Mews Payout Report
A payout reporting solution that centralizes financial data and streamlines reconciliation for finance teams.
Project at a Glance
Managing payouts was frustrating. We redesigned the experience for easier reconciliation and higher user satisfaction.
About the Product
Hotels and property managers need precise payout tracking to manage cash flow, reconcile transactions, and ensure financial accuracy. The existing experience was inefficient, leading to frustration and manual workarounds.
Problem
The existing Mews Payment Balance Report includes payout data mixed with other transactions, requiring users to manually filter for relevant details. This lack of focus and structure makes payout reconciliation time-consuming and error-prone, especially when matching transactions.
The Team Behind the Solution
We were a 10-person cross-functional team brought together to tackle the complexity of recurring payments. Together, we collaborated to solve the complexity of recurring payments from both business and user perspectives.
My Role: Owning Design Across Business and UX
✦ Identified the problems by analyzing user behavior & data.
✦ Ran interviews & usability tests to validate pain points.
✦ Designed, tested, and iterated to refine the experience.
✦ Collaborated with engineers & finance teams to deliver fast.
✦ Shaped the vision for future iterations.
Solution
The Payout Report provides a dedicated, structured view of payout data, simplifying reconciliation and helping users quickly match transactions with payouts.
Impact
The new Payout Report improved payout visibility and reconciliation for properties by separating payout-specific data from general transactions and enabling scheduled exports. This shift reduced manual work and made finance operations more transparent and efficient.
The solution resulted in higher satisfaction from finance teams, fewer support tickets, and a strong adoption rate among early users. These changes reflect measurable business and operational gains.
+14%
Finance Team Efficiency
58%
Feature Adoption Rate
–38%
Manual Reconciliation Time
Research
After the project kickoff, we defined our research goals and strategy, focusing on uncovering operational bottlenecks and user frustrations around payout tracking, reconciliation, and reporting clarity.
When the Data Spoke: Uncovering the Real Pain
When we first looked into Mews Payment Balance, we already had payout data included in that report. However, through data analysis, we discovered that users were filtering payout-related data more than anything else.
This raised a critical question:
💡 Do users need a dedicated Payout Report instead of finding this data within Mews Balance?
To validate this, we conducted interviews to understand why users were focusing so much on payout information.
What Users Told Us: Identifying the Core Problem
Through user testing and interviews, we gathered critical insights:
• Lack of clarity – Users struggled to reconcile payouts efficiently.
• Manual workarounds – Finance teams had to manually track payouts, leading to errors.
• Scattered information – Users had to navigate multiple places to get a full picture.
💬 Real user feedback:
“We spend hours trying to match payout data with transactions, and it’s exhausting. We need a clearer, more structured way to view this information.”
At this stage, it became evident:
📌 Users needed a report solely focused on payouts—designed with clarity, ease of use, and reconciliation in mind.
Design
We redesigned the payout experience to simplify reconciliation and reduce support dependency. The new report offers clearer data structure, smart filtering, export scheduling, and improved visibility into payout transactions.
Built on Mews Design System Foundations
To ensure consistency, scalability, and development efficiency, we based all recurring payment components on the existing Mews Design System.
The First Solution: Designing a New Payout Report
When designing the first version of the Payout Report, we focused on clarity, structure, and usability to ensure finance teams could efficiently track and manage payouts.
✦ Dedicated Payout Report, removing the need for manual filtering.
✦ Clearly defined statuses (In Progress, Paid, Failed) based on user research.
✦ Improved identifiers, making payouts easier to track across reports.
✦ Key payout details surfaced at first glance, providing a clear summary without extra steps.
Detail Page – Payout Breakdown
✦ Added summary cards, highlighting total payouts, status breakdowns, and key metrics.
✦ Introduced detailed payout breakdowns, including Net, Gross, and Commission.
✦ Updated identifiers, ensuring consistency and traceability
✦ Added export functionality, allowing users to download payout reports easily.
Why We Iterated: Refining the Design Based on Feedback
Our first iteration introduced a dedicated Payout Report with:
✦ Clear summary cards for payout insights
✦ Improved search & filtering for easier access
✦ Better transaction visibility to support reconciliation
⚠️ But the first results weren’t as strong as expected.
Mapping the Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) for Payouts
To ensure our second iteration truly addressed user frustrations, we conducted additional user interviews and feedback analysis. We then built a JTBD framework to define what users were actually trying to accomplish.
💡 This strategic mapping helped us define the key improvements for the second iteration.
After launching usability tests and analyzing user satisfaction surveys, we found that:
💡Missing transaction details & payout history made reconciliation difficult.
💡Unclear payout statuses & payment details caused daily frustration.
💬 Real user feedback:
"We waste too much time finding deductions and payout details—everything should be in one place."
These insights drove the next iteration, where we focused on enhanced detail page with better breakdowns
Iteration #2: Refining the Experience
✦ Enhanced payout detail views – Side panels now display full transaction data.
✦ Comprehensive transaction tracking – Users can view fees, adjustments, payment history, linked bills, reservations, timestamps, and statuses for complete payout transparency.
✦ Support for multiple payout types – Clear status indicators and better categorization.
Reflection
The redesigned Payout Report delivered significant improvements, enhancing customer satisfaction, reducing manual work, and increasing adoption. For more details on how to use the new features, check out our Help Center guide.
+14%
Finance Team Efficiency
58%
Feature Adoption Rate
– 38%
Manual Reconciliation Time
✦ User-Centered Design Drives Engagement – Focusing on real user needs led to higher adoption and satisfaction.
✦ Automation Reduces Friction – Scheduled exports and detailed payout tracking eliminated unnecessary manual tasks.
✦ Clear Financial Data is Essential – Transparent payout details reduced confusion and improved reconciliation accuracy.
✦ Iteration Ensures Success – Continuous feedback loops allowed us to refine the experience and maximize impact.
Next Step
By addressing core user pain points, we transformed the Payout Report into a streamlined, efficient, and user-friendly tool, setting the foundation for future optimizations. 🚀
With higher satisfaction, fewer support queries, and increased adoption, users can now manage payouts with confidence and ease—leading to happier, more productive finance teams. 😊🎉
