PROJECT DESCRIPTION

CoFi is a construction lending and finance company that offers a suite of apps designed to help builders, lenders, and general contractors efficiently manage their construction projects digitally. Their primary app, the Payments App, serves as an all-in-one platform for adding and managing job members, processing payments to job members, uploading project images and videos, accessing job history, and more.

CoFi had just received a new round of funding and needed help with elevating their current state of design for their primary Payments App, as well as help them in finding paths forward in regards new designs / features for their 2 other apps (Builder App, Credit App).

Worked alongside the CTO & 6 developers daily. 3 of those developers were also project managers that I collaborated heavily with for weekly sprints. Also had weekly check-ins with CX team.
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WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED

I began by conducting an initial audit of their products, as I do with each of my clients. This initial step allows me to gauge the current state of their product from a personal and professional standpoint. During this phase, I recorded my screen while navigating through each screen, vocalizing my initial thoughts and reactions to what I observed. This approach mirrors how I conduct some of my user interviews, where I encourage users to voice their thoughts aloud as they interact with the product. This helps us gain deeper insights into the user's perspective and pinpoint what's working well and where improvements are needed.

Next, I reached out to the CX team to obtain a list of builders, lenders, and general contractors in their system who had previously engaged with our chat system and email. This allowed us to identify individuals for interview purposes. In each interview, I posed a series of questions, covering topics related to the specific flow or sprint we were focusing on, as well as more general inquiries about their overall product experience. Collaborating with CX and conducting these user interview sessions enabled us to uncover common themes across multiple interviews, shedding light on areas that required attention, whether in the form of new features or addressing product frustrations expressed by users.

Recognizing the critical importance of user research and feedback in a product's success, I prioritized the goal of having users' needs come to us rather than always initiating contact with users. To achieve this, I conducted a user session with the head of CX to streamline our chat process and our feedback collection methods. CX highlighted the need for users to become more self-sufficient, as they had observed users relying excessively on chat to resolve their issues. Despite CX having created and uploaded numerous instructional videos on common app functions and addressing user issues, many users were unaware of their existence.

To address this challenge, we revamped the initial chat option into a "Provide Feedback" button, which we prominently placed in our fixed bottom bar, ensuring its visibility and accessibility on every page. We also engaged users to gather their preferences regarding chat gate filters, ultimately settling on categories such as "Provide Design Feedback," "Report a Bug," and "View Tutorial Videos." Moreover, we incorporated a fallback option on the "View Tutorial Videos" screen, enabling users to "Chat with an Agent" if they encountered any difficulties. This strategic shift significantly reduced CX chat volume while facilitating direct communication of design feedback from CX to the design team.

Lastly, I collaborated closely with two members of our Credit team to develop a streamlined digital solution for credit applications. This encompassed creating a user-facing credit application process as well as an internal version tailored to meet the specific needs of the Credit team. The internal tool facilitated efficient application refinement, search functionality, and real-time application status monitoring. Most importantly, it allowed for the assignment of applications to individual team members. Within the user-facing credit application, we introduced a feature that enabled users to add notations to specific areas of the application, which proved invaluable in addressing questions or issues that arose from both user and customer perspectives. This enhancement streamlined the application finalization process, ultimately resulting in a smoother experience for each applicant member.