Simplifying the Business of Running YOUR Small Business
Crafting an AI-powered chatbot experience to provide small businesses with personalized, efficient access to WEX solutions.

Project Overview

Role: Lead UX Designer | Team: 5 UX Designers & Researchers
Duration: 48-Hour Hackathon | Tools: Figma, OpenAI API, Python
Goal: Develop an AI chatbot, “WEXpert,” designed to personalize WEX product recommendations for small businesses, enhancing engagement and boosting cross-selling opportunities.

The Challenge

Small businesses often lack the resources and time to navigate complex financial and operational solutions. WEX offers a broad range of services, but new and existing customers frequently struggle to identify the right solutions tailored to their unique needs.
Our goal was to simplify this experience by creating a conversational AI-powered chatbot that could provide personalized recommendations, eliminating friction and fostering a more engaging interaction model.

Key Problems Identified:

🚧 Complex Discovery – SMBs found it challenging to discover the right WEX products without extensive research.
🔄 Rigid Selection – Traditional forms and lists constrained user choices, leading to frustration.
❌ Lack of Personalization – The one-size-fits-all approach hindered cross-selling and left opportunities untapped.
🔍 Disconnected Offerings – WEX’s expansive service portfolio wasn’t presented cohesively, making it harder to bundle services.

Persona Development

We crafted three personas based on real SMB data to guide our design decisions:
🔹 Sara Thompson – Prioritizes ease and speed in managing finances, seeks simple, all-in-one solutions.
🔹 Alex Pérez López – Expanding operations and actively looks for scalable financial tools and services.
🔹 Michael Johnson – Focuses on optimizing day-to-day business operations and values detailed reporting.

The Vision – WEXpert

WEXpert aims to revolutionize how small businesses interact with WEX by offering a personalized, AI-driven experience. Users share their needs in natural language, and the chatbot curates relevant solutions, delivering a seamless “One WEX” experience.

Key Features:

🤖 AI-Powered Chatbot – Facilitates personalized conversations, moving away from rigid form-based interactions.
📊 Tailored Recommendations – Provides product suggestions based on user inputs, fostering cross-sell opportunities.
🔗 Seamless Integration – Consolidates multiple WEX services into a single, intuitive flow.
⚡ Rapid Prototyping – Leveraged OpenAI’s API and custom Python scripts to build and test quickly.

Testing Phase – Early User Feedback

Testing with six SMB participants yielded overwhelmingly positive results.

✅ First Impressions:
6/6 participants expressed excitement about the chatbot’s intuitive and conversational flow.
🗨️ “I thought this seemed much more conversational and easy to use than the typical filling out a bunch of boxes.” – BoyMomma4

✅ Ease of Use:
5/6 participants preferred interacting with the chatbot over traditional forms. They valued the freedom to articulate their needs without restrictive dropdowns or lists.
🗨️ “I liked that I was in control and could tell the bot exactly what I wanted and I was not confined to a few narrow options.” – Bertichoux

✅ Desirability:
All participants found value in the tailored recommendations and expressed interest in learning more about the suggested products.
🗨️ “I was very impressed by the accuracy of the AI in providing a solution to end my pain points.” – led23

Iterative Design – From Concept to MVP

Our MVP prioritized core functionality to ensure rapid deployment while maintaining scalability for future development.

🔹 Conversational Flow – Simplified the onboarding process by allowing open-ended user input, reducing the need for structured forms.
🔹 Dynamic Recommendations – The chatbot dynamically adjusted product recommendations based on user feedback in real-time.
🔹 Lightweight UI – Designed for mobile and desktop, ensuring small business owners could access the chatbot on the go.

Key Benefits:

🚀 Customer Satisfaction & Retention – Personalized solutions foster higher engagement and long-term loyalty.
🔧 Operational Efficiency – AI streamlines support and product discovery, reducing the time SMBs spend on administrative tasks.
💸 Upselling Opportunities – As SMBs grow, the chatbot adapts, recommending additional WEX products aligned with their evolving needs.
📈 Revenue Growth – Cross-selling and personalized offerings lead to increased revenue per customer.

Final Results & Takeaways

WEXpert demonstrated the power of AI in transforming user experiences for small businesses. While still in the prototyping phase, the project laid the groundwork for future development and highlighted the potential for personalized digital services to drive customer engagement.

🔹 Positive User Testing – 100% of participants reported satisfaction with the concept.
🔹 Scalable Design – Flexible architecture for future expansion and deeper AI integration.
🔹 Future Considerations – Ongoing analytics and iterative feedback loops to refine recommendations and enhance the user journey.