MongoDB customers can get help online, but the user experience is confusing and only available to accounts with paid support subscriptions. From December 2017 to August 2018, I worked on a redesign of the Customer Support portal to make it more intuitive, address known problems, and provide options for all users.
MongoDB’s support team hadn’t had a dedicated designer until I joined. The Customer Portal, where customers request help, had a backlog of problems and feature improvements that needed design attention. It was also in need of a visual update.
This project was my first for the customer-facing side of MongoDB support. It started with an update to the knowledge base articles but quickly grew into a larger effort. I had to make a case for making larger improvements to the Customer Portal, so I looked for examples of great support sites and gathered them into a competitive audit.
Competitive Support Audit
At first, I spent a lot of time sorting through the existing portal and trying to reorganize it into something that made a little more sense.
Early sketches and diagrams
In the new portal design, I improved the knowledge base styling, simplified the navigation structure, and made the organization more intuitive. I also added a Help Center and more browsable self-help content. I imported the CSS from our design system and built some of the main pages to make it easier for engineers to work with.
As of late August 2018, I’m in the process of testing the redesign with existing users, and we hope to see a reduction in common problems and an increase in knowledge base engagement.
Latest version of the portal redesign