2024-2025
Create and expand capability for customer support chat experiences for Microsoft 365 admins.
Overview
Create a lightweight chat experience for admin customers needing support. With AI and Copilot advancements, customers expect us to understand them better and assist more actively. We hypothesize that:
1. Increased use of Copilot will blur the lines between it and traditional support.
2. Customers are more inclined to engage in conversational support, as AI excels in understanding intent and providing tailored solutions. A consistent conversational support experience can help us test these hypotheses and enhance customer support.
Role
Lead designer
Skills
Visual design
Design system
User research
Team
Myself
Product manager
3 engineers
Support has traditionally been search based
Our challenge
Design principles
Consistency: Align with Microsoft’s existing support patterns across web, app, and Copilot experiences.
Clarity: Use simple, direct language and clear next steps in every conversation.
Personalization: Tailor support flows based on user account, subscription, and context.
Customer Control: Let users manage consent without blocking access to support.
Proactive Support: Surface preventive guidance before issues escalate.
Design challenges and considerations
Cross-Channel Consistency: Match experience across Admin Center, Get Help, and future Copilot surfaces.
Tech Feasibility: Some solutions require backend integrations not yet fully available.
Account Complexity: Multiple MSAs and Copilot subscriptions create confusion around entitlements.
AI Trust: Ensure transparency and clear handoffs to human agents if AI cannot resolve issues.
Accessibility and Localization: Design flows that meet WCAG standard.
Support chat basic flow
How might we enable Microsoft 365 admins to quickly resolve issues through conversational support, while reducing confusion from multiple accounts and subscriptions, minimizing ticket creation, and maintaining consistency with other Microsoft support experiences?
Branching solution found
Prompts available
Option selected
Microsoft offers different entry points to look for support help but Microsoft 365 admins lacked access to personalized, conversational support experiences. Traditional support methods were slow, fragmented, and reactive — often leading to delayed resolutions, repeated troubleshooting, and increased reliance on manual support tickets.
It matters because customers that cannot find answers easily will create support tickets
Needed for
~3M
admin users
As a Microsoft 365 admin, I am trying to quickly resolve subscription, account, or configuration issues on my own but the current support experience is fragmented, slow, and often unclear — forcing me to open manual support tickets, delaying my work, and creating frustration.
Customer problem statement
As a Microsoft support leader, I am trying to scale high-quality support for Microsoft 365 admins efficiently butthe lack of conversational self-service options leads to higher ticket volumes, increased costs, longer resolution times, and lower customer satisfaction, impacting operational goals and customer loyalty.
Business problem statement
Creates
1.5
tickets per month
Costs
$50
per admin ticket
Without conversational support for M365 admins, Microsoft faces higher support costs, slower resolution times (higher DTC), and lower admin satisfaction (CSAT). Addressing this gap directly improves operational efficiency, reduces support load, and enhances customer experience at scale.
Start chat
Branching answers
Question asked
Selection saved
Answer provided
Running diagnostics
Diagnostic needed
Diagnostics results
Answer provided
End to end user flow
Impact of design work
New conversational support has been released to 5% Microsoft365 admin users and is set to reduce ticket volume by 15% when made generally available. Expected savings for Microsoft to be ~90M USD per year.
Big takeaways
The importance of clarity in complex ecosystems
Designing for Microsoft 365 admins showed me that when multiple accounts, subscriptions, and support paths exist, even small confusion points can escalate quickly. Simplicity and clear guidance are critical in high-stress, high-complexity environments.
Personalization builds trust for active self help experiences
Admins need to see that Microsoft recognizes their context — what account they’re on, what subscription they have — otherwise trust in the system erodes. Personalized surfaces and language are not a luxury; they’re essential for credibility.
Operational impact matters as much as user experience
Good design isn’t just about making a smooth flow — it has to tie to real business outcomes like reducing ticket volume, lowering DTC (Days to Close), and improving CSAT. I grew stronger at thinking about UX decisions through the lens of operational efficiency.