Background

The Property Control Center (PCC) was originally built as a one-stop solution for rural real estate professionals to manage property listings, track leads, and monitor analytics.

Over time, however, the platform became outdated, with a non-responsive design and inefficient workflows that frustrated users. Recognizing the need for modernization, our team embarked on a complete redesign, focusing on usability, responsiveness, and customization for rural-specific needs.

Project Highlights

• Comprehensive audit of the existing system to identify valuable features and pain points.

• Insights from competitor analysis of Redfin, Zillow, and LoopNet to inform best practices.

• A responsive, mobile-friendly interface tailored for seamless usage across devices.

• Improved workflows for managing listings, leads, analytics, and billing.

• A user-centered design process incorporating feedback from rural real estate agents.

To design a platform that would stand out in the market, I analyzed three exemplary content management dashboards from other industries: Printify, HubSpot, and Zillow. Each platform offers valuable design principles that informed the PCC redesign.

Strengths Identified

Printify: Printify stands out for its user-friendly interface and streamlined product management workflow. Its intuitive dashboard allows users to effortlessly upload designs, manage inventory, and track orders. The integration of live previews and drag-and-drop features ensures users can visualize outcomes before finalizing details, a concept that can be adapted for real estate listings.

HubSpot: HubSpot’s CRM system is a masterclass in lead tracking and customer management. It centralizes communication, allowing users to view all interactions, from email to calls, in a single timeline. The integration of automation tools, such as follow-up reminders and lead scoring, ensures users can prioritize tasks effectively.

Zillow: Zillow sets a benchmark in the real estate industry with its robust property management features and user-friendly design. Its advanced search tools, high-quality visuals, and seamless navigation offer an unparalleled experience for both buyers and sellers. Zillow’s detailed property information and interactive maps highlight its capability to cater to diverse real estate needs.

Weaknesses Observed

Despite their strengths, these platforms also revealed areas that could be improved for a rural real estate application:

Printify: While Printify excels in providing a streamlined workflow for managing print-on-demand products, it faces challenges such as limited scalability for high-volume sellers and occasional inconsistencies in production quality. Additionally, its analytics tools are basic and may not meet the needs of businesses seeking deeper insights into customer behavior or sales performance.

HubSpot: The lead management system can feel overly complex for users who don’t require its full suite of marketing tools, making it less accessible for smaller teams.

Zillow: While Zillow is a leader in urban and suburban property management, its multi-step wizard approach to uploading listings, while intuitive for smaller sellers with a few properties, can become problematic for power users managing multiple listings. This method can slow down workflows and create inefficiencies for high-volume agents seeking to upload and update numerous properties simultaneously.

Key Takeaway

Printify, HubSpot, and Zillow demonstrate the importance of clean interfaces, responsive designs, and specialized tools. However, they lack the rural-specific functionalities needed for PCC, such as mapping remote properties, managing larger parcels, and addressing diverse property uses. The PCC can fill a crucial gap in the industry.

Upon auditing the PCC, the following observations were made:

Valuable Features

Listing Upload: Users could upload property information, photos, and descriptions, though the interface was unintuitive and cluttered.

Listing Manager: Allowed users to view, edit, and manage listing statuses (e.g., sold, pending).

Billing: Offered subscription management for agents.

Lead Tracking: Provided basic lead inquiry details.

Listing Analytics: Offered performance metrics such as views and inquiries.

Pain Points and Features to Remove:

Outdated, non-responsive design incompatible with mobile devices. Redundant navigation paths leading to user frustration. Inconsistent workflows for uploading and managing listings. Billing and analytics features lacked transparency and usability.

Summary of Audit:

• Retain and improve core features like listing upload, management, billing, leads, and analytics.

• Address navigation, usability, and responsiveness issues.

Adding a Listing

Uploading property information is a critical feature for any real estate platform, and we prioritized simplifying this process in the PCC redesign. Previously, users encountered convoluted workflows and cluttered interfaces, leading to frustration and errors. By introducing a streamlined, guided approach, we empowered users to add listings quickly and accurately.

To enhance usability, all input fields and buttons were redesigned with the "Frontier Design System," ensuring larger, mobile-friendly tappable targets for seamless interaction on any device.

