Rocket Local Banker
Landing Page
A new experience for real estate agents and clients to build meaningful connections with local Rocket bankers.
My Role
UX Designer
Core Team
4 UX Designers, 1 UX Writer, 5 Engineers, 1 Product Manager
Timeline
July - August 2023
Project Context
Initiated as a project of Rocket's quarterly-held, company-wide Hackathon Week, our team worked on this project to revamp the experience of real estate agents and clients to connect with the Rocket bankers. At the end of the Hack Week, We successfully presented the idea to the company stakeholders and were able to advance it to the Proof of Concept stage.
This 0-1 project experience started from conceptualization to the launch of a refined landing page, with constant project alignment and design iterations within the cross-functional team.
Losing The Battle
At Rocket Mortgage, good relationship with real estate agent partners is prioritized as we recognize their crucial role in bridging the gap between the clients and Rocket. However, despite being America’s largest mortgage lender, Rocket Mortgage faced the challenge that Real Estate Agents often prefer to work with a local lender rather than a large online lender like Rocket.
To find the reason behind the lead-losing situation, an analysis was conducted using data from two previous surveys conducted by Rocket, which included questions about REAs' preferences for mortgage lenders. Both survey responses indicated a significant inclination towards choosing local lenders, primarily driven by 1) better customer service and 2) the trust established between REAs and local lenders.
Rocket Local Banker
Based on the two major problems identified in the survey result, the concept of Rocket Local Banker was introduced. Under this concept, the major design goals in this new experience to address the problems were to:
1) Bring the clients to the experience to ensure more responsive customer service;
2) Build a sense of locality to strengthen trust among Rocket bankers, REAs, and clients.
This initiative aimed to create an experience facilitating both real estate agents and clients to connect and build good relationships with in-house Rocket bankers exclusively serving the local area.
Following discussions with PMs and the business team, the decision was made to create an individual banker landing page for each Rocket local banker. It not only serves as a convenient contact point for both clients and REAs, but also encourages lead-generation actions enabling clients to submit applications and real estate agents to submit referrals. It was also fully considered of how the page can be easily accessed through multiple entry points.
Building the Trust
After ensuring customer support through immediate connections with the local bankers, further refinements were implemented on the landing page to optimize the overall experience and foster a sense of trust and professionalism in the service. A competitor analysis was conducted to better understand the industry standards and what information to retain or exclude on the landing page in the Proof of Concept (POC) stage.
Competitor Analysis
Page Section Iterations
Final Design
Before Launch
Usability Testing
Prior to handing it over to the developers, the new design was given to 5 real estate agents and 5 clients to test the usability of the page and gather feedback on their experiences using it.
REA Example Questions
- On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not at all confident and 5 being very confident, how confident are you that Jason is located in the area that he serves?
- What do you expect to happen if you click the' Submit A Referral' button?
- In which situations would you send a link to Jason's page to your client? If you would not send a link, why not?
Client Example Questions
- What information do you find most compelling on this page? What information is less interesting or missing altogether?
- How would you apply for a mortgage if you decided to work with Jason? Speak aloud as you show us what you would do.
- On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not at all and 5 being very confident, how confident are you that Jason will reach out after having completed the form?
During the analysis of the interview notes, quotes and insights were also gathered for product testimonials and to inform future phase improvements.
Service Blueprint
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the technical intricacies of the page, we engaged in a collaborative effort with our cross-functional team to develop a service blueprint. This blueprint served as a valuable tool for clarifying the interconnections between user actions, web touch points, and backend functionalities.
Future Phase Envisioning
Our design team documented additional ideas explored during iterations that could potentially be embedded or connected to the landing page. While not implemented in the current phase due to time and technical constraints, we envisioned that some of these additions could enhance our mortgage business with real estate agents and clients even more.
Reflection
Advocate for your design.
As initiated as a hack week project, we were able to push it forward to the Proof of Concept stage by demonstrating its potential to the stakeholders. This project has taught me how advocating for design is a dispensable skill for designers to succeed.
The only constant is change.
Throughout the project, we encountered frequent shifts in design requirements due to changing demands from business, marketing, and engineering teams. A designer must anticipate such changes, maintain open communication with all teams, and adapt the design accordingly to align with the evolving vision.
