Facebook AR/VR Commerce

Customer Support Agent Tool

As a Product Design Manager for AR/VR Commerce, I led a challenging and high-profile project focused on revamping a customer support agent tool. Collaborating closely with a team of talented designers, we aimed to develop a consumer-grade design strategy that transforms traditional enterprise software into something intuitive and enjoyable. Our objective was to revolutionize the enterprise tools within Facebook AR/VR Commerce.

Customer support stands as a cornerstone in the foundation of any successful business endeavor, and its significance amplifies notably within the realm of consumer hardware companies. In this domain, customer expectations are amplified; they seek not only the product itself but also a reassuring sense of support and reliability from the company they choose to engage with. This element of support serves as the bedrock for cultivating trust and fostering enduring loyalty among consumers. Efficiently addressing and resolving customer concerns and inquiries, both during and after the shopping journey, emerges as a pivotal factor in shaping overall customer satisfaction. When customers feel not just attended to, but genuinely heard and valued, their propensity to return for future purchases heightens significantly. Moreover, satisfied customers become powerful advocates, eagerly recommending the brand to others within their social circles.

The investment in robust customer support infrastructure yields multifaceted benefits for businesses. Beyond enhancing customer satisfaction, it serves as a catalyst for long-term growth and success. A great support experience not only solidifies the existing customer base but also contributes to acquiring new customers through positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Neglected User Group: It's imperative to recognize that the backbone of this positive feedback loop consists of our customer support agents. These frontline representatives not only embody the company's image but also significantly influence customer satisfaction through their expertise, empathy, and commitment to resolving issues effectively. Acknowledging their contribution and equipping them with the essential tools for maintaining excellence in customer service is paramount. However, the current tools they utilize to assist customers are often poorly designed or lack design altogether. This user group also grapples with challenges such as adapting to numerous inconsistent workflows and dealing with unreliable and unsynchronized data input.

Confusing UI: The lack of thoughtful construction in many tools by engineers often results in a dearth of clarity and a discernible information hierarchy necessary for guiding users through customer tasks. Consequently, agents frequently face the challenge of having to independently experiment with these tools to discover workarounds. Unfortunately, if no solutions are found, agents may resort to abandoning these tools altogether in favor of alternatives like spreadsheets or note apps to track customer tickets and responses. This not only disrupts workflow but also undermines the efficiency and effectiveness of customer support operations.

Inefficient Workflows: Agents are burdened with the necessity to utilize numerous tools to manage a simple customer support case from its inception to resolution, resulting in a convoluted process with many steps. The manual entry of data and relevant history is frequently required, leading to errors and causing delays in the support process. This manual intervention not only introduces inefficiencies but also increases the likelihood of inaccuracies, ultimately impeding the timely resolution of customer inquiries.

Lack of Customization: Different teams within customer support have unique requirements, particularly when dealing with various hardware and software products. For instance, distinct support teams handle returning products. The current approach of utilizing numerous tools to accommodate each team's needs has resulted in an inconsistent support process, posing challenges in managing multiple teams effectively.

Design Approach

To create an effective customer support platform, I worked with cross-functional leaders and my design team to address the problems that users and agents are facing. One common issue is a confusing UI, where tools lack clarity and proper information hierarchy, leading to confusion. Another challenge is inefficient workflows, where too many steps and tools are needed to complete simple actions, slowing down the support process. Additionally, lack of customization can be a problem, as it's important for the platform to be flexible to the workflows of different teams.

I then collaborated with the PM lead and convinced her that building a better customer support tool was crucial to the company success because it helped increase customer satisfaction and build loyalty. The PM lead and I helped define the importance of customer support and how it fit into the overall picture that include the Help Center, chat bot, and the behind the scene agent tooling. One of the major challenges we found was that we had so little knowledge about the support agent day-to-day workflows and the tools that they use in their jobs. Because these tools were not something that PM and Design used on a regular basis. It is not like an app that you can look at on your phone and find things to improve. I then worked with my user researcher and designer to do field studies. We documented their pain-points, and explored design directions.

As we embarked on the exploration phase, I collaborated with my design team to brainstorm and define design principles that would serve as our guiding light. Throughout our discussions, we found ourselves questioning the necessity for enterprise products to be overly complex and uninspiring. We challenged this notion, aiming to create enterprise solutions that were not only functional but also enjoyable to use. After numerous creative workshops, we concluded that our approach should focus on making enterprise products that users would genuinely love. Thus, we established our own set of Consumer-Grade Design Principles to shape our design thinking. These principles not only guided our process but also served as compelling arguments for the importance of creating intuitive and delightful enterprise experiences. Armed with these principles, the design team and I crafted four distinct high-fidelity mockups. We iterated on these designs, creating prototypes to gather feedback from real agents, ensuring that our solutions met their needs and expectations.

The PM lead and I also created a set of product and UX metrics so that we could measure the changes that we were introducing to the customer support tool. The outcome of that we were able to overhaul the customer support tooling, make the workflow more streamlined. 1) The agents only needed to use one tool and it can be customized to their needs. 2) We helped cut down 33% the time needed to resolve a support ticket from open to close. 3) The Facebook apps team also adopted our customer support tool. 4) We applied a Consumer-Grade UX design philosophy when designing the customer support tool. And based on the success of the design, we were able to influence other teams to take a Consumer-grade UX approach when designing their enterprise products.

On the business side, having a thoughtful and customizable customer care tool design can empower support agents to resolve customer issues during and after their purchases, and is vital for the success of Facebook AR/VR commerce. By addressing these problems and creating an efficient and flexible support platform, businesses can improve customer satisfaction, build trust and loyalty, and ultimately drive success.

Contribution