Blacklane Help Center
Redesigning the help center to reduce inbound requests to Blacklane customer service, which currently drive higher costs and longer resolution times for guests. The new design will enable guests to resolve issues through AI-powered chat, minimizing the need to call customer service and improving efficiency.
Discovery & Engagement | September 2025 | Product Designer
iOS, Android & Web
Problem
Guests frequently preferred calling support instead of using chat.
Despite having a live chat feature, calls accounted for nearly 37% of all support contacts, resulting in:
Higher support costs
Longer wait times
Interrupted in-app experience
Pain points identified:
Users trusted phone calls for urgency and reliability
Chat visibility was poor and felt secondary
Web-view chat felt slow and disconnected from the native app
Talking felt “easier” than typing for some users
This design imbalance meant guests weren’t guided toward the faster, more scalable chat experience.
Analytics & data
22%
Using Mixpanel analytics and support data, we analyzed 23,000 monthly Help tab visits
initiated a chat
13%
made a phone call
17%
of the users interact with articles to get information
The contact rate (calls + chats) was 34.8%, much higher than desired.
We aimed to reduce this to 18%, mainly by cutting down unnecessary phone calls.
48%
dropped off or found answers indirectly
Solution
1. Chat-First Help UI
Prominent button: “Start chat”
Moved phone contact to a secondary page (“For urgent issues only”)
Contextual entry for current or upcoming rides
Surfaced top 5 Help articles based on engagement data
2. Native Chat Integration
Replaced slow web-view with Intercom’s native iOS SDK
Added persistent threads, push notifications, file sharing
Pre-populated user data (name, booking info, location)
3. Phased Rollout & Testing
A/B test with 25% of users for 4 weeks
Compared chat vs. call behavior between Control & Variant groups
Tracked chat engagement, call rate, and CSAT
Why this works:
Users see chat as the fastest way to get help and without leaving the app. For urgent issues, the phone option remains available but intentionally less prominent under the scroll with multiple steps in order to make it more distracting for the customers.
Success Metrics
13% baseline
Target: ↓ 6–7%
Phone call rate
22% baseline
Target: ↑ 35–40%
Impact results
Chat rate
Target: ↓ ~€6k/month
Support Cost
€10.5k/month