Turning Communication Failures into Fixable Moments
Overview —
From invisible failures to actionable insights.
Merchants on the platform were sending invoices and payment links via email and SMS every day. But when those messages failed, nobody told them. I designed a failure notification system that closes that gap, giving merchants the context, clarity, and next steps they need to keep their business moving.
Client —
GoDaddy · B2B SaaS
Industry —
Technology
Role —
UX/UI Designer
Timeline —
3 weeks · 2025
The problem —
Merchants were flying blind.
When an invoice or pay link failed to reach a customer, merchants had no way of knowing.
No visibility, no explanation, and no way to fix it. They'd assume delivery was successful, only finding out something went wrong when a customer didn't pay or followed up confused.
Without knowing why a message failed, merchants couldn't take corrective action. And while this created daily operational friction, it also quietly eroded trust in the platform itself.
The Approach —
Understanding the gap before closing it.
Dogfooding Sessions
Explored the merchant experience across different platforms firsthand to identify where visibility gaps created the most friction.
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Error Mapping
Documented failure types, edge cases, and end-to-end user flows to ensure every failure scenario was accounted for in the design.
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Collaborative design
With PMs and my manager helped shape the solution, gather feedback, and iterate toward a clear, actionable experience.
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High-fidelity deliverables
Included detailed prototypes, specs, and documentation across three core flows: Email Delivery Failed, SMS Delivery Failed, and Dashboard Notifications with action items.
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The Solution —
From invisible failures to clear, actionable notifications.
Failure notifications with full context
Merchants are now notified when a message fails, with the recipient, message type, timestamp, and failure reason all included.
Actionable remediation steps
Every notification includes a clear next step: update the contact, resend the message, or try an alternate channel. The experience doesn't just surface the problem, it helps merchants solve it.
Failures visible in the invoice timeline
Delivery failures are surfaced directly in the invoice timeline, keeping the full communication history in one place.
Aggregated errors, not noise
When multiple failures happen at once, the system groups them intelligently, giving merchants a clear overview without overwhelming them.
The Impact —
Merchants can now see every failure, understand every reason, and fix every issue without leaving the platform.
Full delivery visibility replaced zero insight into communication failures.
Clear failure reasons and next steps mean merchants can act immediately, reducing support tickets and operational confusion.
Transparency builds confidence, and merchants can now rely on the platform to keep them informed, not leave them guessing.