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Transaction Manager

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Project Details

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Client:

Anywhere're

Industry:

Real Estate, B2B

Role:

UX/UI Design

Year:

2022

Platform:

Web App

Project Overview

Transaction Manager is a web-based SaaS platform that helps real estate professionals manage deals, documents, and transaction workflows across multiple franchise brands. The existing product suffered from outdated UI, inconsistent patterns, and slow workflows—making it difficult for agents and admins to complete time-sensitive tasks efficiently.

The Problem

Outdated, confusing interface with poor visual hierarchy
Inconsistent branding and UI patterns across franchise brands
No design system—every component built from scratch, leading to inefficiency
Slow, multi-step workflows for critical tasks (uploading documents, managing deal stages)
Complex navigation made it hard to find key features
High support ticket volume due to usability issues
Low user satisfaction scores from frustrated agents

The Goal

Redesign the platform with a unified design system to improve usability, speed up task completion, reduce support burden, and create scalable components for future product growth.

The Solution

Created Transaction Manager's first comprehensive design system and redesigned core workflows with modern UI, clear hierarchy, and intuitive patterns—resulting in higher user satisfaction, faster task completion, and fewer support tickets.

My Contribution

Led UX research with real users (agents, office admins)
Built a design system (components, patterns, accessibility)
Designed improved UI flows for key tasks (uploading documents, task lists, deal overview)
Prototyped and tested solutions in high fidelity
Worked with developers through weekly feedback loops

Results

User satisfaction

Faster task completion

Fewer support tickets

Before

Outdated interface with usability issues:

Confusing navigation with 20+ menu items
Inconsistent UI patterns across franchise brands
Slow, multi-step workflows (6 steps to upload document)
No visual hierarchy—everything looked equally important
Generic, outdated visual design
High cognitive load for users
Support tickets flooded with "how do I..." questions

User Feedback: "I spend half my time just trying to find where to upload documents"
"Every franchise brand has different buttons—I have to relearn everything"
"The interface is so confusing, I avoid using certain features"

After

Modern, unified interface with clear usability:

Simplified navigation with 6 primary categories
Consistent design system across all brands
Fast, intuitive workflows (2 steps to upload document)
Clear visual hierarchy guiding users to key actions
Modern, clean UI with improved readability
Reduced cognitive load through consistency
Support tickets focused on real issues, not basic usage

User Feedback: "Much easier to find files, and the UI looks sleek and clean." — Erica, Realtor
"The drag-and-drop upload is a game changer—saves me so much time"
"Finally feels like modern software"

My Approach

01 — Discovery

Stakeholder Alignment:

Conducted workshops with Product Managers to understand business priorities
Interviewed engineering team about technical constraints and legacy code challenges
Met with customer support to identify top user pain points from ticket data
Reviewed competitive landscape (Dotloop, SkySlope, Zipform)

User Research:

Interviewed 10 real estate professionals (6 agents, 4 office admins)
Shadowed 3 agents during actual transaction management workflows
Analyzed 6 months of support tickets to identify recurring issues
Reviewed session recordings (Hotjar) showing user struggles

Key Insights:

"I spend half my time just trying to find where to upload documents. The interface is so confusing—I've been using this for years and still get lost."
— Real estate agent, 8 years experience

"Every franchise brand has slightly different buttons and layouts. When agents switch offices, they have to relearn everything."
— Office administrator managing multiple locations

Research Findings:

Navigation confusion: 78% of users struggled to locate key features within 2 minutes
Workflow inefficiency: Document upload took average 6 steps (should be 2-3)
Visual inconsistency: 5 different button styles across platform
Support burden: 40% of tickets related to "how do I..." questions (findability issues)
Brand fragmentation: Inconsistent UI across franchise brands caused relearning
Task completion: Critical workflows (deal creation, document management) took 3x longer than industry benchmarks
Mobile gap: 30% of users attempted mobile access, but platform wasn't responsive

User Types Identified:

Real Estate Agent: Primary user, manages multiple deals simultaneously, time-sensitive tasks
Office Administrator: Oversees transactions for entire office, needs bulk actions and reporting
Broker/Manager: Reviews deals, approves actions, needs high-level overview

02 — Strategy & Design

Problem Framing: The platform's outdated UI and lack of design system created cognitive overload and inefficiency—users couldn't complete time-sensitive real estate tasks quickly, leading to frustration and high support costs.

