2019-2021
Reducing Load Cancelations
Carriers often canceled loads after booking because key requirements, such as equipment type or permits, were buried in the interface or missed during booking. These preventable cancellations caused delays, operational inefficiency, and increased support volume.
Problem: Hidden load requirements caused booking errors, high cancellation rates, and costly rework.
37%
42%
39%
Overview
At Arrive Logistics, carriers were cancelling loads at high rates because critical requirements were buried in the portal. The booking modal didn’t fully highlight constraints within load requirements, permits, handling instructions, or sensitive commodities like alcohol, leading to misbooked loads, operational inefficiency, and increased support volume.
The goal was to redesign the modal to make requirements unmissable, validate against carrier profiles, and enable confident commitments.
Discovery
Beta data and carrier interviews revealed that ambiguous requirements were the top driver of cancellations. One driver noted, “I don’t want to commit to a load and then realize it has alcohol - I can’t haul that. I need this upfront.” Competitive benchmarking of booking flows inspired a requirement hierarchy that emphasized clarity, visibility, and minimal cognitive load. The challenge was surfacing critical information without overwhelming carriers, while accommodating varying profiles and backend booking logic.
Auditing Carrier Portal beta for pain points and booking touchpoints
Capturing truck and driver information was a gray area. We considered whether it was best surfaced as a notification or banner alert linking to load details after booking. The team debated requiring it upfront versus allowing carriers to provide details within 12 hours of pickup if skipped at the time of booking. Ultimately, we deprioritized this workflow to focus on requiring the empty location first, ensuring accurate scheduling and progressively addressing operational friction as new pain points emerged from carriers and reps.
UX Approach
We defined logic to guide the solution: requirements needed to be immediately visible, actionable, and contextual, with the Book button disabled until the carrier confirmed understanding.
I wrote microcopy clarifying the purpose of each requirement, from safety to compliance. We explored interactive flows and visual indicators to balance visibility with cognitive load, iterating on approaches that made key information clear without cluttering the interface.
Time of booking scenarios
Design Moves
Prototypes introduced color-coded flags, acknowledgment checkboxes, and contextual microcopy. Backend logic dynamically validated requirements based on same-day versus advanced bookings and carrier profiles. The modal was integrated seamlessly into existing workflows, allowing iterative adjustments based on engagement tracking and user feedback.
Booking-modal scenarios, capturing final layouts and key interaction patterns
Final build in action
Outcome & Opportunties
Within one month of launch, cancellation-related check calls dropped 37%, loads meeting all requirements 12+ hours before pickup increased 42%, and last-minute rate changes fell 39%. The solution created a foundation for future enhancements like dynamic alerts, automated pre-checks, and profile-driven validations.
Looking ahead, I envisioned enhancing the modal components with more usable and accessible patterns contained within the modal. The My Loads page could evolve to surface alerts for missing truck or driver information, tracking updates, and document uploads, while also allowing users to select a row to instantly view that shipment on a live map.
Although fewer than 10% of users were on mobile, future iterations should prioritize mobile responsiveness and component usability. By giving carriers full visibility and control, reducing ambiguity that drives check calls, and introducing predictive alerts for potential requirement conflicts, the portal could further reduce cancellations and improve efficiency at scale.
