HIMA ARANI
Role: Design lead, Step-in Project Manager
Skills:
Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping in XD
Self-Audit, Market Research, Project Planning,
Feature Prioritization
Background of 247 Chat
Self-Audit: Rich in Features, Poor in Experience
We conducted a thorough audit of our chat experience on a client website, with the help of their customer services team and our own internal employees.
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Easy transition from sync to async chat
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Prompt for feedback on AI responses
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Inline rich content
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Use of emojis to make conversations friendlier
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Inconsistent and unclear invites
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Outdated chat widget and visuals
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Flat and unappealing rich content, text-heavy
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Very technical, aesthetically boring
Visitors are almost always in a negative mind space when reaching out for support.
Our chat experience failed to develop an emotional connection with the visitor and didn't help make it a memorable experience.
Exploring 10+ Competitors, Identifying strengths and weaknesses
The team looked at 12-15 leaders in the chat space, known competitors and emerging stars.
I charted a comparison between our company and the chosen 9, based on functional features and then by UI features.
Though we were ahead in the market when it came to unique functional offerings like Omni-channel chat, async conversions, ADA and notifications, we severely lagged in the aesthetic appeal.
Our competition was gaining leverage by incorporating a streamlined, branded experience - standardized and contemporary designs that focused on emotional connection and simplicity of implementation.
Inspiration Board
Consistent, branded visuals and graphics
Minimally intrusive, helpful proactive invites
Longer & thinner chat window (omnichannel consistency), informative minimized state
Omnichannel and asynchronous chat, with intent-driven triage
Multiple, persistent conversations
Appealing, helpful rich content and multi-modal content, wise use of available real-estate
Design Principles
Engaging
Modern
Fluid
Interactive
Connected
Personal
Memorable
Friendly
Differentiator
Invites
Multi-channel/modal
Integrated
Use this opportunity to become the market leader by bringing our emotional capabilities on par with our features.
Establish an emotional connection with the end-customers by making the experience engaging, unique and memorable.
Go for a design-led approach and request client involvement (DTV) – workshops and end-user testing
Wearing a PM's Hat
In the absence of a dedicated PM, I took the ownership to create an action plan and roadmap.
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Create North-start design.
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List out features that need to be updated and built.
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Work with Engineering and establish timelines, including features incorporating all 3 design principles in each release.
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30-Day: quick-win UI updates
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90-Day: low hanging functional improvements
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6 months+: larger effort features
Designs
North Star:
Integrated Chat with Help and Support
Minimally Intrusive Proactive Invite
Microinteractions - read receipts, typing, quick replies
Learnings
The new chat UI was rolled out to clients after my departure from the company. The team continues to test, iterate and deploy new updates to the chat experience based on:
1. CSAT scores and customer feedback guide newer and updated features
2. Agent resolution rates and handling times for effective triaging of intents
3. Agent performance metrics for sync and async chats for context and guidance
4. Latest Gen AI models to guide better conversation design
Senior Interaction Designer, Design Lead
A service blueprint outlining how a client of [24]7 AI can configure their Conversational AI Bot and set up agent escalations using their AI/ML powered CX tools
Service Design | Research | Cross-team Collaboration
