Learn, iterate and improve: the new AstroPay Help Center

Imagine this scenario. You sell a couch, and the buyer sends you a transfer receipt as proof of payment. You check your digital wallet, but the money isn’t there. You wait 10 minutes, then 30… still nothing.

You reach out to the buyer and they’re told that everything looks fine on their end. But for you, nothing has changed—the money never arrives. You look for help, but there’s no information on what’s happening. You have no idea if the transfer went through or not, and you’re stuck in uncertainty.

Situations like these happen all the time, especially in a global wallet like AstroPay, where users rely on it for everything from selling a couch to covering their daily expenses.

Rethinking an International Wallet’s Help Center

The AstroPay Help Center was originally built on an embedded external page with articles, a search bar, and a bot. Not bad for basic FAQs, but when you're running an international wallet that hundreds of thousands rely on to move their money, it's simply not enough. We needed something more robust, scalable, and tailored.

Identifying the gaps

One of the main goals of this redesign was to reduce the number of support tickets. In doing so, we analyzed user behavior and key pain points. By analyzing the date, here’s what we found:

• Users couldn’t solve simple issues on their own, forcing them to contact support for even basic questions.
• No real-time updates, leaving users in the dark about transfer delays or operational issues and contacting support.
• An outdated user experience that didn’t align with AstroPay’s new direction.
  Clearly, it was time for a change.

AstroPay’s old Help Center…

‍

We know. Time for a glow-up.
Let’s jump into the improvement opportunities that we found.

Organize, reorganize, and systematize

We started with the backbone of any Help Center: the articles.
Information was scattered across multiple categories, many of which were outdated or redundant. We reviewed and restructured its information architecture into clear categories and subcategories, improving the overall organization and making the Help Center easier to navigate.

Making it look (and feel) seamless

We built a Design System. A basic building block to ensure the product’s scalability and success. This wasn’t just about making things look pretty. As a longterm partner, we are redefining AstroPay’s look and feel aligned with their evolving business direction. So the first challenge was bringing the old design in line with AstroPay’s fresh, revamped aesthetic.
From colors to components, we wanted to create an experience that not only looked seamless but also reinforced AstroPay’s brand identity across every touchpoint.

No more guessing: find help tailored to your transaction

Since AstroPay is a digital wallet, transactions are at its core.
We found that, in most cases, users need help with specific transactions—like wallet top-ups. But having to explain a transaction to an agent or search for its ID manually wasn’t exactly the most efficient way to get support. We introduced a new feature that lets users request help for a specific transaction automatically. Now, before an agent steps in, the system gathers all the relevant transaction details upfront, making the whole process faster and improving the experience for both users and the support team.

Keeping users in the loop

Reducing support tickets is one of our biggest goals. The problem? Users have no way of knowing what is happening with their transactions in real time.
Users didn’t always engage with the chat or bot—many didn’t even receive notifications when an agent responded. This led to multiple tickets for the same issue.
To improve transparency, we introduced two key updates:

• An active chat indicator to notify users when they have an ongoing conversation.
• A real-time alert system providing timely updates on issues or critical situations.

With these changes, users now have clear, real-time access to important information—without the guesswork.

Notifications and Alerts

‍

Design isn’t just about screens—we consider the entire experience.

‍

Including notifications when you're outside of AstroPay.

What if the story had a different ending?

Let’s go back to the scenario we started with. We left off with you panicking because there was no information about what was happening with your money.


‍

Now, let’s switch things up.


‍‍
The buyer sends you the money. You wait 30 minutes… again, nothing. You check the Help Center, and right away, you see a button to track your incoming transfer. You enter a few details, and within seconds, you find the transaction. It’s delayed, but that’s normal—you just need to wait a little longer.
No need to contact support. No unnecessary stress. This time, you get clear answers and know exactly what’s going on with your money.
That’s why we introduced ‘Track Incoming Transfer’, a feature designed to give users more autonomy.
Today, it’s the most-used feature in the Help Center, with over 39,000 unique clicks—and we’re already working on expanding it.

So, what’s next?

Building a great Help Center isn’t just about launching new features—it’s about continuously learning and iterating. Creating a fully native Help Center wasn’t just a redesign; it was an opportunity to rethink how we support our users.
As the Product Designer leading the Help Center experience, my role has evolved beyond just creating and improving support flows. Now, I focus on identifying friction points across different teams and finding ways to reduce the need for support in the first place.
We learned that a great Help Center isn’t just about answering questions and resolving issues—it’s about designing an experience where users barely need to ask them in the first place.