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·Marcelo Otero

How I Built an Order Status Tool That Handled 675,000 Lookups in Two Months

Product Management
0-to-1
Problem Solving

In late April 2020, COVID-19 hit the optical retail industry hard. Now Optics operates 300+ Stanton Optical and My Eyelab stores across the US, and when stores started closing and reopening unpredictably, customers had one question: where are my glasses?

Call centers were overwhelmed. Customers were calling multiple times to check on the same order, tying up agents and creating long wait times. The frustration was real on both sides.

Identifying the Opportunity

I was the Web Product Manager at the time, and I saw this as a product problem, not a staffing problem. Customers didn't need to talk to a person. They just needed to know: is my order being processed? Has it shipped? When will it arrive?

The data existed across multiple internal systems, but there was no customer-facing way to access it. I proposed building a self-service order status lookup tool on the company's websites.

Building the Solution

I led the full build from requirements through deployment.

Requirements gathering: I mapped out every order status a customer could encounter across the fulfillment pipeline. This meant understanding how orders flowed through multiple internal systems and what status labels actually meant in plain language.

API integration: The tool needed to pull data from several internal systems and present a unified view. This was the most complex part of the project since no single system had the complete picture.

UI/UX design: I worked with the team to design a simple, mobile-friendly lookup interface. Enter your order number, get your status. No login required, no account creation. Minimal friction.

Testing and iteration: After launch, I set up Hotjar to collect user feedback and observe how people actually used the tool. We used this data to refine the status descriptions, improve error handling, and add clarity to edge cases.

The Results

The tool went live and adoption was immediate:

  • 675,000+ successful order status checks in the first two months
  • ~60% reduction in order-status-related call center inquiries
  • Continued to serve customers throughout the remainder of the pandemic and beyond

What Made This Work

Three things made this project successful:

Solving the right problem. Adding more call center agents would have been expensive and slow. The real solution was removing the need for the call in the first place.

Speed of execution. During a crisis, waiting for a perfect solution means waiting too long. We scoped tightly, built quickly, and iterated based on real data.

Data as the foundation. Hotjar feedback after launch wasn't a nice-to-have. It was how we identified unclear status labels, confusing error messages, and gaps in the experience. Each iteration made the tool more useful.

Lessons Learned

This project reinforced a principle I keep coming back to: the best product opportunities are often hiding in operational pain. When support volume spikes, when teams are overwhelmed, when customers are frustrated, there's usually a product solution waiting to be found.

The Order Status Tool wasn't flashy. It was a lookup form. But it solved a real problem for real people at exactly the right moment, and the numbers speak for themselves.