B2B Agency Portal Revamp - UX & Growth
Company: AECC Global | Role: PM - AI & Growth | Year: 2024
Redesigned the partner-facing B2B portal for international education agencies: simplified application booking and introduced a partner tier system to drive engagement and revenue.
The Problem
AECC operates a B2B channel where independent education agencies refer students to AECC’s counsellors and services. These partners use a dedicated portal to submit applications on behalf of students. The status quo was broken:
- Booking an application required 11 steps and average completion time of 22 minutes
- Agents frequently called support for help completing submissions (40+ calls/week)
- No incentive structure for high-performing partners - all agents treated equally regardless of volume
- Portal abandonment rate: 38% (agents who started an application and didn’t finish)
- No visibility for partners on their application status or performance metrics
Discovery
Methods:
- Usability testing with active agency partners (task-based: “submit an application for this student”)
- Partner survey (n=5) on satisfaction drivers and friction points
- Top partner manager interviews (n=3) on what would make them refer more students to AECC
Key Findings
Booking flow:
- 5 of 11 steps were redundant or could be pre-filled from existing data
- The document upload step was the #1 abandonment point - confusing requirements and no progress save
- Partners operating across multiple students had no batch submission option Partner incentives:
- Top 20% of partners drove 71% of submissions - but had no differentiated treatment
- High-volume partners wanted: priority support, faster processing SLAs, and co-marketing opportunities
- Lower-volume partners wanted: better training and clearer application guidelines
Solution Design
1. Simplified Booking Flow
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| 11 steps | 5 steps |
| No progress save | Auto-save at each step |
| Manual document checklist | AI-powered document check (integrated Document Intelligence) |
| No batch submission | Batch mode for 2+ students |
| Average completion: 22 min | Average completion: 8 min |
Key design decision: We used the AI Document Intelligence pipeline to pre-validate documents at upload - agents got instant feedback on document issues before submission, eliminating the #1 reason for incomplete applications.
2. Partner Tier System
Designed a 3-tier partner structure:
| Tier | Threshold | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 50+ submissions/quarter | Priority support, dedicated relationship manager, co-marketing, faster SLA, Higher commissions, Holiday trip, Bonus Commissions |
| Gold | 20–49 submissions/quarter | Priority support queue, quarterly performance review, bonus incentives |
| Silver | <20 submissions | Standard support, training resources, onboarding guide |
Why tiers work:
- Creates a clear upgrade path and aspiration for partners
- Concentrates AECC’s resources on highest-value relationships
- Gives commercial team a structured conversation framework (“you’re 8 submissions from Gold”)
3. Partner Dashboard
Built a self-serve dashboard showing:
- Applications submitted (by status: pending, approved, rejected)
- Current tier + progress to next tier
- Support ticket status
- Commission/incentive tracker
Results
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Booking flow steps | 11 | 5 |
| Average completion time | 22 min | 8 min |
| Portal abandonment rate | 38% | 19% |
| Support calls (booking-related) | 40+/week | 14/week |
| Partner NPS | 32 | 51 |
What I Learned
- B2B portal UX is often neglected - the partner portal had never been redesigned since launch. Even basic UX improvements had outsized impact.
- Incentive design is product design - the tier system required as much product thinking (thresholds, benefits, edge cases) as the booking flow
- Integrating existing AI tools creates compounding value - plugging the Document Intelligence pipeline into the portal gave partners a capability they didn’t have to ask for, and reduced support volume simultaneously