Zalo Integration — Scaling a New Enterprise Engagement Channel

Designed and launched a fully-native messaging channel within CleverTap, enabling enterprises in Vietnam to manage templates, run campaigns, and track performance—all within a unified workflow.

Role: Senior Product Designer
Scope: 0 → 1 + Scale
Platform: Enterprise SaaS
Impact: 12+ enterprises onboarded | 2M+ msgs/month | $1M+ spend unified

Context

Zalo is a dominant messaging platform in Vietnam, widely used by banks, fintech, and large enterprises for customer communication.

However, for CleverTap customers, Zalo existed outside the platform, leading to fragmented workflows, limited visibility, and operational inefficiencies.

Problem

Introducing a new channel at enterprise scale came with key challenges:

  • Fragmented workflows — Zalo campaigns managed outside the platform

  • Compliance-heavy ecosystem — strict template approval requirements

  • Lack of unified analytics — no clear visibility into performance

Design objectives

To make Zalo truly usable at scale, I focused on:

  • Seamless integration into existing workflows — Avoid creating a “separate system” within the product

  • Governance without friction — Align with Zalo’s approval model while keeping usability intact

  • Making the channel decision-ready — Go beyond execution and enable performance tracking and optimization

Key Design Aspects

1. Provider Setup as a One-Time Foundation

  • Designed a structured onboarding flow to connect and configure Zalo accounts within the platform.

    → Simplified initial setup while ensuring compliance requirements were met

2. Template Governance System

  • Built a lifecycle for message templates aligned with Zalo’s approval process:

    Draft → Submitted → Approved → Rejected

    → Enabled teams to iterate quickly without breaking platform constraints

3. Seamless Campaign Integration

  • Integrated Zalo directly into existing campaign workflows alongside other channels.

    → Eliminated context switching and reduced learning curve for users

4. Decision-Grade Analytics

Designed analytics to move beyond delivery metrics:

  • Funnel tracking (Sent → Delivered → Clicked → Converted)

  • Performance visibility at campaign and template level

    → Positioned Zalo as a strategic channel, not just an execution layer

5. Human-in-the-Loop Customization

  • Allowed users to define and refine themes beyond AI defaults.

→ Ensured insights stayed aligned with business priorities and context

Outcome & Impact

This integration transformed Zalo from an external dependency into a fully embedded channel:

  • 12+ enterprise customers onboarded at launch

  • 2M+ monthly messages projected from a single large bank

  • $1M+ annual Zalo spend brought into the platform

  • Reduced operational friction through unified workflows

  • Improved visibility into campaign performance

Learnings (Redo the content)

This project reinforced that adding a new channel is a system design problem, not a feature problem.

Key takeaways:

  • Integration must feel native, not additive

  • Governance systems need to balance control and speed

  • Channels become valuable only when they support decision-making, not just execution

Designing for enterprise scale required aligning external constraints with internal usability.