Ark Mortgage CRM Redesign
loan management app ux design

CRM system

lENGTH: 5 MONTHS

ui/ux Design

Ark mortgage

A redesign of a CRM system for Loan officers

Role

This was a team project, where I was the UX researcher and designer.

Duration

5 Months (Sep. 2021)

Team

Ark Mortgage

Tools

Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator

Scope

Branding, UI/UX Design, User Research, Usability Testing

The Problem

The old CRM is dated, not mobile responsive, and needs a new modern look and added functionalities that were not previously included in the design.

Loan officers need a more efficient and intuitive system to keep track of clients, documents, tasks, events and help them to close deals faster and easier.

The goal/objective

A complete redesign of Mortgage Loan Officers CRM website, including mobile translation.

  • Clean & Consistent design
  • Creating a more Intuitive design
  • Including all necessary data.

Research

Mortgage CRM software often includes applications for contact management, so that lenders can organize client data into one, easily accessible location.

I wanted to check out the exisisting Mortgage CRM systems available on the market today, to better understand the industry, related features, spot trends, and get inspiration, as well as discover ways to differentiate from the competition.

I conducted a competitive audit to see how Ark Mortgage will compare to other CRM systems out there.

Competitive Analysis & Interview Questions

The data derived from user Interviews gave me great insight on what processes and features loan officers consider important for their overall success on the job. I translated the data collected from the user interviews into a persona.

Creating A Persona

User Journey

I created a user journey map, to better understand the overall experience the user could have, as well as identify any opportunities from the experience.. 

Sketching

I visited several competitor websites and sketched 3 concepts of the homepage that were created to quickly visualize how we organize products and information in a way that is organized and allows for easier implementation of responsive design.

User Flows

I proceeded to create user flows based on the sketches to get an idea of how the users could interact with the site. 

Lo-fi Prototype
dESIGN

What I’ve learned

  • Customers prefer on-the-go capabilities because of their busy day-to-day schedules.
  • When working , loan officers have so many tasks and events, they need solid organizational software to stay on top of everything.
  • Users prefer to use filter and search options over scrolling
  • Customers enjoy the option of multiple data streams to integrate into their main dashboard UI. 

Overall I really enjoyed this process. There were some challenges along the way and some things I would do differently. Here are a few notes:

  • During my research I did an open card sort, I feel like a closed card sort would have gone a lot better
  • If I didn’t have time constraints I would have worked on the search feature of the design
  • The initial user’s interviews and usability testing was something I was nervous about facilitating myself, but now  that I have I feel a lot more confident

Future

  • I would conduct a usability test for the product filter feature
  • Iterate designs for the product page
  • Explore designs for an interactive file data transfer capability features.