Real Estate CRM

Summary

A navigation redesign for an outdated CRM used by real estate agents. The challenge was designing for technically proficient users who resist change unless it’s seamless and intuitive. The result: a unified navigation that tested well and shipped in under a month.

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The Problem

The existing navigation was a patchwork of bolted-on features with no coherent structure:

• Global nav with hover-style dropdown menus
• 8 different sub-navigation types and styles
• A “Gear” icon that became a dumping ground for features that didn’t fit anywhere else

One of the primary goals was to eliminate the Gear icon entirely.

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Discovery: Taxonomy and Information Architecture

Once the product manager provided a basic PRD and walkthrough, I started with a complete taxonomy of the site.

I documented everything in a spreadsheet:

• Information architecture
• Job to be done for each page
• Page descriptions
• Content inventory
• Notes and questions

I also took an accounting of each navigation type, documenting where and how each was used.

Sample: Old Navigation IA

Sample: Cog Icon Contents and Proposed Relocation

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Exploration: Two Navigation Models

I explored two navigation variations:

1. Persona-driven - Organized around user roles
   • Agent roles - Primarily focused on landing and chasing leads
   • Manager roles - Created e-alerts, action plans, and campaigns

   Larger agencies tended to have bifurcated roles, making this a viable option.

2. Workflow/Tools - Organized around tasks and capabilities

After deliberation with the team, workflow/tools emerged as the stronger option. While persona-driven worked well for large agencies with dedicated roles, most users wore multiple hats and needed access to everything. Workflow/tools scaled better across agency sizes, but we needed user validation.

At the same time, I consolidated the 8 navigation paradigms down to 2: global tabs and side tabs. Simplifying UI components makes engineers’ lives easier. I chose tabs because they’re a well-established design pattern, clean, and accessible even to less proficient users. But I mainly used tabs because the original menu buttons read like tabs, which means they were already part of the pattern library. The only change I made was to reduce their height by 30px in order to give the content more room. This nip tuck occurred within sub tabs and the top bar, which resulted in an extra 90px of real estate.

Proposed IA Structure (Workflow/Tools)

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Prototyping

Using Axure, I created two prototype versions. The upfront work on the spreadsheet IA allowed me to rapidly build a workable prototype for testing.

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Testing

Testing ran over 3 weeks with 7 users. We used Zoom and the Axure prototype, relying primarily on verbal feedback.

We developed a basic scoring rubric to track whether users could successfully navigate to key areas. This involved task-based questions like:

• “If you were tasked with managing a lead, where would you go?”
• “Where would you expect to create an e-alert?”
• “How would you find your pending tasks?”

The feedback was loud, as expected with real estate agents. The resounding favorite was the workflow/tools design.

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Visual Design

I applied a clean style using the company’s existing branding.

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Reflection

This is the type of work I thrive in. Modernizing legacy software comes naturally when you have a rigorous, meticulous process. It’s equal parts accountant, investigator, and designer.

This project took less than a month from discovery to final design. It tested well, was straightforward to implement, and improved user satisfaction.