COURTNEY SABO

Case Studies

Experience

COURTNEY
SABO

Case Studies

Experience

Case Studies

Forward Financing: Digital Closing Experience

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Case Studies

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Forward Financing: Digital Closing Experience

MVP for an online process used by SMB owners to receive financing

Forward Financing: Digital Closing Experience

MVP for an online process used by SMB owners to receive financing

Forward Financing: Digital Closing Experience

MVP for an online process used by SMB owners to receive financing

Forward Financing: Digital Closing Experience

MVP for an online process used by SMB owners to receive financing

Product Design

User Research

Design Systems

Copywriting

Forward Financing provides fast financing for small businesses. Forward works with brokers, such as Lending Tree, who provide these financing options to their clients.

After accepting offers, SMB owners complete a 15-40 minute funding call with Forward's Dominican Republic-based team, submitting personal and business documentation. The process faced inefficiencies as business owners were often unavailable or lacked required documents like driver's licenses or bank statements, causing frustration for the Funding Team and lost financing opportunities.

Activities

Prototyping, UX Design, UI Design, User Interviews, Rapid Iteration, Stakeholder Management, Typography Refinement, Component Creation

Activities

Prototyping, UX Design, UI Design, User Interviews, Rapid Iteration, Stakeholder Management, Typography Refinement, Component Creation

Activities

Prototyping, UX Design, UI Design, User Interviews, Rapid Iteration, Stakeholder Management, Typography Refinement, Component Creation

Timeline

2 months

Timeline

2 months

Timeline

2 months

Team

Courtney Sabo (Solo Designer)

Lauren Beaudry (Product Management)

Team

Courtney Sabo (Solo Designer)

Lauren Beaudry (Product Management)

Team

Courtney Sabo (Solo Designer)

Lauren Beaudry (Product Management)

Company Type

Financial Services

B2B

200-500 employees

Company Type

Financial Services

B2B

200-500 employees

Company Type

Financial Services

B2B

200-500 employees

Project Goal

Create the MVP of Forward’s digital closing experience, all while establishing a new customer-facing design system based on a recent rebrand.

Project Goal

Create the MVP of Forward’s digital closing experience, all while establishing a new customer-facing design system based on a recent rebrand.

Project Goal

Create the MVP of Forward’s digital closing experience, all while establishing a new customer-facing design system based on a recent rebrand.

We quickly refined the proposed flow and created an initial prototype.

While we sought flow approval from leadership, I created an initial prototype of the experience, refining styles from a recent rebrand.

I worked closely with the Marketing Team, who had outlined an initial process, and a PM, who ultimately took over ownership of the process. While we knew all the steps needed in the process, most of the discussions involved the order of these steps.

We quickly refined the proposed flow and created an initial prototype.

While we sought flow approval from leadership, I created an initial prototype of the experience, refining styles from a recent rebrand.

I worked closely with the Marketing Team, who had outlined an initial process, and a PM, who ultimately took over ownership of the process. While we knew all the steps needed in the process, most of the discussions involved the order of these steps.

We quickly refined the proposed flow and created an initial prototype.

While we sought flow approval from leadership, I created an initial prototype of the experience, refining styles from a recent rebrand.

I worked closely with the Marketing Team, who had outlined an initial process, and a PM, who ultimately took over ownership of the process. While we knew all the steps needed in the process, most of the discussions involved the order of these steps.

We quickly refined the proposed flow and created an initial prototype.

While we sought flow approval from leadership, I created an initial prototype of the experience, refining styles from a recent rebrand.

I worked closely with the Marketing Team, who had outlined an initial process, and a PM, who ultimately took over ownership of the process. While we knew all the steps needed in the process, most of the discussions involved the order of these steps.

Flow updates: Originally, we first asked for Eligibility and Identify information, then moved to bank verification since that grouped together similar data for users. Basic information needed to come first to prevent fraudulent users, and bank verification ultimately needed to come immediately after so backend checks could run in the background while the user completed the flow.

Some screens from the initial prototype: We utilized Forward’s marketing design system within the platform — this was important for the Marketing Team. We updated the colors and typography sizes to ensure AAA accessibility.

Each week, we coralled stakeholders to gain approval for new changes.

This was a huge project for the company that would cause process changes across the organization. Each week, we walked through the flow to highlight recent changes and seek approval from all stakeholder groups, including Marketing, Product, Legal, Engineering, Funding Team, Sales, and Leadership.

Each week, we coralled stakeholders to gain approval for new changes.

This was a huge project for the company that would cause process changes across the organization. Each week, we walked through the flow to highlight recent changes and seek approval from all stakeholder groups, including Marketing, Product, Legal, Engineering, Funding Team, Sales, and Leadership.

Each week, we coralled stakeholders to gain approval for new changes.

This was a huge project for the company that would cause process changes across the organization. Each week, we walked through the flow to highlight recent changes and seek approval from all stakeholder groups, including Marketing, Product, Legal, Engineering, Funding Team, Sales, and Leadership.

Each week, we coralled stakeholders to gain approval for new changes.

This was a huge project for the company that would cause process changes across the organization. Each week, we walked through the flow to highlight recent changes and seek approval from all stakeholder groups, including Marketing, Product, Legal, Engineering, Funding Team, Sales, and Leadership.

Screenshot of Figma: This Figma file was iterated on daily and reviewed weekly with the stakeholders.

SMB owners gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the experience during usability testing.

I crafted and executed a research plan with 10 SMB owners who fit Forward's target audience. In each session, the SMB owner walked through the prototype, answering my questions about what they were seeing and acknowledging anything that confused them.

SMB owners gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the experience during usability testing.

