Enhancing Aircall's Messaging Experience with MMS

Kyle Hazan

Product Designer

Figma

Maze

ProtoPie

Telecommunications

Redevelop the messaging foundation experience

Context

AIRCALL, INITIALLY A VOICE-FOCUSED PLATFORM, EXPANDED TO ADDRESS BUSINESS NEEDS BY INTRODUCING A MESSAGING EXPERIENCE. I LED THE EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE MESSAGING APP BY FIXING COMMON ISSUES BUT I ALSO PLAYED A ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING THE MMS SOLUTION, ENABLING USERS TO SEND AND RECEIVE MULTIMEDIA CONTENT. THIS MARKED A SIGNIFICANT STEP IN ENHANCING AIRCALL’S MESSAGING CHANNEL, ADAPTING TO THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION AND MEETING USER DEMANDS FOR RICHER EXPRESSIONS.

Why this project needed to happen?

Messaging as a source of negative feedback

Enable multimedia communication and enhance user experience The introduction of MMS functionality provides users with a seamless and intuitive way to send and receive multimedia content, empowering them to express themselves more creatively and enhancing their ability to share impactful visuals and experiences.

Improve customer satisfaction and reduce churning The UI and UX redesign seamlessly integrates MMS capabilities with the existing SMS service, creating an intuitive and user-friendly interface that allows users to effortlessly utilize MMS features. This addresses the limitations of the previous SMS service, reduces churning, and aligns with users' growing expectations.

Tap into new revenue streams and retain existing customers The successful implementation of MMS enables Aircall to tap into new revenue streams and retain existing customers by providing an enriched messaging experience that encourages user loyalty and drives business growth.

The growing popularity of Aircall and SMS users Aircall's messaging experience falls short of both direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors offer more features and a better UX, while indirect competitors (such as Messages, WhatsApp, and Telegram) are familiar and easy to use.

Problem

HOW MIGHT WE INCREASE MESSAGING EXPERIENCE CAPABILITIES & AFFORDANCE, AND RESPOND TO THE THE GROWING DEMAND FOR MMS CAPABILITIES IN OUR EXISTING APPLICATION?

Goal

HELP BUSINESSES HAVE RICHER CONVERSATIONS BY MAKING MESSAGING FAST AND EASY TO USE, GIVE AGENTS MORE CONTROL OVER THEIR CONVERSATIONS AND CREATE A PLATFORM FOR INNOVATION AND DEEP ENGAGEMENT.

Hypothesis

BY INTRODUCING AN MMS FEATURE TO THE APPLICATION, USERS WILL EXPERIENCE INCREASED ENGAGEMENT AND SATISFACTION WITH THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS.

Benchmark & UX audit

THE BENCHMARK STEP WAS NECESSARY TO IDENTIFY WHAT ARE DIRECT COMPETITORS PROPOSING WHEN IT COMES TO A MESSAGING EXPERIENCE, IT WAS ALSO INTERESTING TO ANALYZE INDIRECT COMPETITORS MESSAGING APPLICATIONS TO GATHER SOME IDEAS AND FILL OUR INSPIRATIONS. WE STARTED BY MAKING A CRITIQUE OF OUR MESSAGING PRODUCT.

User Research Discovery

WE INTERVIEWED 12 AGENTS, QUESTIONING THEIR SMS PROCESS, MOTIVATIONS, AND TEAM GUIDELINES. WE INQUIRED ABOUT THEIR WEEKLY, MONTHLY, AND YEARLY SMS RECEPTION, SENDER INFORMATION, MESSAGE TYPES, REASONS, AND MULTITASKING HABITS WHILE READING TEXTS.

What we’ve learned

THE USAGE OF SMS

SECOND ATTEMPT STRATEGY: SMS IS EMPLOYED AS A FOLLOW-UP AFTER AN UNANSWERED PHONE CALL, AIMING TO BRING CUSTOMERS BACK ON THE PHONE. THE SEQUENCE INVOLVES A CALL, VOICEMAIL, AND THEN AN SMS.

