Streamlining Lead Conversion for Loan Officers

Role: UX Designer
Team: Product Managers, Engineers, Marketing, Sales
‍Duration: 3 months (Ongoing Development)
‍Tools: Figma, Jira

Loan Officers Were Missing Key Opportunities

Loan officers (LOs) at UMortgage struggled to convert open house visits into business opportunities. The Open House sales strategy had been introduced, but newer LOs lacked a structured, actionable framework to execute it effectively. Without clear guidance, they were missing valuable chances to engage with realtors and potential clients, leading to lost leads and inconsistent results.

The Goal: Make Success Repeatable

My goal was to design a structured and motivating solution that would guide LOs through the Open House strategy step-by-step, helping them to track progress, stay accountable, and ultimately increase lead conversion. The solution needed to integrate with Tempo’s existing platform and align with business goals, while also encouraging LOs to adopt and follow the strategy consistently.

How I Built a System That Drives Action

I designed a gamified habit tracker that provided LOs with a clear and engaging workflow:

• ‍Step-by-Step Guide: Created a structured checklist that unlocked new steps as LOs progressed, reinforcing the importance of completing tasks in order.
• Progress Bar and Points System: Built a progress-tracking system where LOs earned points based on task difficulty — higher-effort tasks like attending an open house or calling a realtor were weighted more heavily.
• ‍Supporting Materials: Included templates, scripts, and tutorial videos at each step to provide LOs with the tools they needed to succeed.

• Seamless Integration: Aligned the solution with Tempo’s existing activity log and worked closely with developers to create an efficient build process. This ensured consistency across the platform and reduced engineering complexity.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Managed conflicting opinions from product, sales, and operations to create a unified solution that balanced business goals with user needs.

Real User Validation

While the feature is still in development, early feedback from LOs and stakeholders has been highly positive. The structured workflow and gamified experience have made the Open House strategy more accessible and motivating. LOs now have clear guidance, measurable goals, and a direct connection between effort and reward — increasing engagement and improving lead qualification. Additionally, the streamlined design improved development efficiency, simplifying the build process and reducing time to market.

Impact

The system established a clear, repeatable process for executing the Open House strategy, simplifying user experience and development. Early collaboration with developers reduced complexity, cutting expected development time by 40%, and created a more scalable design.

The Power of Early Collaboration: Lessons That Shaped the Design

This project taught me how to navigate competing stakeholder priorities and turn them into a unified vision. Early in the process, my PM and the CEO were eager to push forward with design ideas, I held back. I prioritized fully understanding the problem, mapping out the user journey, and engaging with LOs to uncover their challenges. The user research allowed me to design solutions that truly addressed their needs and not rush into designing immediatly. Additionally, I learned the critical importance of early collaboration with engineering, which ensured smoother execution and reduced development roadblocks.