Reducing customer communication response time by 90%

Problem… the struggle to keep up

Every single day, the HOA receives hundreds of messages from homeowners with various needs and requests. It's the managers' responsibility to handle these requests for each location they oversee. But when messages flood into a centralized inbox from ALL locations, not just the ones they're directly managing, it becomes impossible for them to keep up. The result?

A homeowner said “The HOA manager eventually responded and expediated repairs. It took time, but I appreciated the effort.

We had to do something, but what?

Goals & Objectives

Implement a reliable filtering system for managers that shows messages only from homeowners in the locations they manage. This saves them from scrolling endlessly through messages from all locations. The filtering system should enable managers to sort requests by urgency, making sure important ones get handled first. It should also help them categorize urgent requests by type e.g. parking violations or garbage disposal issues. This way, every request gets addressed promptly, easing homeowners' worries and rebuilding trust. To make this happen, the filtering system should have multiple levels.

Objectives

1. Multi-level filtering system

Focus on relevant messages. Avoid burnout. Guarantee timely responses.

2. Powerful search

Find specific messages quickly. Save time. Reduce frustrations. Build trust.

3. Intuitive interface

Make life easier. Spend less time scrolling and more time getting things done.

Sprint Grooming & Planning

North Star design principles

Not that straightforward

Designing the filtering system turned out to be more complicated than expected. Creating the filters wasn't the hard part—it was making ones that managers could actually use. With so many parameters to consider, the first design was not the most intuitive—in short, it was a mess. Managers had to scroll forever, making it so frustrating that they ended up avoiding it altogether.

Audit & User Research

User interviews with 5 managers showed that they relied on the general inbox to view messages rather than the filtered view for a more streamlined messaging experience. The filters needed improvements for these reasons:

• Inefficient organization
• Unbearable scrolling
• Confusing layout
• Lack of clarity

Old design:

Back to the drawing board

The first design didn’t fail because it had too many unnecessary parameters. Surprisingly, we were able to transfer almost everything from the old filters to the new ones and even added better features like date ranges. The real issue was how the filters were presented, so we knew the User Interface needed a facelift.

As a manager, I need to see messages:

• only related to my location
• that are new, open, or closed
• if either the resident or I sent the last action
• sent by a specific resident or group
• between certain times
• with certain tags

More autonomy for managers

We thought about ways to make the filters even better. That's when we came up with using tags. By grouping filters with tags, we could make the process even more precise and streamlined. Since our system already had tags that users were familiar with, it was easy to introduce this idea.

New design:

A missing piece

The new filtering system worked much better than the old one! However, early observations revealed a recurring pattern in usage. Managers often needed to reference old conversations while resolving new issues. So, they'd search for keywords, hoping to find what they needed, but the system's search feature wasn't reliable and it often came up empty.

To make things easier for managers, we had to create a better search function. After some interviews, we found out what managers usually looked for:

• Who sent the message
• Who received the message
• The message subject
• The message content.

More complexity

Creating the search feature led us to ask a crucial question: "What if a manager needs to search using a combination of several criteria?" Through interviews, we found out they often do. For instance, a manager overseeing ten locations might want to see only "urgent" maintenance requests from a specific community (AND) tagged with "water damage" (OR) "leaking pipes".

This revealed a need for AND/OR logic not just for the search feature, but also for the filters.

First round of test

Feedback on our progress uncovered some loopholes. During the first test, we realized that managers' needs for AND/OR use cases were more complicated than we thought. They didn't just need multiple filters with AND/OR logic, but also AND/OR logic between each filter.

So, a manager might need to see (filter 1) “heater installation” OR “leaky roof” tagged “older than 2 days” (filter 2) AND “water damage” OR “plumbing” concerns tagged ”urgent”.

This presented another layer of complexity we were excited to tackle. And we thought, “if we’re going to add AND/OR logic between each filter, we might as well add it to the search feature”. So, we did. 😎

Harmonizing the features

All the work on filters and search got me thinking: "How do we make using them effortless for our users?" We wanted it to feel like second nature, so users could focus on solving complaints instead of navigating the system.

So, we added a 'Save' and 'Update' feature to the filters:

1. If you filter something new—not identical to any of your saved views—a “Save” button appears.
2. ⁠If you filter something that matches a saved view, or if you click on a saved view, an “Update” button appears

This simple change had an enormous impact 👇

The right combination of words

The first round of testing revealed that the search terms were just plain confusing. We didn't want words that made users stop and think—that would distract them from their main task of solving complaints.

This required rapid iterations until we found words that resonated with managers instantly.

Second round of tests

We were making good progress, but there was still a problem. Our complex filter feature was causing issues (like overlapping elements) on smaller screens. This made the user interface worse. Yikes! ☹

Letting users create endless filters was chaotic and confusing. So, I teamed up with the Frontend team and set a limit for users to only have up to 3 filters open at a time.

While pushing changes to production with the frontend team, we almost broke the whole system:

Home stretch

The search and filter functions were a hit! Testing went smoothly, giving me time to direct my focus on the overall project. That's when I saw a chance to go above and beyond with saved views!

Each manager has their own saved views, so they only see what's relevant to them and can focus on their own tasks. Plus, if a manager was absent, another could log into their saved views and cover for them.

A remarkable discovery

After observing managers use the new system for a longer period, we noticed that the “filters” and “saved views” features were so effective that managers hardly ever used the search feature. Maybe we made it too complicated? But it's still a win!

Old process: log in > search > filter > resolve complaints

New process: log in > resolve complaints

Impact: Managers aren't missing messages, and homeowners are getting the prompt attention they deserve!

An effortless experience

Takeaways

• Finding the opportunity to overdeliver

Constantly seeking perfection helped introduce a new feature that was key to the project’s success.

• Implementing early and ongoing testing

Iterative testing helped us address issues promptly throughout the project.

• Observing user patterns and behaviors

Noticing the need for a search feature proved crucial to the project’s journey.

• Prioritizing user experience

Recognizing that even if something works technically, user frustration can overshadow its effectiveness, as seen with the old clunky filter design.

• Success can surprise you

Realizing that success can emerge in unexpected ways. Despite our focus on enhancing the search feature, users found the real value in the filters and saved views.