EMAIL DEAD END: EMAILS ARE CONSIDERED LESS EFFECTIVE DUE TO POTENTIAL PLACEMENT IN SPAM FOLDERS.

CRM CONTEXT: SMS IS SENT WHILE THE CRM IS OPEN, PROVIDING CUSTOMER CONTEXT FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.

THE PAIN POINTS

DOCUMENT ATTACHMENT ISSUE: AIRCALL DOESN’T SUPPORT ATTACHED DOCUMENTS, LEADING TO REQUESTS FOR EMAIL TRANSMISSION.

PERSONAL PHONE WORKAROUND: SOME RESORT TO USING PERSONAL LINES (WHATSAPP, IMESSAGE) FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION DUE TO LIMITATIONS.

QUICK ACCESS CONCERNS: USERS EXPRESS FRUSTRATION WITH UI FAILURES AND EMPHASIZE THE NECESSITY OF BOTTOM-BAR NAVIGATION FOR QUICK ACCESS.

Explorations

AFTER IDENTIFYING AND PRIORITIZING ALL THE ASPECTS OF THE APPLICATION RELATED TO THE AIRCALL MESSAGING EXPERIENCE, IT WAS TIME TO START SOME EXPLORATIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE SOLUTIONS.

Provide a quicker access to messages

Before

After

New Navigation

Swipe

Moving the "Messages" to the tab Bar

WE ENHANCED USER EXPERIENCE BY RELOCATING THE MESSAGES TAB TO THE TABBAR, ENSURING DIRECT ACCESS WITH A SINGLE TAP. THIS STREAMLINED WORKFLOW, ENABLING SEAMLESS NAVIGATION BETWEEN APP SECTIONS. THE CHANGE POSITIVELY IMPACTED ACCESSIBILITY, WORKFLOW, AND EMPHASIZED COMMUNICATION IN THE USER EXPERIENCE.

Moving Settings to the Top-Left Corner

WHILE OPTIMIZING THE MESSAGING EXPERIENCE, WE IMPROVED SETTINGS PLACEMENT BY ADOPTING A COMMON PATTERN—RELOCATING THE SETTINGS ICON TO THE TOP-LEFT CORNER. THIS ENHANCES FAMILIARITY, ALIGNING WITH USER EXPECTATIONS AND REDUCING COGNITIVE LOAD. ADDITIONALLY, THE PROMINENT TOP-LEFT CORNER ENSURES CONSTANT VISIBILITY, ENHANCING DISCOVERABILITY OF THE SETTINGS ICON.

Implement “basic” functions, but expected ones

IN THE PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, WHEN USERS VISITED THE MESSAGES VIEW, THEY COULD ONLY SEE THE NAME OF THE COMMUNICATION LINE USED BY THE AGENT. WE IMPROVED THIS BY ADDING AN EXCERPT FROM THE LAST MESSAGE, ALONG WITH AN ICON INDICATING ITS STATUS (SENT, RECEIVED, DELIVERED, OR UNDELIVERED IN SOME CASES). ADDITIONALLY, WE REPLACED THE BASIC MESSAGE ICON WITH THE PROSPECT’S AVATAR AND ADDED A TIMESTAMP ON THE RIGHT. FURTHERMORE, WE IMPLEMENTED BASIC FUNCTIONS SUCH AS MARKING A CONVERSATION AS “READ” OR “UNREAD”.

Improve the conversation creation tunnel and challenge the global UI

Make the tunnel smoother

PREVIOUSLY, USERS HAD TO MANUALLY TYPE THE PHONE LINE OR SCROLL THROUGH A LIST TO FIND A CONTACT. NOW, THEY CAN STREAMLINE THE PROCESS:

NOW THEY CAN JUST TAP IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER TO OPEN A NEW MESSAGE WINDOW. ENTER THE CONTACT NAME OR NUMBER MANUALLY OR CHOOSE FROM THE ADDRESS BOOK. SELECT THE SENDING LINE, AND THE APP CHECKS FOR MMS CAPABILITY. IF NOT, USERS ARE PROMPTED TO CHOOSE A CAPABLE LINE, NOW LABELED WITH AN “MMS” TAG.

