Pleo Partner Portal Redesign

Sarah’s coffee was getting cold. Again.

It was 9:17 AM on a Monday, and her Chrome browser was choking under fifteen open tabs – each containing a different client’s expense reports. As a partner bookkeeper at Mitchell & Associates, this was her daily routine.

“It’s like being an air traffic controller, but with receipts instead of planes.”

This wasn’t just Sarah’s story… this was the daily reality for thousands of accounting partners using Pleo’s platform. And watching her work that morning changed everything about how I approached this project.

the problem

Pleo had built a smart B2B fintech platform with business credit cards and automated expense tracking. But there was a disconnect… the platform was designed for individual companies managing their own expenses, but the real users were accounting partners managing 20+ clients simultaneously.

The reality of modern bookkeeping — A day in the life... multiple screens, multiple clients, multiple headaches. This wasn’t just Sarah’s setup, it was standard operating procedure for every accounting partner we talked to.

Joined as a freelance UX designer working with 2 product designers, 2 product managers, a CX manager, and 5+ developers.

Timeline: 12 weeks to research, design, and ship.

2020 meant no in-person visits. We adapted. User shadowing with 2 accountantcy firms, watching them navigate the mess over screen share, mapping their actual workflows, not what we thought they should be.

Client pain points with annotations — every sticky note here was another moment where our interface made their job harder

The insight hit hard… Partners weren’t avoiding our portal because it was ugly. They were avoiding it because it made their jobs harder.

We rebuilt the whole thing as a command center that actually matched how they worked.

After launch, the numbers were wild:

20% jump in feature usage
16% more new partners signed up
17% boost in client referrals
6+ minutes of engaged time (up from barely 2)

But honestly? The real win was Sarah finishing her Monday reciept reviews before her coffee got cold.

visibility without drowning
one dashboard showing everything that matters across all clients. visual flags for the stuff that needs attention.

problems find you
smart filters matching how accountants actually think. missing receipts surface before they become a problem.

stay in context
drawer system so you can dive into details without losing your place. notifications that actually help instead of just… notifying.

Simplicity is deceptively hard. You have to really understand the workflow before you can make it feel effortless.

Watch for workarounds. When users build their own systems around your product, they’re basically telling you what features they need.

Sometimes the biggest wins come from removing friction people got so used to they stopped noticing it was there.

We optimized for getting work done faster, not keeping people on the page longer. Wild part? Both metrics went up anyway.

the solution in action

Bulk-add clients by pasting from a spreadsheet — Bulk onboarding from spreadsheet... partners could copy-paste rows to invite all clients in one go

Partner portal client page 2.0 — The new dashboard... everything important at a glance. No more tab juggling, no more mental gymnastics to track which clients needed attention.

Smart filters that work the way accountants think... we stopped trying to force partners into our organizational system and started supporting theirs.

Missing receipts notification and management — Missing receipts surfaced front and center. Partners could tackle them one by one without hunting through client accounts... Month-end just got easier.

Client account overview & settings — Quick-access drawer maintained context while showing details... overlay design instead of tabs meant partners could drill down without losing their place.

impact

Tracking data comparison — The data doesn’t lie... by the second month, the new portal outperformed the old by over 100%.

“You see, now I finish my Monday morning client expense reviews before my coffee gets cold.” — Sarah, Same partner bookkeeper, 1 month after launch

Working with Pleo taught me that B2B design isn’t about making things look professional… it’s about understanding professional workflows and making them more human.

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