onboarding ux
product design
workshops
8 days to onboard a client. We asked: what if it took none?
Reduced onboarding from 8 days to 1 by redesigning the end-to-end onboarding experience for new real estate agencies on Property Finder — UAE's leading property portal.
Timeline
Oct 2025 - Mar 2026
Industry
Real Estate
my role
Sr. Product Designer
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How might we create digital-first, self-serve onboarding experience
in PF Expert, designed to guide new clients through operational
setup and learning, while reducing dependency on human-led onboarding?
When a platform scales faster than processes
As the Emerald segment grew across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the Northern Emirates, so did the burden. CSPs were each managing around 200 accounts. Manual onboarding was taking up to 8 days per client. And the clients who slipped through the cracks published bad listings, burned credits, failed permit validation, and churned.
Team & Timeline
product manager
Sabine darkoub
ux designer
Olena Horbachenko
Head of Design
Nina Najla Zahr
Service Designer
Hiba Rageh
Engineering Manager
Sergey Skutin
Backend
Taranveer Singh
User Researcher
Zarah Shaheen
Frontend
Ilyas Assainov
Discovery & Stakeholder Research
Internal interviews with CSPs, Business Consultants, and new business teams. First pain point mapping.
User Research & Co-creation Workshop
8+ sessions with recently onboarded Emerald agencies. In-person workshop (Nov 6) with 20+ cross-functional stakeholders.
Ideation, Prioritisation & Low-Fidelity Flows
Impact vs. effort scoring, How Might We statements, prototyping key flows.
Design Validation Walkthroughs
Internal journey walkthrough sessions with BCs and CSPs. Iteration based on critical feedback.
Target Launch — PF Expert Onboarding 2.0
Digital-first, self-serve onboarding goes live across all UAE regions.
Users rush to listing publishing
8+ sessions with new Emerald agencies, plus CSP and consultant interviews — one insight, independently: agencies had everything (Academy, trainings, legal guides) but it felt too overwhelming, so they skipped it. Then they'd hit an unknown permit requirement on listing one and call their CSP. Information that doesn't arrive at the right moment, in the right order, won't get acted on.
8 out of 10 clients couldn't go live without asking for help
The Trakheesi permit was something most clients had never heard of before signing up. They didn't know what type to apply for, what documents to prepare.
"They spend days trying to list, but they can't even go live without a broker card"
Even digital-first, they still would want a human option
Even tech-comfortable clients wanted a person on standby when things got confusing. Self-serve worked — but only with a visible safety net.
"There should be someone who can visit or support in person when needed."
Long training sessions in PF Academy stays untouched
PF Academy had everything, but felt like a library with no reading list. Clients didn't know where to start, so they didn't. The fix wasn't more content — it was a clearer path into it.
"They never open the academy - it's too much work"
Preventing internal back-and-forth with one alignment session
The data from the research was used as an input for workshop for 20+ people: PMs, researchers, Designers, Business Consultants, CSPs, and Inside Sales. One idea echoed across every team, every table, every sketch: guidance needs to be bite-sized, step-by-step, and simple. Not a course. Not a manual. A nudge at the right moment.
Imagine gathering 20+ professional to brainstorm
Onboarding 2.0 opens on a persistent Getting Started dashboard — the default landing page until everything's done. Two tracks: Operational Setup (go live) and Learning & Product Tours (long-term success). Every step opens the real PF Expert page plus a contextual WalkMe tour. Nothing in isolation — each step ties to a real action.
Our first attempt didn't work because we tried to teach clients everything at once
January surfaced a tension: internal teams wanted mandatory training; research showed forced completion bred resentment and abandonment. So we split hard prerequisites from soft guidance. No Trakheesi/BRN, no listing — those trigger mandatory courses. Everything else is optional: WalkMe for operational tasks, 30–60s videos for the rest. The academy became advanced learning — not a gate.
We decided to go with Getting Started dashboard
that appears on first login
Three decisions. Persistent dashboard, not a wizard — onboarding isn't a moment, it's the first month, so it retires at day 31. Two tracks, because "go live" and "long-term success" are different jobs; blending them made the old flow overwhelming. Every step tied to a real action — so information lands when it's needed.
We decided to go with Getting Started dashboard
that appears on first login
Three decisions. Persistent dashboard, not a wizard — onboarding isn't a moment, it's the first month, so it retires at day 31. Two tracks, because "go live" and "long-term success" are different jobs; blending them made the old flow overwhelming. Every step tied to a real action — so information lands when it's needed.
On the tooltips. The in-product tooltips along the listing flow I built in WalkMe. They imitate the hand-holding clients used to get from a CSP — so they don't get stuck or frustrated when they suddenly realise something's missing.
On permits specifically. The old onboarding never told a client permits mattered. They'd build a listing, hit the Trakheesi field, ask the CSP "what's that?", get a PDF, work it out. So: surface permits on the dashboard from first login, and highlight the Trakheesi field inside listing creation — what to do, and where.
On listing quality. Publishing means a long form — details, amenities, location. With the PM we pulled benchmark data on what a complete listing gets versus an incomplete one, in visibility and leads — so effort connects to a visible outcome.
Few takeaways
On a fast-paced market like Dubai, clarity and speed always wins
A strong cut-off beats indecision. Speed comes from a clear decision and rapid movement — zero delay between idea and build. No "maybe": develop it now, park it as a commitment, or discard it.
Early alignment is what prevents things going south + gives us a creative freedom
Everything is possible if you have a clear rationale as to why whatever you want to do makes sense for the business. Feedback is a gift and the earlier we have it, the better it is.
Results
PF Expert Platform