Reducing chat load by improving withdrawals and payments ETAs comunication
Industry
Fintech
At
Deel
Date
Apr - Dec 2023
Problem or opportunity area
Contractors using Deel to withdraw earnings were frequently left in the dark about when they’d receive their funds—both from their clients to their Deel balance and from Deel to their personal accounts. This lack of transparency resulted in over 700 monthly support tickets, which grew at a rate of 23% month-over-month, creating operational strain and negatively impacting user trust.
My role
I led the discovery process, conducted user interviews to gain a deep understanding of contractor pain points, and aligned stakeholders around both the problem and the opportunity. I translated insights into design solutions, tested iterations with users, and collaborated closely with cross-functional teams to ensure the final experience was user-centered and technically feasible.
solution
Multiple real-time trackers to show payment and withdrawal statuses, that stand on top of Deel's ETA service, which predicts payouts in more than 150 countries, 8+ withdrawal methods, and 4 different contract types. Trackers reduced user anxiety and support tickets by improving transparency across Deel’s financial flows.
Key outcomes and results
Success metric
We implemented transparent, reliable payment and withdrawal trackers that reduced related support tickets by 71.55% and significantly improved the contractor Fintech experience at scale.
Business and customer impact
Contractors now have clear visibility into when they’ll receive funds and where their money is along the Fintech chain. They can also see complex scenarios like provider outages, RFIs (requests for information from financial institutions), holidays, and weekends across 150+ countries that affect withdrawal ETAs, and FinCrime reviews. This solution is powered by Deel’s ETA service, which became the foundation for our withdrawal predictions and a bridge we built between invoice logic and contractor payment estimations.
Qualitative impact
Design system: Introduced a new “vertical stepper” component to Deel’s design system, now adopted by 80+ designers.
Engineering collaboration: Engineers successfully built two backend services that powered the UI, and we worked closely to define and support feasible scenarios.
Future scalability: This project laid the foundation for later iterations, including (1) proactive push notifications and emails for contractors, (2) an ETA framework for new withdrawal providers like BVNK (digital currencies), and (3) a transparent, self-serve recall and refund flow requiring less support intervention.
Detail highlights
Jan - May 2025
