Under's Comm App

The Core Problem:

After investigating through user interviews and surveys, we hypothesized the root cause: a lack of direct communication between clients and end users. If end users had questions about the information they needed to provide—or if clients needed additional details—both parties had to rely on phone calls or emails to resolve these issues. This created unnecessary friction, leading to frustration and drop-offs.

The problem to solve was clear: businesses and end users needed a direct and seamless way to communicate without relying on external tools. My role was to design a solution that addressed this gap and improved retention by enabling efficient communication between clients and end users.

Assumptions

My initial hypothesis was that a built-in messaging system could bridge the communication gap between businesses and customers, allowing them to resolve questions or share information efficiently.

This hypothesis was based on:

• Insights from user interviews, where clients expressed frustration over the lack of an in-platform communication tool.

• Observations that external communication methods like emails and phone calls caused delays, inefficiencies, and drop-offs.

• Competitive analysis of platforms like Airbnb, which utilize in-app messaging to foster direct communication.

I believed this solution would work because it would address the immediate communication pain points while keeping users engaged within the platform.

Initial Concept: Basic Chat Box

• Simple one-on-one messaging between businesses and clients.

Testing My Hypothesis

To test and refine my assumption, I conducted:

• Stakeholder Interviews: I sat down with Under team members to understand their vision, business needs, and existing pain points. 

• User Personas: Using the insights, I created personas for both the businesses and customers, focusing on their goals, frustrations, and workflows.

Key Research Questions:

• What specific information do businesses need to share with clients during onboarding?

• How do businesses currently communicate, and what are their biggest pain points?

Discoveries

Through research, I learned:

• Communication Needs: Businesses needed to see key details (e.g., the client’s name and application status) and required quickly referencing documents or application links in their messages.

• Message Delivery Preferences: Businesses preferred defaulting to text messages but wanted the flexibility to send emails or call as well.

• Tracking and Feedback: Businesses wanted to track what issues had been solved and which needed further communications.

These insights directly informed the design requirements for the messaging platform.

Version 2: Two-Column Layout

Added a contact list to let businesses quickly switch between conversations.

Version 3: Three-Panel System (Final layout) 

Added a third panel to display user details, document requests, and application status.

Perfecting the Chat Panel:

I went through several rounds of iterations and testing with stakeholders before finalizing the chat panel. In the third version, we meet the user needs of easily sifting through conversations and keeping track of issues that still need to be resolved. 

Evolution of the Details Panel:

For the details panel, I wanted to nail down what information was most vital for Under’s clients when they were communicating with their customers. I sat down with our stakeholders to understand what issues are most common and what information they need to reference often. 

After a few iterations, the panel developed to include client and business name, ability to call or email, and easy access to associated documents.

Status Tracking Issues

I realized clients needed a way to assign a status to the conversations to keep track of which issues still needed to be resolved, so I added a dropdown at the top to allow for quick access. 

Attaching Documents

The last user need that I still needed to address was allowing clients to attach and reference documents, so I added an attach feature to the text input bar.

Bringing Everything Together

My final layout met:

• Communication Needs by allowing businesses to see key details and quickly reference documents.

• Tracking and Feedback Needs by allowing businesses to track what issues had been solved and which needed further communications.

• Message Delivery Preferences by allowing users to choose between the chat feature, call or email.

Future Scaling: Ticketing System

While the initial messaging system addressed immediate communication gaps, I was also asked by my design lead and Under stakeholders to explore a scalable solution for businesses handling a higher volume of customer interactions. This led to the design of a ticketing system, intended for a future phase of the platform.

A full dashboard with sorting, prioritization, and bulk management features for scaling customer support.

Though not immediately necessary due to the platform’s current user base, this feature was designed with future growth in mind, ensuring that businesses could seamlessly transition to a more structured support system as their needs evolved.