Redesigning the Client Profile Section of Perch
The original design had several pain points for users, including limited reuse of financial information, unclear navigation to update profile, and a lack of integration with other financial products offered by Perch. To address these issues, I worked with the product team to develop a solution that would allow users to create and manage their financial profile independent of their mortgage application.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Perch.
Background
Perch is a Canadian prop-tech startup that aims to assist Canadians in building wealth through real estate. They strive to simplify the home buying process and help save money on mortgages. Additionally, they offer tools to help homeowners maximize home equity. Perch has developed and launched several products to create the ideal mortgage experience for Canadians.
The problem
As the lead product designer, I was responsible for the entire UX/UI design of this project. This included creating user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity mock-ups in collaboration with the product team.
My role
My focus during my first quarter at Perch was to develop a comprehensive design system to alleviate these issues. Through collaboration with the engineering and product teams, I created a centralized design system that aligns teams, speeds up the design and development process, improves brand perception, and promotes accessibility.
The goal
The goal of this redesign was to give clients the tools to create their financial profile within Perch instead of as part of the mortgage application process. This would make it easier for clients to manage and update their profiles, and would also allow Perch to leverage the information for product recommendations.
I worked closely with the product team and carefully reviewed existing user research and stakeholder interview data to understand the pain points and needs of both the clients and Perch. I then created user flows and wireframes to visualize the solution and iterated based on feedback from stakeholders.
Challenges and solutions
The main challenge in this redesign was ensuring that the new financial profile section was intuitive and easy to use for clients. Another challenge was integrating the new financial profile with the existing mortgage application process.
Managing documents
Part of the client profile redesign was to design a user-friendly document management system that enabled clients and Perch advisors to effortlessly manage associated documents like ID, pay stubs, asset statements etc. The system needed to accommodate two types of documents: Static and Signed. Static documents, such as pay stubs, would be linked to any resource in the Perch database, such as an employment record. Signed documents, on the other hand, are agreements that require signatures, such as compliance agreements and commitment letters.
Document management system
Collecting employment and income information
To pre-approve a client for a mortgage, Perch requires 3 years of employment history. Previously, the client profile collected both employment and income information in one section, leading to confusion and additional work for advisors to differentiate between qualifying employment income and other sources such as rental incomes, alimony, and disability insurance. The updated design aimed to streamline the process by clearly separating employment history and providing an intuitive flow for clients, simplifying the workload for Perch advisors.
Employment and income user flow and screens
Credit history
To ensure compliance and streamline the credit check process, Perch advisors are required to obtain a signed credit check consent document from the client prior to running a credit check. The new flow needed to provide a quick verification mechanism to confirm the presence of a valid consent and avoid any errors. After the credit check was run, the advisor would upload the credit report to the relevant resource, ensuring that it was always linked to a valid consent document for auditing purposes.
Credit history section in the client profile
Measuring impact
The success of the redesign will be measured by the number of clients with completed profiles and Perch’s ability to recommend products based on the new profile. The new profile section will not only improve the user experience for clients, but it will also provide valuable information for Perch to extend the lifetime value of a sign up and offer additional financial products in the future.
Client profile – empty state
Client profile – item state