Case Study: CRM
This case study outlines the design of a CRM platform built to support complex targeting, automation, and campaign workflows for large broker networks.
Overview
The CRM rebuild was a full replacement of a limited third-party tool that couldn’t scale. Brokers needed more than a basic CRM; they needed something that worked alongside their Origination Platform and could surface new deal opportunities, reach out to referral partners, and help them follow up with existing clients.
Challenge
The legacy CRM struggled across every area that mattered:
- Couldn’t handle brokers with large books of business
- No campaign builder, automation, or branded templates
- No analytics to understand engagement or performance
- No bilingual support for national adoption
- Very limited targeting or segmentation
- Fragmented experience disconnected from the Origination Platform
On top of that, we had 90 days to define the vision, design the workflows, and deliver something meaningfully better than the tool it replaced without disrupting thousands of daily users.
Approach
I began by mapping every conditional rule, Boolean branch, audience type and field dependency from the old system. This ensured full compatibility while opening the door to a more scalable logic model.
I interviewed high-volume brokers and our most active current CRM users to understand which campaigns actually moved their business. The core challenge was introducing far more capability without overwhelming users who valued the legacy tool’s simplicity.
Key strategic decisions:
- Designed a clean, intuitive structure on top of a sophisticated backend rules engine
- Integrated Stripo to avoid building an email editor inside a three-month deadline
- Introduced dynamic (data-driven) and static (manual) audience list building
- Created branded templates and “starter campaigns” to accelerate adoption
- Reviewed upstream origination and compliance systems to ensure payroll data flowed in cleanly and without ambiguity
- Prioritized clarity by breaking down actions into steps and added helpful annotations throughout the UI
The guiding principle: make it feel simple, even when what’s happening under the hood isn’t
Solution
The new CRM is fully integrated into the broker’s Origination Platform, creating one seamless workflow instead of two disconnected tools.
Highlights include:
- Real-time dashboard showing active campaigns, audience activity, and key engagement metrics
- Guided campaign builder that simplifies even complex logic and multi-stage automation
- Embedded template editor via Stripo, paired with a library of pre-built, on-brand templates that provide quick access to professional-level templates for all campaign types
- Managed campaigns, enabling offices to run network-wide communications that brokers can simply opt into
Together, these pieces create a CRM that feels approachable every day while giving brokers the depth and automation they need to grow their business.
Process & Responsibilities
As the Product Lead I owned the project end-to-end:
- Mapped all logic, conditions, and dependencies from the legacy system
- Interviewed high-performing brokers to surface real use cases
- Designed the full UX flow in Figma and built a reusable component system
- Defined scope and requirements, acting as the primary Business Analyst
- Designed the full UX flow in Figma and created high-fidelity prototypes supported by detailed Jira tickets
- Selected and integrated Stripo for template creation
- Created branded templates and recommended “starter campaigns”
- Collaborated closely with backend leads on rules engine, data structures, and API design
Despite an extremely compressed timeline, the final product shipped on schedule without sacrificing clarity or usability.
Selected Interfaces
Dashboard
The central hub for everything related to campaigns and engagement.
- Clean left-hand navigation
- Snapshot of live and upcoming campaigns
- Quick insights on opens, clicks, and unsubscribes
- Deeper performance trends available immediately below
Campaign List
A structured, high-scan workspace for managing campaigns.
- Prominent “Create Campaign” action
- Banners for office-run managed campaigns
- Filters and pagination for large lists
- Colour-coded status pills
- Helpful metadata like publish dates, channels, and languages
Campaign Create & Edit
A clean, approachable campaign builder that hides complexity without limiting capability.
- Clear draft vs published states to prevent mistakes
- Guided section explanations to reduce uncertainty
- Visual Boolean logic laid out to be easy to follow
- Accordion-based structure to keep complex options manageable
- A restrained, confidence-inspiring UI despite substantial logic under the hood
Template Editor
A polished, responsive environment for creating on-brand emails.
- Seamless Stripo integration
- Minimal surrounding UI for focus
- Desktop and mobile preview modes
- Library of branded starter templates
- Built-in validation to prevent errors
Outcomes & Impact
- Powered the largest refinance campaign ever run by one of Canada’s top broker networks
- Over 25M activities, 50,000 campaigns, and 4,000+ brokers since launch
- Became a major sales differentiator for the company’s ecosystem
- Significantly reduced broker workload through automation and reusable templates
- Improved brand consistency and communication quality across all networks
Overall, the new CRM transformed marketing from ad hoc and manual to scalable, automated, and data-driven.
Final Reflection
A key lesson was that simplicity requires mastering the complexity first. Mapping the full logic of the legacy system allowed us to design something far more powerful while keeping the surface experience calm and intuitive. Pre-made campaigns and templates proved essential, not everyone wants to build from scratch and good defaults with high-level templates accelerate adoption.
The CRM is now the backbone of marketing for three national networks, showing what’s possible when you balance capability with clarity.