Call Center Application

Call Center Application


Customer Service Agents suffer cognitive overload from 
context switching among multiple software systems to 
service a customer - creating a workflow bottleneck and
making calls take too long. The main software they have relied on for over 20 years is difficult to use, outdated and expensive to maintain.

United Airlines

2023

Tools used

Figma, Sketch

Project type

Legacy tool transformation; single page web application

 

What I did

Requirements gathering, stakeholder workshops, heuristic analysis, task analysis, visual design, usability testing (concept and validation), QA, timeline creation

Timeline

8 weeks (4 two-week sprints) with iterative handoffs

 

Old & Current


Who does this help? 7,000 globally distributed reservation agents

  • 70% non-native English speakers

  • Full time employees have more tenure (>20 years) than vendors (>2 years)

  • 68% of agents have drastically more familiarity with technology than the remaining 32%

  • Tenured agents have change fatigue from the amount of new software they have been introduced to

 

How might we increase agent adoption of Navigator?

The problems:

  • Information overload; not enough hierarchy

  • Race to release new features without maintenance to existing ones

  • Still minimum viable, so agents still rely heavily on the old tool

  • Need to accommodate for information density


The solution: to solve agent pain points by improving the itinerary card.

 
 

The itinerary card houses the most important content for agents, yet, is the most difficult for them to decipher.

Qualitative data revealed that it was worth investigating the effectiveness of the itinerary. I conducted a heuristic analysis which revealed that the trip summary is tough to understand, there is redundant content, and it is spatially cramped.

 

Through content testing, we were looking to gather insight on information architecture and where we can avoid redundancies.

 
 

What did we learn?

 

All in 1 place

Agents were excited and relieved to 
see explorations that allow them to view the entire itinerary on one screen.

 

Less upfront is more

Agents preferred the most basic 
data at the surface level to allow for increased scannability.

 

Keep relevant data proximal

Qualitative data provided hierarchical clarity in 1st level vs 2nd level data, as well as data groupings.


Medium-fi explorations

We observed agents conduct task flows using our prototypes (2 rounds)

Agents do select flights to change

Confirmed key agent workflow interactions that had not previously
been validated.


Meaningful hints for multiple 
user types

Intentional tooltips are helpful for 
new agents, and not too disruptive 
for the more tenured ones.

Appreciation for second-level data groupings

“See how detailed that is? That’s really good…We need all of that, that is great, even the award miles...perfect!”


Post-release feedback

Navigator is now the preferred and used tool driving efficiency for over 7,000 agents. Agent anecdotes from 
the company-wide newsletter:


 

Problem solving based on user-driven insights helps to increase tool adoption.

whats next?

  • Steer product strategy toward addressing agent usability issues to continue to increase agent use

  • Sharpen agent focus with enhanced navigation

  • Address split feedback from the different agent demographics by exploring preferences

What could we do better?

  • Gather more quantitative data with post production testing and analytics

  • Continue to align product patterns to design system