Designing for the Humans Behind the Headsets

Southwest Airlines is known for great customer service—but with growing digital demands, their internal tools need to evolve too.

To enhance the agent chat experience within their C360 platform, I collaborated with their team to improve the system's intuitiveness, efficiency, and support for the fast-paced needs of their agents.

We worked together to simplify complex workflows, while bringing new innovation, and thoughtful design to a tool to help agents deliver quicker, friendly, reliable service.

Client
Southwest Airlines

Year
2023

Result

New AI-integrated workflow decreased average handle time (AHT) between chat agents and customers by 10%

Team Structure & My Responsibilities

Senior Manager of Technology

Senior Product Owner

Product Owner

UX/UI Designer

Engineer

Strategy Consultant

UX Researcher (Me!)

  • Discovery

    Discovery (2 weeks)

    Ethnographic Research | Stakeholder Workshops

  • Ideation (2 Weeks)

    Wireframing | Gamification Strategy | Push Notification Strategy

  • Design Partnership

    Design Partnership (6 weeks)

    Design Alignment | Empathy & Advocacy | Implementation Guidance

DISCOVERY

Let’s Get Familiar

After accessing the demo environments, I met with team members to establish a baseline understanding of Customer 360’s interface and workflow.

When a customer interacts with the site or app’s chatbot and is transferred to an agent, a case is created and linked to the chat transcript.

Agents then work, classify, and close the case, adding comments as needed.

Check-ins, flight changes/cancellations, applying refunds/credits, and lost/stolen/damaged baggage are the main reasons customers contact the help desks.

Key Learnings

Agent Workflow & Limitations

  • Multi-Channel Exposure - Chat agents typically work on the email or phone help desks as well. It’s likely they transfer expectations from one channel to another.

  • Free-Form Experience - No two customer interactions are alike and there are multiple ways to access detailed customer information.

  • High Concurrency - They typically service two customers at a time and use 3rd party systems (ARD and CIRRUS) to find more detailed flight and transaction information.

  • Anecdotal Painpoints - Chat agents complain about limited workspace, the chat window being too large, lack of saved ‘quick text’ features to reduce time typing like the system’s email desk has, and the inability to view chats and perform actions simultaneously due to nested tabs.

Personalization

  • Analog Workarounds - Email agents underuse the quick text feature, relying instead on sticky notes or Excel to access personalized responses.

  • Speed vs Warmth - Balancing the standardized quick text with the warm "Southwest Voice" presents a challenge.

What’s Our Key Problem?

I decided to run a workshop with the team for key reasons:

  • To provide a structured approach to complex, ambiguous problems

  • To better understand and prioritize user needs

  • To build trust & positive relationships with new teammates

But there