Designing an AI messaging platform that responds to leads, manages conversations across WhatsApp, Instagram and email, and helps independent business owners convert customers — even while they're physically working.
Independent business owners — plumbers, beauticians, trainers, electricians — lose up to 40% of potential leads because they can't respond in real-time while physically working.
Conversations are scattered across WhatsApp, Instagram, email, and website forms. There's no central place to manage them, and no way to respond when your hands are literally in someone's hair or under a sink.
Existing tools are designed for large sales teams (Salesforce, HubSpot) or too basic for multi-channel conversations. None understand a solo professional's reality.
The solution: an AI-powered messaging platform that handles leads automatically, sounds like the owner, and unifies all channels into one view.
.jpeg)
After synthesizing 12 interviews and 3 shadowing sessions, four critical pain points emerged:
.jpeg)
After mapping frustrations and clustering insights, a clear pattern started to emerge. Despite the variety of stories, they all pointed to the same underlying struggle. At this stage, I needed to sharpen everything into a single design challenge — the Problem Statement.
Solo professionals can't do their job and sell at the same time — and every missed response is a lost customer. They need a way to manage all client communication from one place, respond instantly even while working, and never lose a lead — without hiring extra staff.
Building on the problem statement, I translated the core challenge into a testable assumption, the Hypothesis Statement, that could guide design decisions and later be validated with users.
we build a system that allows business owners to centralize all communication channels with customers and allow them to respond automatically and efficiently and retain existing leads and customers
we can maximize their profits and save on personnel expenses, even when they are not physically available for matters such as service and sales in the immediate term
To truly understand where the pain lives, I mapped out a typical workday for a solo professional — from the moment they open their inbox to the end of an exhausting day of missed opportunities.
The owner starts each morning enthusiastic but quickly drowns in fragmented channels — WhatsApp, email, Instagram, Facebook. Every lead requires manual sorting, categorization, and prioritization. When they leave for an installation or meeting, inquiries pile up unanswered. By evening, they're exhausted, racing to revive cold leads while their service quality suffers.
A unified system that collects all leads automatically, categorizes them by urgency, and responds instantly with the owner's personal voice — even while they're on-site. Smart follow-ups keep leads warm, and by the time they return to the office, everything is organized, prioritized, and waiting for their review.
From research insights, I framed the core design challenges as "How Might We" questions:
Before jumping into design, I mapped out the full product scope — core features, AI automation, user experience needs, and business impact — to ensure every screen serves a real user need.
Before designing screens, I mapped the ideal user flow and journey — ensuring every step feels intuitive and every emotion is accounted for.
| Opens the app for the first time | Enters the app dashboard | Sees a section to create chat-bots | Enters the inbox screen | Can handle clients & leads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action | Idan is opening the app for the first time | Enters to the app dashboard | Idan sees a section to create chat-bots | Enters to the inbox screen | Idan can handle his clients & leads |
| Feeling | Confused, uncomfortable | Not understand anything, a lot of information | Hesitated, not tech-savvy enough | Scanning, prioritize messages, take actions | Happy, relaxing, take control |
| Opportunities | Relax colors, clear on-boarding, hints in every step | Clear sections, clear topics, text for explanation | Tutorials for any actions, demo mode, drag & drop mode | Easy flow, auto pilot mode, alerts & notifications, tags & labels | Gamification, target goals, mobile first |
Every design decision maps directly to a research finding. Below, each screen addresses a specific pain point uncovered during research.
The command center — a single glance shows everything a solo professional needs to know about their business communication.
One inbox for every channel — WhatsApp, Instagram, email, and website. No more switching between apps.
Visual tracking of every lead — from first contact to conversion. No lead gets forgotten.
The heart of MessAge — train an AI to respond like you, not like a robot.
Follow-ups and to-dos linked to each lead — so nothing falls through the cracks.