Options Evaluated:

Option A: Minor UI Polish Only

Pros: Fast to implement, low development cost
Cons: Wouldn't fix core usability problems, no long-term scalability
Decision: ❌ Rejected—band-aid solution

Option B: Full Workflow Overhaul Without Design System

Pros: Addresses workflow issues directly
Cons: Risky without consistent foundation, would perpetuate inconsistency
Decision: ❌ Rejected—creates more technical debt

Option C: Redesign with Unified Design System

Pros: Improves usability AND creates scalable foundation, reduces future design/dev time
Cons: Larger upfront investment, longer timeline
Decision: ✅ Selected—best long-term solution for clarity, consistency, and scale

Strategic Decision: Chose Option C because user research showed inconsistency and poor UI were root causes of friction. Building a design system first would ensure consistency across all workflows while creating reusable components for faster future development.

Success Metrics:

↑ User satisfaction scores (CSAT)
↓ Task completion time (key workflows)
↓ Support ticket volume (usability-related)
↑ Developer efficiency (reusable components)
↑ Feature adoption rates

Design System Foundation:

Built Transaction Manager's first comprehensive design system in Figma:

Foundation Elements:

Colors
├── Brand Palette (Anywhere Real Estate primary colors)
├── Semantic Colors (success, warning, error, info)
├── Neutral Grays (backgrounds, borders, text hierarchy)
└── Accessibility (WCAG AA compliant contrast ratios)

Typography
├── Heading Scale (H1-H6, consistent sizing)
├── Body Text (16px base for readability)
├── UI Text (labels, buttons, form fields)
└── Font Family (Open Sans for clarity)

Spacing System
├── 4px base unit
├── 8px, 16px, 24px, 32px, 48px scale
└── Consistent padding and margins

Iconography
├── 200+ custom icons
├── Consistent line weight and style
└── Multiple sizes (16px, 24px, 32px)

03 — Test & Iterate

Usability Testing:

Conducted 3 rounds of testing with 8 participants per round (24 total)
Mix of experienced users and new agents
Tasks: Upload document, update deal stage, find specific transaction, complete task list

Testing Results:

Task success rate: 92% (vs. estimated 60% before)
Time on task: 40% faster for document upload
Error rate: Reduced from 25% to 8%
Satisfaction score: 4.5/5 average (vs. 2.8/5 before)

Results

Metric	Impact
User Satisfaction (CSAT)	Increased significantly (2.8 → 4.5 out of 5)
Task Completion Time	40% faster for key workflows
Support Tickets	35% reduction in usability-related tickets
Error Rate	Decreased from 25% to 8%
Task Success Rate	Improved to 92% (from ~60%)
Development Efficiency	50% faster feature builds using design system
Component Reusability	80+ reusable components created

Business Impact:

Reduced support costs through better usability
Increased user retention (fewer agents switching to competitors)
Faster product development through design system
Consistent brand experience across all franchise brands
Foundation for mobile app development

Impact Statement

The Transaction Manager redesign proved that thoughtful UI improvements backed by a design system can dramatically improve usability for complex B2B workflows. By focusing on consistency, clarity, and efficiency, we transformed a frustrating tool into one agents actually wanted to use.

The 35% reduction in support tickets and significant CSAT improvement showed that when users can complete time-sensitive real estate tasks quickly and confidently, they become more productive—and the business saves on support costs while improving retention.

Most importantly, the design system created a scalable foundation for future product growth, reducing design and development time by 50% for new features.