Cost Calculator

Company: zavvie

Timeline: July - August 2024

Role: UI Design, UX Design

Skills Used: User research, wireframing, interactive prototyping

Background

zavvie’s Cash Portal platform is a home financing software for agents and loan officers that streamlines the home purchase process
When adding a new deal to their account, loan officers choose a program for the deal
This decision requires complicated estimates and cost comparisons to pick the best program for a specific deal

Problem Statement

Loan officers don’t have a clear avenue for the important process of estimating and comparing zavvie’s program costs. Because program selection is an essential early step in moving deals to approval, the lack of support in weighing program options creates a significant pain point for loan officers, and is counterproductive to the streamlined deal approval journey that Cash Portal aims to create.

Goal

Transform algorithms created by zavvie’s finance team into a user-friendly calculator tool, allowing loan officers to generate instant program recommendations, full cost estimates and breakdowns, and side-by-side comparisons at the click of a button.

Concept

Interface is simplistic and prioritizes ease of use
User experience is heavily based around progressive disclosure of calculator fields. Due to the high volume of calculator inputs, fields appear progressively in order to simplify the process and make it as straightforward as possible
- Fields for required inputs appear first
- Upon seeing their initial calculator results, the user can choose to complete additional optional fields
- Program cost estimates are presented in summary form, with an in-depth version of the report expandable/collapsible
Encourage users to advance to the next step (creating a deal) straight from their calculation
- Confirmation pop-up upon calculator exit, with button to generate a deal from calculation data

After selecting programs to compare, complete the required fields

Recommended program appears highlighted at the top, with a summary of key cost estimates for that program

User can opt to view additional optional fields to improve calculator results

Pop-up suggestion to generate a deal from calculator fields before exiting the page

Business Opportunities

Speed up the deal approval process, allowing Loan Officers to add and manage more deals on the platform
Bring new users to the platform by easing their transition from previous loan management strategies
Allow users to make decisions independently with less one-on-one customer support required for program selection

Outcome

Two different calculator tools available on Cash Portal
- General: All-purpose function, allow loan officers to decide whether or not to create a deal based on program cost estimates
- Deal-Specific: A tool available on each deal’s page, with calculator fields pre-filled based on the deal’s information. Allows loan officers to select a program for a deal they’ve already created
Cost estimates are instantly summarized, with the overall recommended option appearing highlighted at the top
Calculation-to-deal pipeline allows users to generate a deal from their calculator results, saving the time and hassle of manual deal creation
Deal-specific calculator allows Loan Officers to obtain cost estimates without leaving their deal’s page or filling out fields
Printable PDF version of calculator results is available with each calculation
Past calculations are saved in a history, allowing loan officers to refer back to them at any time

Step 2: After selecting programs to compare, complete the required fields

A full cost report is expandable at the bottom of each program

A deal-specific version of the calculator appears on the right-hand toolbar of a deal's page

The deal-specific calculator appears as a compact version of the general calculator with pre-filled inputs