Rely on native patterns

DEPENDING ON THE PLATFORM, WE RELIED ON FAMILIAR PATTERNS THAT AGENTS ARE ACCUSTOMED TO SEEING ON THEIR PERSONAL PHONES. FOR IOS, CREATING A CONVERSATION UTILIZES A BUTTON IN THE TOP-RIGHT CORNER, WHILE ON ANDROID, IT’S POSITIONED IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT. AFTER ALL, IT’S A PHONE/MESSAGING APPLICATION; THERE’S NO NEED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL, RIGHT?

Send a MMS flow

Receive a MMS flow

User tests

AFTER SEVERAL EXPLORATIONS ON THE TOPIC, THE PRODUCT DESIGN TEAM AIMED TO TEST THE DESKTOP APPLICATION’S MMS SENDING AND MANAGEMENT FLOW. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES WERE TO ASSESS ITS USABILITY AND ENSURE THAT OUR USERS CAN EASILY UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS OF SENDING MEDIA FROM AIRCALL.

Global appreciation

THE NEW MMS FEATURE RECEIVED POSITIVE FEEDBACK FOR ITS EASE OF USE (84.6%, 11 PARTICIPANTS), WITH CLEAR PROMPTS AND ICONS APPRECIATED. SENDING AND RECEIVING PHOTOS/SCREENSHOTS GENERATED ANTICIPATION. MAJORITY (69.2%, 9 PARTICIPANTS) FOUND NO CHANGES NEEDED. RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE PRIORITIZING IMPROVEMENT IN SENDING FAILURE FLOW (15.4%, 2), DESIRE FOR MORE SUPPORTED FORMATS (7.7%, 1), AND REQUEST FOR MESSAGE TEMPLATES OR A LIBRARY (7.7%, 1). USERS EXPRESSED ENTHUSIASM FOR EASY PHOTO ATTACHMENT AND SUGGESTED EXPANDING SUPPORTED FORMATS BEYOND PHOTOS.

Key insights we followed after the release of MMS

100,000 messages sent in the first month after the feature was released

Because of technical constraints, the maximum amount that was set in terms of size limit for the first version of MMS was 5MB resulting in a lot of cases where users were facing errors. Next step will be to focus on how allow more size limit or how could we reduce the weight of medias that are share without impacting the quality

10 seconds per message.

90% of users are satisfied with the MMS feature.

After deeper investigation, most of MMS not being delivered is due to connection issue so we worked on making the connection status more obvious to users facing them

Conclusion

I REALLY APPRECIATED WORKING ON THE MMS TOPIC. THIS PROJECT BEING ONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS’ MAIN REQUESTS MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS REALLY WORKING ON A PROJECT THAT ADDS VALUE TO USERS EVERY DAY. THE RESULTS OF THE CASE STUDY SHOW THAT THE MMS FEATURE IS BEING USED HEAVILY AND THAT USERS ARE SATISFIED WITH IT. THE KPIS THAT WE TRACKED SHOW THAT THE MMS FEATURE IS MEETING OUR GOALS OF INCREASING USER ENGAGEMENT, IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND GENERATING MORE REVENUE.

THE MMS TOPIC IS VISUALLY APPEALING, WITH ITS BRIGHT COLORS AND PLAYFUL GRAPHICS. IT ALLOWED ME TO WORK ON AN ENTERTAINING TOPIC THAT I WAS PASSIONATE ABOUT. I ENJOYED LEARNING ABOUT THE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT MMS CAN BE USED TO SEND AND RECEIVE MULTIMEDIA CONTENT. I ALSO ENJOYED WORKING WITH MY USER RESEARCHER TEAMMATE TO CONDUCT USER TESTS. THIS WAS A GREAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE THAT TAUGHT ME HOW TO BETTER UNDERSTAND USER NEEDS AND HOW TO DESIGN FEATURES THAT ARE USER-FRIENDLY.

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Posted May 16, 2025

Led the enhancement of Aircall's messaging app by implementing MMS, improving UX, and increasing user engagement.

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Timeline

Oct 10, 2024 - Jan 16, 2025

Clients

Aircall