How can we simplify loan bundle creation for contractors?
Redesigning the underlying logic and selection flow to better match how contractors think and work.
Role
Product Designer
Platform
Web App
Year
2024
2024
UX RESEARCH / JOURNEY MAPPING / PROTOTYPING
The problem
Contractors need to create loan bundles based on homeowners' financial profiles, but the current process is complex and unintuitive, leading to confusion and inefficiency. To cope, many contractors rely on our Sales Representatives for assistance, even though this isn't part of their core responsibilities. This reliance can create bottlenecks, strain resources, and lead to delays, ultimately hindering the efficiency of both contractors and homeowners and complicating the overall process.
Current Experience
Project goal
The goal of this project was to understand how contractors were using the loan selection process and identify the pain points causing friction. By uncovering these challenges, we aimed to design a more intuitive flow that would improve usability and make creating loan bundles more efficient.
01 Empathize Phase
Who will be using this experience?
Emily Johnson (+50)
Contractor Admin
Emily has 10+ years with the company and is responsible for creating customized bundles based on customers' credit and financial profiles, ensuring they are affordable and policy-compliant.
Michael Davis (+30)
360 Sales Representative
Michael creates and manage customized bundles for contractors, ensuring they meet client needs, stay within budget, and align with company guidelines.
How do they feel about this?
Contractors feel frustrated and overwhelmed by the complexity of creating loan bundles. They often don’t understand the steps or how to navigate the process, which leaves them feeling uncertain and unsure. As a result, they rely on our Sales Representatives to handle the task, even though it’s not part of their role. While this workaround works for now, contractors are left feeling dependent
Contractor Admin
360 Sales Representative
02 Define Phase
What are their needs?
03 Ideation Phase
High-Fidelity Wireframes
We divided the credit categories into sections to help the user complete them all and better understand what they've filled out.
Since users are not very tech-savvy, we mimicked familiar tools like Excel, allowing them to complete the task easily on our platform.
Before completion, we want to ensure users are aware if any credit category is missing.
We address edge cases when users attempt to leave without saving their work.
04 Prototype Phase
How it looks
The Solution
We optimized the information architecture within the contractor portal and teammate portal to improve visual clarity and information organization.
What I learned
Interviewing our internal team and collaborating with contractors helped me understand where the current flow was failing and what users actually needed.
By building a clickable prototype and gathering feedback through quick internal testing, I saw how small iterations can lead to meaningful improvements.
Working closely with both the product team and user-facing teams taught me how shared insights can shape a more intuitive and user-centered solution.