In the past, incomplete data entry due to sudden interruptions often led to lost progress, forcing users to restart. With the new auto-save system and draft states, the agent can now pause, save their progress automatically, and return later to finalize the details without any loss of work. This ensures a seamless and stress-free experience while managing complex listings.

Additionally, we consolidated related fields into grouped cards—such as housing information (square footage, bedrooms, and bathrooms)—to improve logical organization and enhance clarity. We grouped required items to the top of the page, allowing users to input the most important information required to post their listing quickly - then continue on to the parts that would take more time, like amenities.

In the past, incomplete data entry due to sudden interruptions often led to lost progress, forcing users to restart. With the new auto-save system and draft states, the agent can now pause, save their progress automatically, and return later to finalize the details without any loss of work. This ensures a seamless and stress-free experience while managing complex listings.

The redesigned Add Listing Upload feature integrates geolocation APIs for address verification, ensuring property details are precise. A drag-and-drop photo uploader allows users to organize images efficiently, while a rich text editor helps craft compelling property descriptions.

Previously, the old PCC overwhelmed users with an extensive list of over 200 amenities, making it nearly impossible to find or select specific options.

As one user remarked,

In response, we streamlined the process by organizing amenities into a "Popular Amenities" category and adding a robust search function.

This new feature allows users to quickly filter and locate the desired features, significantly reducing frustration and improving efficiency.

Additionally, categorized options for rural-specific amenities, such as "barn," "farming land," or "recreational use," provide a tailored experience for users focusing on non-urban properties.

Summary of Listing Upload Features:

• Address search with geolocation APIs for auto-completion and verification.

• Drag-and-drop photo upload with automatic optimization.

• Rich text editor for property descriptions.

• Input fields for acreage, house specifications, and zoning.

• Categorized amenities tailored to rural needs.

• Auto-save functionality to prevent data loss during interruptions.

• Draft states allowing users to save progress and return later to complete listings.

Listing Manager

The Listing Manager is the operational hub for agents to oversee and manage their property portfolios. Previously, the feature suffered from inconsistent layouts, lack of filtering options, and poor scalability for users managing large numbers of properties. These issues often left users frustrated and hindered their productivity. To address these pain points, we reimagined the Listing Manager with a responsive, user-friendly design that caters to both power users with extensive portfolios and smaller-scale users with only a few active listings.

To accommodate a wide range of user needs, we introduced a visual, responsive table view. This table dynamically adapts to different screen sizes, ensuring a seamless experience across devices. The design was optimized for users managing hundreds of active properties by integrating advanced filters and sorting options, while still providing a streamlined interface for users with fewer listings.

Instead of the cluttered and error-prone inline editing, we implemented a dropdown menu for each listing. This menu includes critical actions such as Edit, Manage Upgrade, Change Status, and View on Land Network. This approach simplifies the interface and minimizes accidental changes while still providing easy access to essential functionality.

Additionally, a new tabbed navigation bar allows users to quickly filter listings by their status—Active, Draft, Off-Market, Sold, and All. This intuitive organization ensures that users can locate specific groups of properties with minimal effort. To further enhance usability, we added a powerful search bar at the top of the page. This search tool enables users to find listings using any attribute—such as address, property name, or acreage—rather than limiting searches to displayed table columns. These improvements make it effortless for agents to locate and manage properties, regardless of their portfolio size.

For example, consider an agent managing over 200 properties. With the new tabbed interface, they can quickly filter to view only "Active" listings, then use the search bar to pinpoint a specific property by address. Meanwhile, a smaller-scale user with just three listings can enjoy an uncluttered interface that allows them to make quick updates without unnecessary complexity.

Summary of Listing Manager Features

• Visual, Responsive Table View: Adapts to different screen sizes and supports portfolios of all sizes.

• Action Dropdown Menu: Includes options for Edit, Manage Upgrade, Change Status, and View on Land Network.

• Tabbed Navigation Bar: Provides quick access to listings by status: Active, Draft, Off-Market, Sold, and All.

• Advanced Search Bar: Allows users to search for any attribute related to a listing, offering unparalleled flexibility.