I crafted and executed a research plan with 10 SMB owners who fit Forward's target audience. In each session, the SMB owner walked through the prototype, answering my questions about what they were seeing and acknowledging anything that confused them.

SMB owners gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the experience during usability testing.

I crafted and executed a research plan with 10 SMB owners who fit Forward's target audience. In each session, the SMB owner walked through the prototype, answering my questions about what they were seeing and acknowledging anything that confused them.

SMB owners gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the experience during usability testing.

I crafted and executed a research plan with 10 SMB owners who fit Forward's target audience. In each session, the SMB owner walked through the prototype, answering my questions about what they were seeing and acknowledging anything that confused them.

Prototype: SMB owners walked through this Figma prototype during a 60-minute usability testing session.

User findings presented to leadership: User testing revealed overwhelmingly positive feedback (4.88/5) for the online process, with all participants preferring laptops over phones. Main concerns included confusion about Forward's role, desire for earlier deal information, and redundant verification steps. Plaid integration was well-received, contrary to expectations.

Over 6 months, we continued to refine and decrease the scope of the MVP.

Product, Engineering, and Design worked closely together to decrease scope and finalize the flow based on third-party vendors for fraud checks, identity verification, and bank verification.

Over 6 months, we continued to refine and decrease the scope of the MVP.

Product, Engineering, and Design worked closely together to decrease scope and finalize the flow based on third-party vendors for fraud checks, identity verification, and bank verification.

Over 6 months, we continued to refine and decrease the scope of the MVP.

Product, Engineering, and Design worked closely together to decrease scope and finalize the flow based on third-party vendors for fraud checks, identity verification, and bank verification.

Over 6 months, we continued to refine and decrease the scope of the MVP.

Product, Engineering, and Design worked closely together to decrease scope and finalize the flow based on third-party vendors for fraud checks, identity verification, and bank verification.

Removal of ISO selection in email: In the user testing, all participants were confused about the terminology of “ISO” (AKA broker) and how those organizations related to Forward. Allowing the SMB owner to select this was posing technological and business complexities, so we removed the ISO selection part of the process entirely.

Removal of ISO selection in flow: This decision simplified the first few screens the user sees.

Simplified authentication: We needed SMB owners to sign up with their email address on file, which complicated SSO. Additionally, implementing SSO was going to add to the timeline, so we removed all SSO and disabled the email address field to ensure the SMB owner signs up without error.

Responsiveness: As the MVP was nearing approval, I translated all mobile designs to tablet and desktop, an easy process due to the low information density.

Design love for Funding Overview: This screen was the biggest improvement and the most “designed” — this information was previously presented as paragraphs of text. During user testing, 5 of the 8 participants mentioned they loved the readability of this screen.

Outcomes

This project marked Forward's first consumer-facing initiative in 5+ years, significantly automating the SMB financing process. It elevated Design's strategic role, demonstrated the viability of MVPs with faster release cycles, identified ways to streamline stakeholder involvement, and initiated a new design system.

The product launched successfully to ~50 SMB owners and scaled up with no initial issues. Post-launch, we discovered and fixed several challenges: a month-to-date earnings algorithm problem, unexpectedly high mobile usage, and limited ID verification options.

Outcomes

This project marked Forward's first consumer-facing initiative in 5+ years, significantly automating the SMB financing process. It elevated Design's strategic role, demonstrated the viability of MVPs with faster release cycles, identified ways to streamline stakeholder involvement, and initiated a new design system.

The product launched successfully to ~50 SMB owners and scaled up with no initial issues. Post-launch, we discovered and fixed several challenges: a month-to-date earnings algorithm problem, unexpectedly high mobile usage, and limited ID verification options.

Outcomes

This project marked Forward's first consumer-facing initiative in 5+ years, significantly automating the SMB financing process. It elevated Design's strategic role, demonstrated the viability of MVPs with faster release cycles, identified ways to streamline stakeholder involvement, and initiated a new design system.

The product launched successfully to ~50 SMB owners and scaled up with no initial issues. Post-launch, we discovered and fixed several challenges: a month-to-date earnings algorithm problem, unexpectedly high mobile usage, and limited ID verification options.

4 min

average amount of time after receiving the email that users started the process, compared to >12 hours for the previous phone process

4 min

average amount of time after receiving the email that users started the process, compared to >12 hours for the previous phone process

4 min

average amount of time after receiving the email that users started the process, compared to >12 hours for the previous phone process

13 min

average time to complete the funding process, compared to 45 minutes for the phone process

13 min

average time to complete the funding process, compared to 45 minutes for the phone process

13 min

average time to complete the funding process, compared to 45 minutes for the phone process

3.5x

faster process through the online experience vs. Funding Team’s phone closing process

3.5x

faster process through the online experience vs. Funding Team’s phone closing process

3.5x

faster process through the online experience vs. Funding Team’s phone closing process

Outcomes

The implementation of this moved quickly since we used the existing design system. By moving the Broker Calculator to the newer internal platform, engineers would save time by not needing to manage this older code. The internal Sales team felt heard throughout the whole process.

Outcomes

The implementation of this moved quickly since we used the existing design system. By moving the Broker Calculator to the newer internal platform, engineers would save time by not needing to manage this older code. The internal Sales team felt heard throughout the whole process.

0%

support tickets or complaints from brokers about the new Broker Calculator

0%

support tickets or complaints from brokers about the new Broker Calculator

4%

decrease in average time to send a deal (this was a bonus)

4%

decrease in average time to send a deal (this was a bonus)

10K+

contracts have been sent out without issues using the new Broker Calculator

10K+

contracts have been sent out without issues using the new Broker Calculator

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© Courtney Sabo, 2025