“What is your most common user request?” I asked the customer service rep during one of the interviews.

Reset a password, she answered.

I couldn’t believe it. It’s such a simple thing—why do people need to contact customer support to get it done?

I dug a little deeper, and it revealed an interesting problem. New users are given a username and a temporary password. They need to log in with their temporary password within 14 days and create a permanent one.

The problem? The setup often takes longer than two weeks. There can be a significant gap between when a user is granted system access and when there’s actually data for them to look at. Some users don’t log in until a month has passed. Others simply keep using the temporary password until it stops working.

Whatever the reason, I knew I could design a user flow that would let people reset their passwords without contacting customer support.

User flow for resetting an expired temporary password without contacting customer support
Self-service flow for setting up a permanent password after first logging into the app.

A small change, but one that could take a huge load off customer support and let them focus on more complex requests.