How systematic friction mapping transformed a frustrating B2B platform into a tool that 5 major banks trust
Imagine you're a bank partner trying to help customers get home equity loans. You open the PPW platform and immediately face confusion: Which form should you fill out first? Where do you upload documents? Why can't you see the status of your client's application?
This wasn't a single broken feature—it was death by a thousand paper cuts. Partners serving over 500,000 home equity customers were drowning in frustration. Document uploads took 30 minutes instead of 5. Support tickets flooded in. And worst of all, major banks were hesitant to adopt the platform because of its complexity.
The challenge? We needed to identify every single friction point across a complex, multi-step journey—from initial proposal to final credit disbursement—and then prioritize which problems to fix first.
Partners serving 500,000+ home equity customers experienced significant workflow delays and process inefficiencies. Our goal: systematically identify and fix every friction point preventing partners from serving customers efficiently.
Instead of asking "what's broken?", I mapped the entire system to understand where, why, and how things were failing:
Mapped all possible user journeys through the 9-step home equity process, identifying gaps and confusion points at each stage.
OUTCOME
Complete visual map of the entire partner experience
Captured every pain point and opportunity along each journey step through support tickets, analytics, and partner feedback.
OUTCOME
112 specific friction points documented with context
Clustered findings by theme (UX, Notifications, Technical) and value delivery to identify patterns and dependencies.
OUTCOME
Clear categorization of problems by type and impact
Conducted interviews with partners from major banks to validate issues and understand their expectations.
OUTCOME
Validated priorities with actual users of the platform
Developed prioritized backlog with impact estimates, implementation roadmap, and success metrics.
OUTCOME
98 improvements ready for execution with clear priorities
Partners had to navigate 9 complex steps to help customers get home equity loans. Each step had multiple friction points:
Client submits initial request and documentation
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Initial verification of documentation and BaCen consent
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Evaluation of client's financial profile and credit history
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Property evaluation and guarantee assessment
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Final decision on loan conditions and terms
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Creation and preparation of legal documents
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Document delivery for client signature
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Official registration of contract with public notary
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
Final payment transfer to client
KEY FRICTION POINTS:
We grouped the 112 friction points into three categories based on the type of solution needed:
THE PROBLEM:
Partners couldn't understand which fields were required or how credit amount related to property value
THE SOLUTION:
Better field labels, help text, and clear visual links between related fields
IMPACT:
Impacts 85% of partner interactions—every proposal starts here
THE PROBLEM:
Uploading documents took 30 minutes because partners had to upload files one by one and couldn't see stage-specific requirements
THE SOLUTION:
Multi-file upload, stage-specific requirement lists, and drag-and-drop interface
IMPACT:
Reduces upload time from 30 min to 5 min per proposal
THE PROBLEM:
Partners couldn't tell which documents were approved vs pending, leading to confusion and support tickets
THE SOLUTION:
Color-coded status indicators, filters, and clear distinction between document states
IMPACT:
Eliminates 40% of support tickets related to status questions
THE PROBLEM:
Clients and partners had no visibility into progress—they had to manually check or call for updates
THE SOLUTION:
Automated notifications for BaCen consent, inspection scheduling, protocol registration, and all status changes
IMPACT:
Improves client transparency by 65%—they know what's happening
THE PROBLEM:
Partners spent hours manually sending confirmations, reminders, and payment proofs
THE SOLUTION:
Automated schedule confirmations, inspection reminders, and disbursement proof delivery
IMPACT:
Reduces manual follow-up calls by 80%—automation handles routine communication
THE PROBLEM:
Partners couldn't see elapsed time or how delays affected their commissions
THE SOLUTION:
Real-time SLA dashboards showing time elapsed and commission impacts
IMPACT:
Increases partner satisfaction ratings by 45%—transparency builds trust
THE PROBLEM:
Every form had different download formats, no naming standards, and required manual data entry
THE SOLUTION:
Standardized downloads, consistent naming conventions, and auto-fill from Receita Federal (government database)
IMPACT:
Reduces form errors by 70%—automation eliminates human mistakes
THE PROBLEM:
Adding co-signers, requesting extra documents, or sending counterproposals required manual workarounds
THE SOLUTION:
Built-in workflows for adding proponents/guarantees, extra document requests, and automated counterproposal generation
IMPACT:
Shortens process time by 3 business days per proposal
THE PROBLEM:
Major banks needed specific features for debt settlement that weren't supported
THE SOLUTION:
Bank contact fields, debt type selection, and contract sharing integration for IQ debt settlement
IMPACT:
Enables 5 major banks to adopt the platform—removing adoption blockers
Understanding the complete journey revealed dependencies and patterns that individual complaints missed.
Grouping 112 friction points by type (UX, Notifications, Technical) made it clear what to fix first.
By involving engineering early and validating with partners, we ensured our recommendations were actually implementable.
Reducing upload time by 25 minutes per proposal x 500,000 customers = massive efficiency gains.
Partner satisfaction directly impacts customer experience. Fixing the tools fixes the service.
Watch how the improved PPW platform delivers a better experience for partners managing home equity operations