions with filters

↑ 50% weekly active users across product

↓ 30% support tickets related to filters

Lessons Learned

Dual-mode experiences can work—if each mode is genuinely tailored. By anchoring our work in research and testing, we validated that users don’t want more complexity—they want control without confusion.

Also: accessibility isn’t a feature. It’s a foundation. Because we baked it in from day one, we didn’t have to retrofit later.

What’s Next?

Future enhancements include filter presets, user-controlled session logic (timeline vs. status), and smart recommendations. The success of this initiative led to a cross-module adoption roadmap that I helped prioritize with product leads.