Talk Faster, Work Smarter: Designing Seamless Audio Messaging for Pronto

Overview

In industries that rely on rapid communication—such as door-to-door sales, multi-level marketing, and education—the ability to send voice messages is critical. Yet, Pronto lacked this capability. Users needed a fast, intuitive way to send and store audio messages. My challenge? Designing an effortless voice messaging experience that felt like second nature, while ensuring it aligned seamlessly with Pronto's existing ecosystem.

The Problem

Pronto's users were stuck typing when they needed to talk. Sales reps in the field couldn't slow down to text, educators needed quick voice updates for their teams, and pest control dispatchers were losing time on manual communication. Without audio messaging, users were forced into slower workflows that didn't match the pace of their work.

Research Insights

Design Process

Testing Insights

Results & Metrics

Discovery Research: Understanding Who We're Designing For

Every great feature starts with understanding the people who will use it. I led deep discovery research across Pronto's key user groups—door-to-door sales teams, pest control dispatchers, security coordinators, and educators—to uncover their daily communication struggles.

From these conversations, I developed data-driven user personas that kept our team grounded in real-world needs rather than assumptions. These personas weren't a one-time exercise—we continuously refined them throughout the project as new insights emerged from interviews and testing.

Example Persona: Door-to-Door Sales Representative

User Interviews: Listening to Real Voices

We interviewed 12 professionals from pest control, security, education, and sales—scheduled through our customer success team and conducted as 30–45 minute recorded Zoom sessions.

Defining the Core Requirements

With research in hand, we distilled our findings into three non-negotiable features that would make or break the experience:

• Playback before & after sending — users need to review messages before sending and replay them in chat
• Manual start & stop recording — sales reps want tap-to-record, tap-to-stop for maximum flexibility
• Send & delete control — users need full ownership over what they send

Designing the Solution: Ideation & Competitive Analysis

I facilitated an interactive ideation session with the product team, ensuring every perspective shaped the design direction. To ground our work in industry best practices, I conducted a competitive analysis in FigJam, breaking down how leading platforms handle voice messaging.

These insights helped us differentiate Pronto's implementation while leveraging proven interaction patterns users already understood.

User Flow

Sketching & Wireframing: From Paper to Pixels

I started with hand-drawn paper sketches to rapidly explore different layouts and interaction models. Speed mattered here—the goal was to get ideas out of our heads and onto paper as fast as possible.

From there, I moved into low-fidelity wireframes in Figma, iterating through three distinct versions—each refined based on internal feedback and early user input.

• V1: Initial concept — establishing the core interaction model
• V2: Improved usability — refined based on team feedback and edge cases
• V3: Final wireframe — polished interactions informed by early user reactions

Paper Sketch

User Testing: Validating the Experience

We tested with 12 real users across different industries in 30–45 minute Zoom sessions, using a highly interactive Figma prototype that simulated the full recording, playback, and sending flow.

• "Very easy to use" — users quickly understood the feature with no training
• "We would use this primarily on mobile" — reinforced our mobile-first design decisions
• "Audio transcriptions would be a game-changer" — validated for future roadmap prioritization
• Consistent praise for design quality across both mobile and desktop

Low-Fidelity Mobile Wireframes

High-Fidelity Mockups

Based on user testing validation, I moved into production-ready high-fidelity mockups. These final designs maintained consistency across iOS, Android, and Web while optimizing each platform for its native interaction patterns.

High-Fidelity Desktop Mockups

Results: Exceeding Every Target

The numbers told a clear story—audio messaging wasn't just adopted, it became a preferred communication method.

Users actively embraced audio messaging as their go-to communication tool. More messages were sent via voice than anticipated, proving the feature's value for sales teams and field workers who depend on speed.

Final Thoughts

This project was more than just adding audio messaging—it was about making communication faster, easier, and more natural for users who depend on it daily. We didn't just meet expectations—we exceeded them. Users actively embraced voice messaging as a preferred communication tool, sending more messages via voice than anticipated and proving the feature's value for sales teams and field workers who rely on speed.