Crisp

Crafting a human-first business messaging ecosystem

Founded in 2015 by a small group of enthusiasts in Nantes, France, Crisp is now used by over 200,000 brands worldwide. Their dedication to providing a unique, human-centered experience for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—bringing together teams, conversations, data, and knowledge in one place—prompted co-founder and CEO Baptiste Jamin to seek close collaboration with BB Agency in 2020.

The primary goal was to enhance their mobile user experience. We joined forces, with BB acting as an extension of their development team. Our UX and Product experts were brought on board to explore innovative approaches to the visual appearance and structure of the platform, guiding design-related decisions.

Reimagining a suite of people-first solutions

As we set out to transform Crisp’s suite of customer support tools, we tackled four major products over three years—to refine user experiences and enhance functionality, and at the same time elevate and improve their look & feel:

• First up was the mobile app, revamped to match Crisp’s innovative and design-forward approach, made more appealing and user-friendly, enhancing the overall experience.
• Next up was the chatbot, which was due for an upgrade, so we aimed to make it smarter, quicker, and more versatile—so it could boost conversations with timely, spot-on interactions.
• After that, we tackled the Help Desk, making sure it played nice with Crisp’s other tools, turning it into a one-stop shop for all things customer care.
• Last but not least, the CRM platform. We took what we learned and amped it up, making a sleek, data-savvy tool that makes managing relationships frictionless.

Mobile app revamp

As a top-rated business messaging app, Crisp’s desktop version required a mobile counterpart that was just as powerful. The existing one, though functional, had become outdated, tougher to maintain, and prone to bugs. BB Agency’s team, known for creating holistic, user-centric digital experiences, was tasked to craft a sleek, easy-to-use mobile experience tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)—for both iOS and Android platforms.

Solution

We focused on refining the user experience to be more intuitive and responsive, while also giving the app a fresh, modern visual language, complemented by a comprehensive native module system that made the developers’ job that much easier. We prioritized a clear visual hierarchy to navigate users through the app, employing consistent colors, typography, and icons for a cohesive and user-friendly interface.

Overall, for a familiar feel across devices, we made sure the mobile app mirrored the desktop’s features—from live chats and video calls to customizable interfaces and multilingual support— ensuring users can transition smoothly between platforms, enjoying the same intuitive, real-time interactions whether on desktop or mobile. The mobile app’s revamp was comprehensive, blending native and bespoke solutions for cross-platform compatibility (iOS and Android)

Chatbot upgrade

Designing a chatbot for daily use by millions of users and businesses comes with its own set of unique challenges. Crafting a white-label widget that supports various branding themes and numerous interaction states adds to the complexity. Thanks to our close collaboration with the client, we managed to navigate and overcome these challenges effectively.

We prioritized a user-centered design, focused on simplicity, intuitive navigation, and consistency across all widget instances. Employing a modular approach, we segmented the widget into manageable components for smoother state and interaction transitions while ensuring uniformity.

Help Desk centralization

Our task was to make the Help Desk scalable so it could handle an expanding user base without compromising on performance. Key to this was organizing its extensive knowledge base—rich with articles across various categories and content types—into a structure that was easy to navigate. We also aimed to maintain multilingual support, ensuring accessibility for all users.

With these goals in mind, we focused on designing an interface that prioritizes the end-user experience. We developed an intuitive content layout, clearly categorizing information and integrating robust search capabilities. This approach made finding relevant content straightforward and efficient.

CRM platform enhancement

With the CRM platform, we aimed to capture Crisp’s spirit in a sleek, minimal visual style, blending brand identity with timeless simplicity—unifying the interface across all modules for an intuitive user experience, without compromising on the features. We also needed to tackle the Settings page, often a maze in competitors’ platforms, with the same underlying goal. Building a solid Information Architecture was key, arranging everything so it’s logical and functional.

Our design choices were grounded in thorough research, including competitive analysis, site analytics, and user interviews. This deep dive helped us grasp the users’ needs and the platform’s challenges. We presented three unique visual paths, echoing Crisp’s minimalist brand, allowing them to choose a style that truly reflected their unique culture.

Our focus was on decluttering the user experience and design, making the platform more intuitive for users and easier to maintain for the Crisp team. We transformed the Settings page into an accessible, navigable space, ensuring a smooth and straightforward experience. The design was carefully crafted to balance aesthetic appeal with practical functionality.

Unified design across diverse systems

Our work with Crisp involved harmonizing different design systems across their suite of customer support tools. Each product required a unique design to meet its specific needs, yet we aimed for a cohesive visual language across all platforms. This strategy led to a unified user experience, seamlessly blending diverse designs into a singular, coherent look & feel across Crisp’s suite of products.