0 → 1 • Dashboard • Omnichannel Communications

Title Tracker Reimagined: Turning a 6-Month Black Box Into a Guided Experience

Helping refinance customers understand, track, and complete their auto title transfer, instead of wondering where it went.

Highlights

Lead Product Designer & Researcher

Role

Platform

iOS, Android, Web

$15M in annual loss reduction, Perfection rate 80% → 96%, NPS 38 → 56, complaints down 80%

🏆 Awarded Mark of Distinction X2 · Over the Top Award · Diamond Award X3

Duration

2 years

Impact

Company

Capital One

Executive Summary

When someone refinances their auto loan with Capital One, their vehicle title has to be transferred from their previous lender — a process that was confusing, largely non-digital, and averaged 6 months to complete. Untransferred titles created real business exposure: $20M in charge-offs, since we can't recover a vehicle we're not on the title for, and 80% of all customer complaints in this space traced back to title issues. I led the redesign of the customer-facing tracking experience and partnered on the internal process changes needed to support it.

The Problem

20% of refinance customers weren't transferring their title at all. Of those who were, the average completion time was 6 months, and the NPS for the experience was 38. There was no way for customers to see where they stood in the process, what was still required of them, or why any of it mattered.

Original UI

User Insights & Business Opportunity

This project was backed by continuous research throughout its lifecycle — at least five distinct rounds of discovery, spanning customer and agent interviews, A/B testing, content testing, and usability testing for improvements at every stage.

Early empathy interviews with refinance customers surfaced four consistent gaps:

  • 51% weren't aware they needed to transfer their title at all

  • 80% didn't understand why transferring mattered

  • 20% were given incorrect information and asked for the wrong documents

  • 100% wanted to complete the process digitally

We were sending reminders for 6 months, but they were general and repetitive, so customers tuned them out and eventually forgot the task existed.

I used these findings to build personas that shaped both the on-screen experience and which notifications and communications each customer type received.

User Personas & Flow Mapping

I used personas generated from discovery to craft personalized experiences for each customer type. This ranged from what they saw on their online account to which notifications we showed them and the communications they were sent.

I partnered with the Refinance team to set expectations at the point of refinance rather than weeks later, aligning communications across the handoff and building a consistent tracker across both teams.

Ideation

Key UI improvements included:

  • Step-by-step progress tracker

  • Clear explanation of title transfer requirements + FAQ

  • Digital document upload and completion via Docusign

  • Improved guidance for mail-in steps when needed

  • Notifications when documents are sent

  • Detailed document list with statuses

  • Timestamps showing last update and document receipt

Usability Testing

I conducted 3 rounds of usability testing with an interactive prototype. After multiple rounds of iteration, the final redesigned flow (Group B) outranked the original flow (Group A) in every category customers were asked about — the progress bar, clarity of requirements, process detail, FAQs, and document statuses. The main remaining frustration: the process still wasn't 100% digital, which became the top priority for the next iteration.

The Solution

A personalized dashboard and omnichannel communications strategy, paired with a simplified internal process that reduced requirements and processing time. The final experience included:

  • A step-by-step progress tracker

  • Plain-language explanation of requirements, plus an FAQ

  • Digital document upload and completion via DocuSign

  • Clear guidance for the cases that still required mail-in steps

  • A detailed, status-stamped document list with last-updated and receipt timestamps

The Results

These results reflect the combined impact of the initial launch and continued iteration over the following year (2024–2025):

Title perfection rate +16 points (80% → 96%)

Reached 86% within the first few months of launch, then climbed further through ongoing improvements.

99% reached Title Tracker

within 30 days of loan. Against an 85% target.

NPS +18 points (38 → 56)

Rose steadily as the experience became more transparent and predictable for customers.

$15M reduction in annual losses

Down from $20M in charge-offs tied to untransferred titles.

80% Reduction in Title-related complaints

Fell from 80% of all customer complaints to 16%.

6 awards

Results and impact earned 2 Mark of Distinction awards, an Over the Top design award and 3 Diamond Awards.

Continued Impact

Reaching these results took continuous iteration across research, product, and engineering. Key initiatives included:

  • Docusign self-service (Diamond Award): launched the first digital upload and e-sign feature for lien perfection documents — the first step toward 100% digital completion, moving overall digital resolution from 7–15% at launch toward a projected 54%. In the first two hours live, 6 of 9 customer interactions were fully completed digitally (a 67% early completion rate); within several months, completion reached 99% among accounts eligible to sign and submit documents digitally under their state's rules.

  • Agent workflow redesign (Proposed): discovered that 50% of process errors were avoidable agent mistakes, then mapped the end-to-end agent journey and led a cross-functional workshop to define the ideal-state process.

  • Proactive text alerts (PL Iconic Award): launched the first RLP text messages notifying customers of document rejections or new requirements — one of the most effective channels for driving customer action.

  • Ongoing customer research: conducted 19 additional interviews with customers on unperfected titles, surfacing real-time fixes to the progress tracker, document statuses, and a confusing account alert.

Next Steps

Reach 100% digital perfection: Docusign self-service was the first step; the next phase (MVP 2) removes the remaining manual mailbox process for document returns.


Implement the ideal agent workflow: With the current-state agent journey mapped and root causes identified, the next phase is implementing the ideal-state process to eliminate avoidable errors.

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