Employee Loan Refinancing Experience

A redesigned internal loan‑refinancing system grounded in discovery research, including shadowing, interviews, and workflow analysis.

Domain

Financial Services / Internal Tools

Timeline

3 Months

My Role

UX Researcher

Team

PMs, UX Designers, UX Researcher, Data Strategists, Developers

Context

A financial services client needed to redesign their internal loan-refinancing system that their employees used while on the phone with customers to complete auto-loan refinance applications. They wanted to streamline their workflows so they could spend more time serving customers as well as ensure it was easy to learn for new employees.

I led discovery research during the first three months of the project, building user insights that would drive the product roadmap and align engineering, design, and the client around a shared understanding of what the rebuild needed to accomplish.

Research Goals

Understanding the System

Goal 01

Map the End-to-End Workflow

Understand the workflows, every tool involved, and every touchpoint across multiple user roles.

Goal 02

Identify Pain Points & Workarounds

Surface the friction points employees had learned to navigate around and identify what the system failed to provide.

Goal 03

Find Automation Opportunities

Identify tasks that were manual and repetitive but didn't require judgment — use cases for automation that could free consultant time for other interactions.

Research Methods

A Multi-Method Approach to a Complex System

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User Shadowing

I shadowed 7 participants spanning 6 different roles. The purpose was to observe users in their natural working environment to understand their daily tasks and what and who they need to interact with (other users, tools, materials, etc.).

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1:1 Interviews

I conducted 6 in-depth interviews with loan consultants to go deeper on goals, workflows, and challenges. This provided the "why" behind behaviors observed during shadowing sessions.

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📊

Employee Survey

I sent a company-wide survey measuring how well the current system supported key tasks. This established a quantitative baseline to measure against after the redesign launched.

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🗺️

Personas & User Flows

I synthesized findings into personas and detailed user flows for our team to validate our understanding and document important user goals, scenarios, tasks, and obstacles.

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Key Insights

Three Patterns that Shaped the Roadmap

Prioritization Was Non-Existent

Employees managed hundreds of applications daily with no built-in way to identify the most urgent or highest-value tasks. They wanted to be able to quickly identify what’s the next important task they should be working on.

System Misaligned with Real Workflow

The application form followed an internal data logic that bore no resemblance to the call script employees used with customers. This caused employees to spend more time scrolling back and forth on the application and provided an opportunity to improve the layout to match the typical user flow.

Workarounds Were Universal

The system did not support common employee tasks like setting up reminders to call a customer back or documenting customer notes. Employees were using other tools outside of the workforce application to perform these tasks.

Outcomes

How Research Shaped the Project

Research Drove the Product Roadmap

Research insights directly influenced what the team prioritized, how user stories were written and sized, and how work was divided across multiple development teams — making research a structural input to the build, not just a precursor to it.

Research and Design Worked in Close Partnership

The research and design teams collaborated closely throughout the project, with design work grounded in research insights at every stage. This kept decisions evidence-based and reduced the risk of designing in the wrong direction.

Users Had a Meaningful Voice in the Redesign

By giving employees a structured way to provide feedback, the research process built trust between the team, the client, and the users. Participants felt heard — and that goodwill carried through into the broader relationship with the client.

Learnings

What I'd Carry Into My Next Project

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Tailor Communication by Audience

Internal teams wanted actionable recommendations they could act on immediately. Stakeholders valued new strategic insights that gave them confidence in the direction. The same findings needed to be packaged differently for each.

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Mixed Methods Serve Fast-Paced Environments

Unmoderated tools like card sorting and surveys allowed quick feedback collection between design iterations without waiting for scheduled moderated sessions. Having both in the toolkit was essential to staying ahead of design velocity.

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Observation Reveals What Interviews Can't

Employees didn't mention their workarounds in interviews — not because they were hiding them, but because the workarounds had become invisible through habit. Direct observation was the only way to see the full picture.

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Research Builds Client Trust

Giving employees a meaningful voice in the redesign strengthened the relationship between the client, their users, and our team. The process itself became a deliverable — not just the findings.

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