Alerts

Zapier is a leading automation platform that connects apps and workflows, helping users save time and increase productivity.

‘Alerts’ was a 0 -> 1 product release , a key offering of Zapier’s new enterprise package. Designed to provide real-time notifications for critical events and workflow errors, Alerts allows users to respond swiftly to disruptions, minimizing downtime and preserving business continuity. This feature enhances proactive monitoring and troubleshooting, enabling users to manage workflows with confidence and efficiency.

Marketing video of Alerts

Team Observe

Product Designer: Tyler Mag

Product Manager: Annabelle Glass

Tech lead: Santiago de los Rios

Process

Journey Mapping

Created a journey map to identify friction points in the user experience and explored opportunities for improvement. Collaborated with UX research to facilitate a design sprint, leading the prototyping and sketching phases.
Based on the journey map, we decided to pursue two 0-1 features as part of the enterprise offering: Alerts and Analytics [see case study]. Analytics aimed to provide actionable insights through centralized data dashboards, while Alerts focused on providing an in-app interface to monitor workflow errors, and streamlining the troubleshooting process for users.

User Testing

Conducted usability testing with enterprise users. Key feedback included:
- Clear prioritization of alerts based on how critical the error is and how important the workflow is was needed.
- Users focused on high error rate Zaps and turned off Zaps (due to high error rate)
- Slack and webhook integration was sorely needed as well.

Vision Design

Developed a vision prototype that integrated user-requested features and anticipated future needs. The prototype guided the development of the MVP.

Technical Scoping

Held FigJam scoping sessions with engineering to identify feasible features. Key outcomes included:
- Prioritized high-impact features for MVP
- Mapped dependencies for consolidating data sources
- Addressed cross-team collaboration challenges

Hi-Fi Design and Iterative Testing

Refined designs for the MVP release and tested them with target users. Feedback was used to divide improvements into pre-release changes (e.g., UI tweaks) and future enhancements (e.g., new data sources).

Problems and Objectives

This project identifies key areas of friction and opportunities for the Alerts feature within the scope of Team Observe:

Workflow Reliability and Troubleshooting

Inefficient Troubleshooting Process
- Problem: Troubleshooting required navigating multiple interfaces such as Email, Zap History, and the Editor, not only for users but also for internal users like Support. This cluttered process slowed down resolution times, creating inefficiencies and increasing the risk of critical errors being missed and continued downtime for critical workflows.
  
  Objective:
  Streamline the troubleshooting process by reducing navigation complexity.
Delayed Error Detection
- Zapier itself heavily relied on email as the primary method for communicating workflow errors, along with other types of notifications such as marketing updates and product announcements. This reliance led to an overwhelming volume of emails for users, causing critical error notifications to be frequently missed. There was also no distinction between mission-critical workflows and non-critical ones, as one user noted: "Not all workflows are equal."
  Objective:
  Enable real-time notifications within the app and through dedicated communication channels, such as Slack, additional emails, or webhooks, to ensure immediate detection of errors and prioritization of mission-critical workflows.

This project identifies key areas of friction and opportunities for the Alerts feature within the scope of Team Observe:

Workflow Reliability and Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Friction
- Problem: Troubleshooting required navigating multiple interfaces such as Email, Zap History, and the Editor, not only for users but also for internal users like Support. This cluttered process slowed down resolution times, creating inefficiencies and increasing the risk of critical errors being missed and continued downtime for critical workflows.
  Objective: Streamline the troubleshooting process by reducing navigation complexity.
Delayed Error Detection
- Zapier itself heavily relied on email as the primary method for communicating workflow errors, along with other types of notifications such as marketing updates and product announcements. This reliance led to an overwhelming volume of emails for users, causing critical error notifications to be frequently missed. There was also no distinction between mission-critical workflows and non-critical ones, as one user noted: "Not all workflows are equal."
  Objective: Enable real-time notifications within the app and through dedicated communication channels, such as Slack, additional emails, or webhooks, to ensure immediate detection of errors and prioritization of mission-critical workflows.

Process

Journey Mapping

Created a journey map to identify friction points in the user experience and explored opportunities for improvement. Collaborated with UX research to facilitate a design sprint, leading the prototyping and sketching phases.
Based on the journey map, we decided to pursue two 0-1 features as part of the enterprise offering: Alerts and Analytics [see case study]. Analytics aimed to provide actionable insights through centralized data dashboards, while Alerts focused on providing an in-app interface to monitor workflow errors, and streamlining the troubleshooting process for users.

Vision Design

Developed a vision prototype that integrated user-requested features and anticipated future needs. The prototype guided the development of the MVP.

User Testing

Conducted usability tests to validate the proposed solutions. Key insights included:
- High-level KPIs (e.g., plan usage, active members)
- Importance of task usage and error tracking
- Persona-specific needs (e.g., account admins vs. individual users)

Technical Scoping

Held FigJam scoping sessions with engineering to identify feasible features. Key outcomes included:
- Prioritized high-impact features for MVP
- Mapped dependencies for consolidating data sources
- Addressed cross-team collaboration challenges

Hi-Fi Design and Iterative Testing

Key Features of the MVP

List of All Errors Within the Account

Providing a clear overview of issues.

Advanced Filtering Options

By date, error type, and priority, allowing users to efficiently locate and address specific issues

Ability to Assign Priority Levels to Workflows

Enabling users to differentiate between mission-critical and non-critical workflows.

Automatic "critical" status assignment

or workflows experiencing high error rates or being turned off, ensuring immediate visibility and attention. Informed by multiple users on which workflows they prioritize.

Key Performance Indicators (60 Days Post-Launch)

40% of revenue

The enterprise package’s success contributed to 40% of Zapier’s revenue for the quarter.

37% ticket deflection

Indicated self-troubleshooting before reaching out to support right away.

Supplemental features

Though not apart of the Alerts page, I designed these features working with other teams within the Zapier organization to improve the entire journey of the troubleshooting process.

AI troubleshooting

Leveraged AI to demystify technical errors and provide users with actionable troubleshooting steps, enabling quicker resolution and minimizing downtime.

HTTPS Logs

Enabled more advanced users to self-serve and view more details about the errors within the run.

Runs in Editor

Provide users with visual familiarity by displaying how the run performed directly within the same context as the workflow builder (editor).

Error Handling in Editor

Enabled users to create error paths for error prone steps

Improved error email design

Enabled users to drill down into widgets and view detailed reports, with the option to download data as CSV files.

On the Roadmap

Contextual sidebar
Give users more context about the workflow alert within the same page instead of taking them to an external page.

On the Roadmap

Entire product wide notification control
This extends beyond the Alerts page and addresses a broader need: providing users with complete control over which notifications they want to receive and how they receive them. This flexibility is crucial for tailoring notifications to user preferences and workflows, making Slack and webhook integration vital for seamless and efficient communication.

Contextual sidebar
Give users more context about the workflow alert within the same page instead of taking them to an external page.

Entire product wide notification control
This extends beyond the Alerts page and addresses a broader need: providing users with complete control over which notifications they want to receive and how they receive them. This flexibility is crucial for tailoring notifications to user preferences and workflows, making Slack and webhook integration vital for seamless and efficient communication.