• Case Study

  • Chat Sidekick

    The Sidekick give power to the customer, they can help themselves first before reaching out to an agent over chat. Everybody wins, the customer does not have to wait to talk to an agent and resolves their problem. While agents can spend time answering more complex problems. Brands themselves save countless dollars by reducing staffing.

    Platform: Desktop, Mobile
    Disciplines: UX, UI, User Research, Competitive Analysis, Prototyping and User Testing
    Tools: Figma, Principle
    Team: Kyle Kacius (PM), Austen Talbot (Eng) Jon. Dombrowski (FE), Team Agent, Team Answers

  • Problem

    Agents were encountering a high number of basic chat questions taking away time from answering more complex problems — causing unhappy customers and agents.

    Constraints:
    — Prospective sales blocked. Timeline 1.5 months.
    — Must utilize the Gladly Knowledge base of Answers. (Search)
    — Easy to adopt by customers
    — White Label Experience

  • Research

    Customer Interviews
    Uncovered the top common questions agents were getting asked.

    Stephanie Lang
    Allbirds - Customer Experience Manager

    “Our agents are spending a high percentage of their time answering the same questions over and over: How do I clean my shoes, where do you ship, what’s your return policy? do you offer half sizes?”

    “If there’s a way to get in front of the customers before they chat in. Our agents can use their time answering more complex requests.”

    Competitive Analysis + Consumer Interviews

    Understand why people’s were unmotivated to find their own answers and pains with existing self service experiences. Understand where competitors shined and fell short.

  • Top Consumer Pains

    Pain 1 — “I’m too lazy to hunt, the information is scattered and not always in the FAQs”
    Pain 2 — “I need more help, why is the chat function so hard to find (ring.com, Amazon)?”
    Pain 3 — “Yay! I finally reached an agent. Oh, I have to repeat my problem again. Annoying.”

  • Strategies

    1. Comparing Competitors




    2. Explored available ideas:
    — Chatbot
    — Help center
    — Only show chat on certain pages
    — Deflect pre-chat


    3. How might we?
    After capturing the consumer’s needs. Reframe the problem with this method.

  • Opportunities

    Opportunity 1 - Combining needs and competitor research. Our competitors intentionally hid chat. We wanted to provide a better experience by doing the exact opposite — chat always accessible.

  • Opportunity 2 - Offer agents more insight into the customer’s journey so they can provide better service. Showing what the customer searched for just before they messaged in. (Collaboration with Team Agent - Designer Darrell Chan)

  • Testing &
    Debate

    There was a big team debate regarding the interaction and whether the self service experience should be in chat or separate.

  • Static Image
    Static Image

  • Brands provided feedback:
    — Too “modern/opinionated” for some of our legacy customers.
    — “We’re not ready to implement chat yet, can the self service experience be separate? - Sonder”

  • Explorations

    I worked in collaboration with a second designer (Susan Park).

  • Metrics+
    ROI

    We measured:
    — Customers who didn’t use self service at all
    — Customers who only used search but not Quick Actions
    — Customers who only used Quick Actions