CASE STUDY: Rocket Mortgage
Rocket Mortgage, LLC, the avant-garde force redefining the mortgage landscape, propels the home financing experience to unprecedented heights. As the vanguard of innovation in the industry, Rocket Mortgage stands tall as the largest overall retail lender in the U.S. since January 2018, effortlessly blending cutting-edge technology with a commitment to unrivaled customer service. More than just a mortgage provider, Rocket Mortgage is the architect of homeownership dreams, seamlessly marrying the tangible and the digital to deliver a captivating journey into the future of home financing.
Role
Lead CX and UX strategist & designer
Client
Rocket Mortgage
Experience
During downtimes in the real estate market let's get creative and reach realtors.
THE APPROACH
User-Centric Research:
Conducted in-depth interviews with users to understand pain points and expectations. Engaged stakeholders through collaborative sessions to align business goals with user needs.
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Experience Mapping:
Developed multiple experience maps to visualize and analyze the end-to-end user journey. This enabled us to identify pain points, bottlenecks, and moments of delight, forming the foundation for our strategic roadmap.
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Design Principles:
Defined and communicated clear design principles to guide the cross-functional team, ensuring a consistent and user-friendly experience across the RPI product.
NPS Enhancement:
Leveraged insights from user interviews and experience maps to implement targeted improvements. The result was a significant increase in Net Promoter Scores (NPS), reflecting a tangible improvement in user satisfaction.
Dual Agile Approach:
Introduced a dual Agile methodology to mentor the cross-functional team effectively. This approach facilitated seamless collaboration between design and development teams, fostering a culture of innovation and adaptability.
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Stakeholder Alignments:
Designed and conducted multiple stakeholder alignment sessions to ensure a shared vision. By fostering open communication and understanding, we secured stakeholder buy-in, which was crucial for the successful implementation of our strategy.
Affinity Diagramming for Insight Synthesis:
Leveraged affinity diagramming to synthesize insights from user interviews, experience maps, and usability testing. This collaborative visualization facilitated the identification of patterns, pain points, and opportunities, informing strategic decisions and enhancing the overall user experience.
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Roadmap and Strategy:
Developed a comprehensive roadmap and strategy outlining short-term wins and long-term goals. This strategic framework provided Rocket Mortgage with a clear path to navigate the evolving CX/UX landscape.
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Personas and Client Management:
Built detailed personas to capture user archetypes, ensuring that design decisions were anchored in a deep understanding of the target audience. Managed client expectations through regular communication and updates, fostering a collaborative and transparent partnership.
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Service Design - Current State:
Conducted a comprehensive service design analysis to evaluate the end-to-end customer journey. This involved mapping touchpoints, identifying pain points, and optimizing interactions, ensuring a seamless and cohesive experience across all customer interactions.
Service Design - Future State:
Envisioned and designed the future state of the service by implementing service design principles. This included ideation sessions, prototyping, and iterative testing to introduce innovative features, processes, and touchpoints that anticipated and met evolving user needs.
Retention Metrics:
Tracked user retention metrics to measure the stickiness of the redesigned features. Higher retention rates indicated that users found sustained value in the product, emphasizing the long-term success and user loyalty fostered by the CX/UX strategy.
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OUTCOMES
NPS Scores:
Increased NPS scores by 22%, demonstrating a significant improvement in overall user satisfaction.
Qualitative Impact:
Through strategic enhancements, qualitative feedback indicated a notable increase in user delight and satisfaction.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Successfully mentored a cross-functional team, implementing a dual Agile approach that improved collaboration and accelerated project timelines.
Stakeholder Satisfaction:
Conducted stakeholder alignments, resulting in unanimous support and understanding of the strategic direction, fostering a more collaborative and cohesive working relationship.
Strategic Roadmap:
Delivered a comprehensive roadmap and strategy that positioned Rocket Mortgage for future growth, ensuring sustained success in the competitive financial technology landscape.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
In the aftermath of a global pandemic that impacted our nation, the housing market in early 2022 witnessed a decline in homebuying activity. Cash offers dominated the landscape, leading to a significant reduction in referrals and new clients for the premier online mortgage lender. Seizing a new opportunity, our initiative focused on engaging real estate agents, inviting them to explore the benefits of facilitating their clients' loans through Rocket Mortgage. By aiding these agents in ensuring timely loan closures, we not only contributed to their enhanced business operations but also positioned them to receive more referrals, fostering a mutually beneficial relationship.
THE CHALLENGE
Rocket Mortgage's RPI product faced challenges in user satisfaction, and stakeholders were seeking a comprehensive strategy to address pain points and unlock potential opportunities. My mission was clear: redefine the CX/UX landscape, increase NPS/metrics/scores, and position Rocket Mortgage as a leader in the industry as a one stop shop for all players.