Driving UX Innovation in Customer Support Applications

Use Case

Designing the Customer Support Experience
for a Video Shopping Platform

As part of Apple's innovative approach to customer engagement, their next step was to bring the Genius customer interaction to virtual shopping by integrating video-guided support into its internal platform.

As the lead UX designer, I created an intuitive, frictionless interface that allowed specialists to shop with customers in real time, ensuring a seamless and superior Apple retail experience.

Context & Business Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted in-store sales, requiring Apple to rethink how it engaged customers remotely. Their solution was to create an online shopping experience that mirrored the in-store Genius Bar interactions. This approach allowed specialists to guide customers in real-time, assisting with product selection and purchasing while ensuring a seamless, compliant experience similar to FaceTime.

Apple tasked us with designing a new component for their internal customer service application, enabling specialists to video chat and assist customers in live shopping experiences on the online store. This system integrated with the existing customer-facing platform, allowing specialists to take on the role of an in-store Genius while seamlessly managing the existing customer service interface, ensuring live support and operational efficiency.

Our solution focused on the following key objectives:

• Enable live guided shopping assistance for specialists and customers
• Maintain a seamless user experience across both internal and customer-facing platforms
• Minimize onboarding time by designing an intuitive and easily adoptable interface
• Ensure minimal friction and align with key performance indicators (KPIs), including faster onboarding, increased customer engagement, and higher conversion rates

My Role & Key Contributions

As a Senior UX Designer, I was responsible for:

• Rapidly defining the UX strategy by leveraging my deep understanding of internal applications and past experience, while collaborating with AMP's project managers to craft and present a comprehensive solution to Apple's product and engineering teams
• Translating complex workflows into intuitive designs that specialists could adopt quickly
• Optimizing usability while ensuring compliance with security protocols
• Integrating video shopping functionality within their internal application, leveraging existing UI components
• Driving KPI-based results: higher close rates, increased upsells, and improved user satisfaction

Outcome & Impact

Apple's shift toward video-guided shopping redefined how specialists connect with customers, creating a seamless bridge between online and in-store experiences. By embedding this capability within the existing customer service platform, specialists were equipped with tools to provide expert-driven support while maintaining Apple's signature level of service. This transformation not only streamlined workflows and boosted engagement but also set the foundation for a more scalable, intelligent, and interactive future in digital customer assistance.

• Revolutionized the online shopping interface, seamlessly bridging the gap between digital and in-store interactions, resulting in an improved and immersive customer journey.
• Increased specialist efficiency, significantly reducing onboarding time and enhancing workflow adoption through an intuitive and familiar interface.
• Drove higher conversion rates, leveraging guided product recommendations that improved purchase confidence and overall customer satisfaction.

Next Steps

This project served as the foundation for Apple's next evolution in virtual shopping and customer engagement. Future enhancements will focus on expanding personalization, AI-assisted guidance, and improved API functionality.