Key Strategic Goal

Design a user-friendly yet professional Chatbot (named Rockwell) for the public from conception to launch by:

  • Strategizing and delivering on complex user flows, the user interface, sub-functionality like the ability to download chat history.

  • Working with the business and development teams within an Agile environment to craft the correct text and responses to present information and visual designs in a clear, understandable manner.

  • Accounting for the fact that this Chatbot, named Rockwell, will be the first of its kind for the organization and for its initial launch, will only serve Annuities Owners.

Rockwell is a public product and all applicable, sensitive information has been taken out and replaced with generic data.

The Design Process: Rockwell & The Double Diamonds

The Double Diamonds outline the Design Process for a given product. Here is how I experienced each step:

1. Research

During the research process, competitors’ chatbots were reviewed. A Heuristics Analysis was conducted to catalog important and standard features for Prudential’s Annuities Chatbot. In addition, public consumers were interviewed using the User Research platform called UserZoom. These insights were crucial to impacting the form and function of the Chatbot. 

2. Synthesize

A Journey Map and multiple Personas were created to frame the problem and the ensuing solution. Gaps in the existing customer self-service process were revealed during this stage. Issues like broken links, long wait times and frustrated consumers were common. A direction and basic roadmap for the Chatbot began to form after identifying the trends and patterns within the Research.

3. Ideate

Using Adobe XD, I mocked up preliminary visual designs for the Chatbot. As the Lead Designer, I made sure to adhere to Prudential design standards. During this stage, I experimented with different methods of displaying Buttons that served to recommend actions for the Users.

In addition, I worked hand in hand with the Business Team to perfect the User Flow within the Chatbot. Some considerations included the order and flow of the post-interaction Feedback Survey and also the post-interaction Recommended-Actions message. 

4. Implementation

Once the Business, Development, Design and Leadership teams agreed on the form and function of the Chatbot, I continued to collaborate with all team members. I would often message and email Development and Business teammates to ensure that the final product was delivered successfully. As an iterative process and product, continuous communication was key. 

Designing the Right Thing

a persona out of many

With a strong sense of the problem area and the pain points, I crafted multiple personas, or an ideal users of this product. Doing so creates a sense of realism and urgency. In addition, personas tangibly create a target for the design process.

For the purposes of this portfolio, only one formal persona is displayed.

example flow for Rockwell the Prudential Annuities Chatbot

Due to the size of the sample User Flow, some components may be difficult to read. Please click into the image and zoom for better legibility.

Problem statement

Prudential’s Annuities Owners are left to their own devices when trying to address issues and questions regarding their investments. The existing process is inaccessible, difficult to understand and simply not user-friendly.

How can we improve the customer self-service experience with an intuitive, comprehensive and user-friendly product?

The answer: Rockwell - a Prudential Annuities Chatbot.

Designing the Thing Right

The final product

As the Lead Designer, I helped craft the Introduction Message in conjunction with members from Amazon Web Services and a Consulting Firm.

I designed the round, pill-shaped Suggestion Buttons to guide the Users to their pertinent questions. The Buttons also helped Users by cutting down on unnecessary typing.

Initially, there was pushback on the need for the Suggestion Buttons. However, as the User and Customer advocate, I showed the team the need for such features.

For this response, I also advocated for the use of a Read More Button.

According to User Testing, text that was too dense led to Users simply closing out of the conversation. This resulted in Users dissatisfied with the entire experience. Therefore the use of a Read More Button was important.

With the User in mind, I ensured that the Customer would have an enriching and positive interaction with Rockwell.

Next and most importantly were the post-interaction Suggestion Buttons - they were aimed to further guide the User, gain feedback and recommend actions to optimize the User’s experience with Prudential. Some recommended actions included opting for paperless communications or registering for an online, Prudential account.

In regard to the post-interaction Buttons, the simple path is that the User does not have any more questions. In this case, the User is wholly satisfied with the response they received on Required Minimum Distributions.

The next potential path includes the possibility that the User has another question related to the current topic.

After clicking the corresponding button, a User sees another set of relevant suggestions that were derived from analytics in the back-end by the business and development team.

Once Users are done with their interaction, they are directed to a Response Form. User Testing showed that only those individuals who were either ecstatic or extremely disappointed would take the time to fill out the Survey.

However, as the Lead Designer, I thought it was integral to still implement a system to garner feedback - outside of User Testing. Despite the potential bias in results, a Response Form gave Users an avenue to voice their thoughts.

The last and (hopefully the least used option) is the one in which the User is not satisfied with Rockwell’s response.

This results in a message advising Users to call into the Prudential Customer Service Center to address these out-of-scope queries.

Next Steps

In the future, other features will be added to the Chatbot’s list of functions. Some include the ability to transfer the User to a Live Agent and the potential to conduct dynamic and complex transactions (like updating Beneficiary Information) within the Chatbot itself. These features would drastically streamline and optimize the overall Customer Self-Service experience.