Drove 88% reduction in sales demo time with self-serve sandbox
OLIV AI
Oliv AI is a sales tool that helps sales teams close deals faster by automating the tiresome tasks that slow them down, such as researching potential customers, tracking leads, and providing data-driven coaching.
This case study details how I helped Oliv overcome a key adoption barrier: proving the product's value before requiring users to sign up.
Image: This screen became the gateway to a frictionless product demo.
Impact
Slashed sales demo time from 1 hour to 7 minutes by letting the product speak for itself.
Increased organic product exploration by ~32%, as users could try the product without commitment.
Fostered user trust in the AI through a transparent, hands-on sandbox experience.
Users & their needs
SALES MANAGER
Pain: Trying new tools is a gamble with my team's time. I need to be sure it's worth it.
Consequence: It's often easier to just say 'no' to new software to avoid the hassle and risk.
Need: A fast way to see what it does, without involving my team or sharing any private info.
SALES REPS
Pain: Giving a new app access to my private calls and notes feels risky and complicated.
Consequence: It's simpler to stick with my old habits than to go through all the steps to try something new.
Need: A safe way to understand how it helps me, before connecting any of my real accounts.
Team & my role
As the founding product designer working with a small team, I worked closely with co-founders, engineers, product manager.
I crafted the strategy for a frictionless sandbox to prove product value upfront.
I designed the end-to-end sandbox for an instant, self-serve product evaluation.
Constraints & roadblocks
Unreliable sales demos due to frequent technical issues in the live product.
Simulating a realistic user experience without access to any live customer data.
Demonstrating the product's full value within the constraints of a simplified demo.
Key decisions
Build the sandbox around high-fidelity dummy data for a realistic experience.
Replace unreliable live product demos with the controlled sandbox environment.
Focus the initial scope on the core dashboard to meet the urgent sales timeline.
To build user confidence, we will present AI like a subtle helper in the background, not an overwhelming presence on the dashboard.
Design solution
Our journey to launch Oliv Sandbox was a 2 phased evolution.
While the visual appearance of Oliv AI has been revamped since I parted ways with Oliv, the core flow I helped design and validate — demonstrating the AI agent's value in a simulated, deal-centric context — is retained and remains central to their go-to-market strategy.
PHASE 1
Understanding the need to design for trust
Step 1: Our first step was to understand why users were hesitant. We gathered and sorted every concern they had about connecting their accounts and giving access to their data.
Image: A summary of the two main user concerns: a lack of instant value and fears about privacy.
Step 2: We strategized to create a hands-on, interactive sandbox, allowing users to experience a simulation that felt just like the real product.
This video shows the sandbox as a playground where users can safely explore all the features of the live product.
PHASE 2
Designing the sandbox experience strategy
Step 1: Instead of asking users for their private data, we created our own. We used AI to build a rich, realistic story of a complete sales deal, which became the foundation for the sandbox experience.
To ensure the Sandbox data felt realistic, I wrote sample content for every dashboard block. I then shared these Figma screens to serve as a blueprint for generating high-quality dummy data.
Step 2: We then carefully selected the most critical user flows to include—the ones that best demonstrated Oliv's value, like the Deal Scorecard, AI Recommendations, and Coaching Insights.
This video shows the main flow i.e. Deal insights flow.
Step 3: Since Slack integration was deferred (this is where most of the value lies for sales managers as they get daily report right in their Slack), we built key manager reports directly into the dashboard.
This video shows the AI-powered reports for managers within the dashboard.
Step 4: Finally, to serve both our sales team and curious users, we created a single, one-step entry point that removed the final barrier to experiencing Oliv's value.
This video shows how users can access the sandbox instantly with just their email.
Outcome
The new sandbox had a powerful dual impact.
Internally, it gave Oliv sales team a massive confidence boost during demos.
Externally, it enabled prospect customers to instantly see valuable deal insights and easily identify the right AI solutions for their team.
Learnings & growth
This project was a challenging one, teaching me few key lessons about designing for AI.
With AI, the first problem to solve is always user trust, not the feature itself. A safe sandbox is the bridge that earns that trust.
An AI's "magic" is useless if it's locked behind a high-friction door; my job is to design the key.
My biggest takeaway was to stop designing "an AI" and start designing a job for the AI to do.
