Omnichannel Message Center

Previously, users had no centralized place to view and manage all their communications – messages, call/chat transcripts, notifications, and action items were scattered across channels.

This project aimed to streamline that experience by creating a unified communications hub within the existing Message Center, giving users one place to access, organize, and manage all types of communication.

Experience Strategy

Problem Statement

The existing experience lacks a centralized location for users to access all types of communications – messages, call/chat transcripts, notifications, and action items. Related communications on the same topic are not connected, making it difficult for users to view them as a cohesive conversation.

Key questions guiding the strategy:

  • How can communications be consolidated into a simplified, unified experience?

  • Where should this experience live?

  • How can multi-format threads be presented in a single view?

Background

Communication access is currently fragmented across the digital experience, requiring users to navigate multiple areas – often resulting in missed or overlooked information. User testing and Voice of the Customer feedback highlighted the need for a more centralized, intuitive solution:

“You need a better interactive message center.”

“Make messages its own tab search bar at the top.”

“If there was a "Save for later" feature for message center, or a drafts folder, that would help a lot!”

“Super confusing navigation.”

Proposed Solution

Introduce a centralized communications hub within the Message Center, allowing users to access, organize, and categorize all communication types in one place.

Targeted Outcomes

User Benefits

  • Simplified access via streamlined navigation

  • Reduced effort in locating key communications

  • Unified view of topic-related conversations

  • Lower risk of missing critical or time-sensitive information

Business Impact

  • Improved digital containment

  • Fewer support calls

  • Stronger foundation for AI-driven engagement

Framework

The enhanced Message Center includes three sections and a new “Topics” feature:

Inbox Sections

  • Urgent: High-priority items requiring immediate action appear at the top.

  • Messages: Combines traditional messages and notifications into one list. Testing participants found it challenging to distinguish the difference between notifications or messages when presented with business examples – they felt it made sense for them to appear in the same area of the app.

  • Call & Chat Transcripts: Displays full transcripts of Member Services calls and chat conversations.

Topics

Topics group related communications – across message types – into a single thread. AI can suggest topics based on content, or users can create/edit them manually. Users can also reply directly to a thread via message or chat.

Functionality & Scope

MVP Features

  • Limit sections to 4 items with “Show All” option (if there are more than 4 new items, show all new items)

  • Ensure all new items are visible before limiting view

  • Indicators for new/unread messages

  • Reply (except notifications)

  • Compose new communications

  • Archive, delete, mark as urgent, star

  • View sender, timestamp, thread count, etc.

Day 2 Enhancements

  • Introduce Topics functionality

  • Add Message Center to global navigation

  • Create/edit/unlink Topics

  • Archive and reply to individual messages and entire topic threads

  • Indicators for new or urgent items within Topics

  • Group and manage attachments by Topic

Competitive Analysis

The design draws from patterns used in Gmail, Outlook, and similar platforms, including:

  • Starring, swiping actions, threaded messaging

  • Tabbed inbox views and hamburger menu for navigation

  • Multi-channel message initiation

  • Global search and folder-like Topics

  • Optional AI-driven topic suggestions

  • Message Center icon added to global nav for one-tap access