Soil carbon calculator

Paying farmers to sequester carbon in soil is a new, unproven market, so skepticism is natural. For many farmers, the decision to enroll in a program comes down to their first conversation with a sales rep. This is the story of how we redesigned a sales tool to directly address farmers’ concerns, build trust, and boost sign-ups for Indigo Ag’s Carbon program.

Scope

UX Design

UX Research

Initial discovery

We began by talking to sales reps to understand what was and wasn’t working for them with the current calculator. We found that it often left growers with more questions than answers.

Concept testing

Our research with sales reps gave us a good idea of the many questions a farmer might ask before committing to a program. But the calculator was meant to be an initial-conversation sales tool that could help a farmer quickly decide if they wanted to learn more.

To nail down those top-of-mind questions, we conducted live, moderated design concepts tests with sales reps and farmers.

We separated potential content into modules and asked participants to rank-order the modules and explain their choice.

With this method, we came away with both quantitative and qualitative results: a list of important information for a farmer’s decision, as well as an opportunity to dive deeper into any feedback that came up during the session.

Key takeaways

We learned that during this initial conversation, it’s all about dollars and sense. Farmers are gauging whether the program is worth their time.

Payment per acre is the first thing farmers look for. This is their base unit.
Secondly, they want to understand the payment schedule and to know cash-in-hand per year.
Soil health benefits aren’t compelling at this stage.
Farmers expect a sales rep to facilitate the next step: enrollment.

Cross-team collaboration

As the revised design started to take shape, we made sure to keep other internal teams in the loop. Since the calculator is a public-facing tool, many internal teams (like sales and legal) had a stake in the outcome. We worked closely with the data science team, who provided the latest models that powered the tool.

Through regular check-ins and feedback sessions with these groups, we were able to strike a balance of their needs:

Updated design

The revised design maintains the original simplicity, and clarifies information that matters to farmers, like:

It also give sales reps what they need for their pitch:

Clear payment numbers

Payment schedule visuals

Printable leave-behind

Results

The updated carbon calculator launched in September 2023, ready for the next sales cycle. Post-release interviews with Indigo’s sales team and agribusiness partners confirmed that the improvements made the tool more intuitive and gave them renewed confidence in using it during sales conversations.

While I wasn’t at Indigo to see a full sales cycle play out, the company has continued refining this public feature—strong evidence that the updates are driving engagement and working well for the sales team and farmers.

Lacey Ankenman