• Optimized for Power Users: Includes filters and sorting options for large-scale portfolios.

• Simplified for Small-Scale Users: Maintains a clean, uncluttered interface for agents managing a handful of properties.

Managing leads effectively is critical for real estate professionals, as it directly impacts sales conversions. In the original PCC, the Leads section was disorganized and incomplete, resulting in frustration and lost opportunities. Email and phone leads were scattered across different parts of the dashboard, making it difficult for agents to get a holistic view of inquiries. Furthermore, the system did not require potential buyers to provide their names, leaving agents guessing when responding to leads. As one member of the Account Management team noted,

To address these issues, the redesigned Leads section centralizes all inquiries and provides a robust, organized interface optimized for both desktop and mobile devices. Leads can now be sorted by time, allowing agents to quickly prioritize the most recent inquiries. Additionally, we implemented a powerful search function that enables users to locate specific leads using any available information—such as the sender’s name, phone number, or property of interest—eliminating the need to manually sift through lists.

Each lead in the table includes the following key details: the lead source, the date it was sent, the name of the sender, the lead type (email or phone), the sender’s phone number, and an action button to view or listen to the full message. This layout ensures all essential information is immediately accessible, helping agents efficiently assess and respond to leads.

For phone leads, we introduced a voicemail transcription feature. Agents can now read transcripts of voicemails left by potential buyers, making it easier to prioritize responses. A new form validation process ensures that users cannot submit inquiries without providing their names, solving one of the most significant pain points from the old system. Additionally, each lead includes a complete history of interactions, helping agents understand past communications and tailor their follow-ups accordingly.

To support busy agents who often work in the field, the redesigned Leads section is fully mobile-friendly, featuring larger tappable elements and responsive layouts. Agents can quickly view, respond to, and manage leads from their smartphones without sacrificing functionality. Finally, we added tools to streamline follow-ups, such as email templates and call scheduling, ensuring that agents can maintain timely and professional communication with potential buyers.

Summary of Leads Features:

• Centralized Lead Management: Combines email and phone leads in a single, organized interface.

• Time Sorting: Enables agents to prioritize the most recent inquiries quickly.

• Search Functionality: Allows users to locate leads using any available information (e.g., sender’s name, phone number, property).

• Mandatory Name Field: Ensures that inquiries always include the buyer’s name, improving professionalism and follow-up efficiency.

• Voicemail Transcription: Allows agents to read voicemail messages for quicker prioritization.

• Mobile Optimization: Features responsive design and large tappable elements for seamless use on smartphones.

Future Leads Features:

• Follow-Up Tools: Includes email templates and call scheduling to streamline communication.

Design Outcome

These improvements enabled users to find, read and manage their leads. The old PCC (Property Control Center) version didn’t work on mobile devices, a major pain point identified by our users.

Leads Mobile

Analytics

The previous version of PCC offered limited insights, which were difficult to interpret and didn't provide actionable data for users. This was a significant pain point for property owners and agents who rely on these metrics to assess the effectiveness of their listings. Our goal was to redesign the analytics experience to deliver clearer, more useful data in a visually engaging format that empowered users to make data-driven decisions.

We approached the redesign with two main objectives:

Clarifying data – Making key performance metrics accessible and easily understandable.

Creating actionable insights – Enabling users to make informed decisions based on the data.

High-Level Analytics

The table view provides a quick, clear snapshot of a user's entire portfolio. It is designed for easy access to key listing metrics at both the account level and the individual listing level, allowing users to monitor the health of their listings with minimal effort. Key Metrics include:

Listing Title & ID: Identifies each listing for easy reference.

Views: The total number of views for each listing, giving a quick sense of how popular the property is.

Search Appearances: The number of times a listing appeared in search results, which reflects its visibility.

Leads Generated: How many leads (contacts or saves) were generated by the listing, indicating conversion potential.

Age of Listing (Days on Market): Shows how long a listing has been active, giving users context for the listing’s performance relative to its age.

Actions: A combined metric that shows how often a listing has been shared, saved, or clicked on for more information.

County: The county where the listing is located, useful for understanding local market trends.

