The Home Depot - Conversational Design
A B O U T
Defining a seamless and intuitive conversational experience for our customers, ensuring rapid and efficient access to the information they require.
We identified an opportunity to enhance customer service for those interacting with our stores and call centers, particularly in order management and problem resolution. By integrating AI and machine learning to comprehend customer intent, we anticipated a higher level of predictive accuracy in assistance. This approach aimed to expedite customers' journey to resolutions, ensuring a quicker and more efficient problem-solving process.
R O L E
My Role: Senior Conversational Designer
Tools: Voice Flow, Axure, Keynote, Miro, AirTable
Skills: User Experience Design, User Interface Design, Natural Language Processing, Chatbot Development, Interaction Design, Script Writing, User Research, Empathy and Emotional Intelligence, Problem Solving, Data Analysis, Machine Learning Basics, Voice User Interface Design, Usability Testing, Content Strategy, Prototyping, AI and Chatbot Ethics, Multimodal Interaction Design, Personalization Strategies, Technical Writing, Customer Journey Mapping, Accessibility Design,
Platforms: Phone, Alexa, Google Home, PC, Mac
T H E P R O B L E M
Enhancing IVR and Chatbot Usability
Our customers are facing significant challenges while interacting with our Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and chatbot. They frequently encounter difficulties with prompts, leading to confusion and an inability to navigate effectively. This often results in customers either abandoning their calls or chat conversations out of frustration or repeatedly requesting to speak with a live representative. As a consequence, there's a substantial increase in the volume of calls directed to our call centers. This overflow of calls not only overwhelms the call center staff but also diverts our in-store associates from attending to in-person customers, as they are required to handle the excess phone queries. This situation creates a cycle of inefficiency, manifesting in prolonged wait times for both callers and in-store customers, and overall diminished service quality.
Skills: Problem-Solving, User Experience Design, Technical Expertise in IVR Systems, Communication, Analytical Skills, Customer Service Insight, Change Management, Empathy, Systems Integration Knowledge, Feedback Analysis, Time Management, Quality Assurance, Team Collaboration, Innovation
People
Problems
Customer Frustration and Dissatisfaction: Difficulty in navigating the IVR and chatbot systems leads to customer frustration and dissatisfaction.
Increased Wait Times: Customers experience longer wait times, both on calls and in stores, leading to a negative service experience.
Loss of Trust: Repeated poor experiences with the IVR and chatbot systems can erode customers' trust in the company.
Staff Stress and Burnout: Call center agents and store associates face increased stress and potential burnout from handling high volumes of complex queries.
Business
Problems
Increased Operational Costs: The overflow of calls to call centers and the diversion of in-store staff to handle phone queries increase operational costs.
Reduced Efficiency: Excessive calls due to IVR and chatbot issues lead to inefficiencies in both the call center and store operations.
Impact on Employee Morale: Constantly dealing with frustrated customers and increased workload can negatively affect the morale of call center agents and in-store associates.
Customer Service Quality Decline: The inability of the IVR and chatbot systems to effectively handle queries leads to a decline in overall customer service quality.
C O N T E X T
Streamlining IVR Navigation
The existing IVR system, a mix of 'press 1' commands and voice-responsive features, creates confusion for customers, who often struggle to discern when to speak or use keypad inputs for navigation. Additionally, the complexity of our decision trees further complicates the user experience
R E S E A R C H
Strategic Enhancements
Through a combination of customer interviews, time studies, and competitive analysis, we discovered that customers typically spend 98 seconds attempting to navigate our IVR system. This comprehensive research led us to formulate three key strategies to enhance customer interaction: establishing a cohesive omnichannel experience, building trust, and optimizing the use of customer data.
We conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis of industry leaders to evaluate their IVR and Chat functionalities. This research was aimed at understanding best practices, identifying innovative features, and gauging customer satisfaction levels in their respective systems. Our goal was to gather insights that could inform the enhancement of our own IVR and Chat capabilities, ensuring they not only meet but exceed industry standards, thereby improving our customer engagement and overall service experience
O N L I N E & E N T E R P R I S E
Integrating Omnichannel Strategies
Delivering an omnichannel experience necessitates seamless integration with both our Enterprise operations and our online presence. A significant portion of our customers begin their journey on our website, prompting the need for data analysis to understand this trend better. It's essential to maintain consistency across all channels while empowering customers to choose the most convenient option for them.
The image illustrates the division of our organization into distinct platforms, leading to silos that complicate our collective problem-solving efforts.
By adopting a holistic approach to our experiences, we can create a more unified and seamless experience for our customers
B U I L D I N G T R U S T
Enhanced User Control
Our focus is to increase customer trust by empowering them with greater control over their interactions. This involves designing user-friendly tasks, offering timely transfer to the appropriate associates, and providing the right self-service options. We've pinpointed three major areas for investment to build trust, maintain consistency, and effectively use customer data for mutual benefit.
This translates into allowing customers the freedom to choose their preferred communication channels, with 52% preferring to select how they receive messages. Our objective isn't just to resolve issues within the IVR but to deliver the best possible customer experience, whether it means a quick transfer to an associate, rerouting calls efficiently, or guiding customers online for further information. Additionally, establishing a consistent voice persona across all conversational touchpoints is crucial, addressing the current inconsistency we have within our IVR system
T H E D A T A
Overcoming Internal Silos to Enhance Customer Journeys
Home Depot faces a challenge in fully leveraging the data we collect to personalize and inform customer journeys. Despite collecting extensive data, its usage is minimal, primarily due to internal silos that hinder cross-team collaboration. This disconnect results in only a fraction of the available data being effectively utilized to enhance customer experiences.
The image depicts the utilization of a portion of the collected information.
The image illustrates data that is being gathered but remains underutilized.
S O L U T I O N S
Different Approaches
We have integrated these approaches to offer a more holistic experience to our customers.
Homer Bot assisting in customer paint selection through web chat
An example of an AI-assisted customer support on the phone
Homer Bot Assisting a customer through text with their order.
N O R T H S T A R
Reflecting on our recent initiatives, we've experienced significant success with our experimental, cutting-edge approaches. This positive outcome has fueled our commitment to further invest in and embrace these innovative strategies. Our focus is on continually pushing the boundaries to enhance our services and customer experiences.
Results
T I M E I N I V R
98>28
We observed a reduction in navigation time from 98 to 28 seconds.
Problem Solved: “Difficulty in navigating the IVR and chatbot systems leads to customer frustration and dissatisfaction.”
C A L L S R O U TE D
35 mil
35 million calls have been successfully redirected from the service desk.
Problem Solved: “The overflow of calls to call centers and the diversion of in-store staff to handle phone queries increase operational costs.”
C A L L S C O N T A I N E D
185%
Containment rates have surged by 185% due to self service features.
Problem Solved: “Excessive calls due to IVR and chatbot issues lead to inefficiencies in both the call center and store operations.”
T H E T E A M
"Our collaborative team brought together a diverse mix of expertise, including innovative product designers, skilled software developers, and insightful data scientists. This combination of talent and knowledge fostered a dynamic environment for creative problem-solving and advanced technological development.
Product Team
C O N T A C T M E
Let’s Chat.
I’m always open to discussing design, sharing insights, exploring collaboration opportunities, or just having a friendly chat about anything creative! Feel free to reach out.