Tool Consolidation
Delta has a huge team of Customer Service Agents called Reservation (Res) Specialists. They are the team that takes customer calls when they want to make changes or have issues with a Delta trip. And as one can assume, Res Specialists juggle many tasks across many tools to meet their customers’ needs.
My team worked directly with Product Owners for a system called OmniPro (OMP), an all-in-one tool that consolidates all of Res Specialists’ workflow to reduce call time and improve their productivity. allows Specialists to access Customer Dashboards, book or change flights, refund a flight, review flight itinerary details, and more for multiple customers at a time (if needed). For this project, our team focused on the payments portion of the Specialists’ workflow.
So Many Tools with Multi-Step Connection
Before OmniPro, Res Specialists had to use up to six tools to perform a single payment task for one customer. This is partially due to system limitations when transacting payments in foreign currencies.
Each tool out of the six had its own purpose, spanning from collecting payment to performing vendor systems for international forms of payment.
And making a payment is not just one step in a Specialist’s workflow. They first have to book the flight through Delta’s shopping experience, just like a customer would. Once they reach Purchase Overview, they continue to checkout, which was the bulk of our work.
Give Specialists Their Time Back
🗣️ The Ask
Design an intuitive payment module that is customizable for collecting payments in all currencies that Delta transacts today (Credit Cards, eCredits, Gift Cards, and certificates). The module should also enable scalability for future needs, simplifying the payment collection process for front-line specialists and enabling efficiencies when assisting customers.
⭐️ The Goal
Design a payment module that not only stands alone, but is agnostic of workflows like Shopping, Changing a Trip, or Refunding one, and can integrate into any workflow that supports the need for payment. Also, think about how payments can be split between customers and payment types.
The Seen and Unforseen
During the design process, we worked closely with the Product Owner and approximately 20 Res Specialists to ensure the designs were accomplishing their workflow. We also conducted user testing every three weeks to gain valuable feedback from target focus groups.
Midway through the project, our team had to swap design systems. Originally, this product would have been delivered in OmniPro design system. However, to streamline communication between Specialists and customers, it was requested to shift to Delta.com's design system, Fresh Air; launching an entire audit of both systems to ensure both experiences reflect one another.
The Payment Breakdown
After conducting roughly 8 three-week detailed design sprints with the Product Owner, 4 focus groups with Res Specialists, and 2 leadership reviews with internal stakeholders, we achieved our goal by meeting Specialists’ needs. Payment was now a simple, cohesive experience that reflected the customer experience, all while reducing call time.
Specialists could select any passenger wallet on the flight. From there, Specialists could perform the payment in multiple ways:
Split the payment between multiple cards
Flex the payment by separating passenger seats or flights to different cards
Redeem eCredits from any passenger on the flight
Use Miles as a payment option also from any passenger
A Future for Flexible Payment
Coming out of this project, changes to the customer-facing payment module were on the horizon. Whenever that time comes, our team’s work will be the blueprint for future consumer needs.
Overall, Specialists had nothing but praise to give the execution of the work, which is honestly the most rewarding part.
“I like it because I can see everything in one view… seats, breakdown, etc.”
“[Two-for-one compatibility] …that’s awesome” (Flexible Payment Areas)"
"I love it already!"
The Team
Anna Bitskaya
Senior UX Director
Jenna Chen
UX Designer
Wenbo Guo
UX Design Intern
Parnal Munghate
Senior Product Manager
Natalie Gustavsson
Senior Project Manager
Claire Penhorwood
Management Supervisor
Payal Patel
Produce Owner (Delta)