State: The state of the listing, helping users see performance across larger geographic areas.

Status: Whether the listing is "Active," "Off Market," or "Sold." This helps users understand which properties are still available for purchase.

Tier of Listing: Indicates if the listing is in a higher-tier package. This can be used to quickly assess whether an increase in exposure and leads has occurred after the listing was upgraded.

Design & Feedback

The table is interactive, allowing users to click on any column to sort by views, leads, actions, etc., providing a customizable view for each user’s needs.

The positive feedback from users has been overwhelmingly favorable, particularly for the simplicity and speed it offers in tracking high-level listing performance without the need to navigate away from the page.

Detailed Listing View

The detailed listing view offers users a more granular look at their listing's performance. It is designed for agents and property owners who want to explore trends, correlations, and insights at a deeper level. This view is also particularly valuable for our sales team, who requested features like tracking when a listing was upgraded to a higher tier and how it affected its performance.

Key Features in the Detailed Listing View

• Line Graphs: Show the performance of the listing over time, including metrics like views, leads, and search appearances. These graphs allow users to identify trends, peak performance periods, and how recent changes (such as listing upgrades) impact performance.

• Bar Graphs: Visualize the number of views, leads, and actions by day, week, or month, providing insight into which timeframes are most successful.

• Pie Charts: Display the breakdown of lead sources (e.g., website, social media) so that users can understand where their leads are coming from.

• Heatmaps: Show geographic data on listing views and leads, helping agents see which areas are generating interest.

• Tier Upgrade Tracking: A key feature for the sales team, this section shows when a listing was upgraded to a higher tier. We created a clear visual cue on the performance graph (e.g., a color change or annotation) to indicate the date of the upgrade. This allows users to easily see the increase in exposure, views, and leads after upgrading, providing immediate feedback on the impact of listing enhancements.

Engagement & Actions

The Actions metric is shown in detail here, allowing users to see how many times their listing was shared, saved, or clicked for more information. This provides insights into how engaging the property is to potential buyers.

Leads Details: A deeper look into the lead sources and lead demographics, so users can see not just the total number of leads but also where they are coming from and which aspects of the listing are most attractive.

Interactive Filters

The detailed view allows users to filter and zoom in on specific periods (e.g., last week, last month, or custom date ranges) to analyze performance during specific marketing campaigns or seasonal changes.

This feature provides agents and property owners with a simple way to manage multiple listings and track the performance of each based on its current status.

Feature REQUESTS FROM SALES TEAM MEMBERS

Tier Impact: Sales staff can leverage the tier upgrade tracking to discuss with clients how the performance of a listing improves after upgrading its visibility. The clear markers in the graphs showing the point of upgrade make it easy for the sales team to demonstrate the benefits to clients.

Lead Generation Insights: Sales representatives can review lead data in more detail, allowing them to offer tailored advice to agents about improving or refining their listings based on real-time feedback.

Current Status

Table View: The table view has been implemented and has received positive feedback for its simplicity and efficiency in tracking performance.

Detailed Listing View: This feature is still in progress, with plans for launch soon. It is expected to provide agents and the sales team with comprehensive, data-driven insights into listing performance, further empowering them to refine their sales strategies.

Future Improvements

The team also identified that a major hurdle for our users is that data in a vacuum can be confusing. That is to say, is 500 views good? In a highly competitive market, it might not be but in rural Montana that may be in the top 1 percentile of similar listings.

To facilitate better decision making, we have already begun work on anchoring data to a score based on region and property details - showing the user if the results they are getting are good and if not, how to improve them.

Results

Since the launch of the new analytics section, users have reported:

Increased engagement: The ability to track leads and shares has led to more focused marketing strategies, with many users using the insights to refine their listings and target specific buyer demographics.

Improved decision-making: With the availability of clear, visually engaging data, real estate agents are now able to adjust their strategies quickly based on concrete performance metrics. This is especially important in rural markets, where advertising budgets may be limited, and efficient decision-making is key.

More satisfied users: The overall user satisfaction with the CMS has increased due to the enhanced analytics tools. Users now feel empowered to optimize their listings and understand what drives success on the platform.