An insight-driven approach to product design

This case study is not your regular success feature story; it’s a great story about research influencing product decisions.

role 
Design research

company
Property Finder
Dubai, UAE

YEAR
Jan–Mar 2020

Property Finder, a Middle East real-estate portal, rolled out a beta release of a chat feature as an additional contact method in its mobile application to three selected agencies.

The feature allowed consumers to communicate directly with the agent via the app, without them having to share their contact details. The goal of the feature was to support in agent responsiveness, one of the top consumers’ pain points. 

Research Process
From assumptions to insights

The product team wanted to validate to agents and consumers to learn about their experience and pain points using the feature. This would inform our product & design decisions and validate if it was a valuable feature to release to a broader audience.

Let's get the research started.
Some of the assumptions that the team wanted to validate with agents & consumers.

qualitative research
Semi-structured interviews with agents & customers who have used the feature. We also sent a feedback survey to consumers who had used the chat.

quantitative research
I partnered up with the Tech Lead and Product Manager to analyze chat content, identify top keywords, the volume of use and the response rate from agents.

Analysis & Synthesis
After identifying the main themes from our qualitative & quantitative data, I presented the insights to the product team and identified opportunities for the future roadmap of the product. 

Research insights

Chat played an important role in the initial stage of a customer and agent relationship. There is an opportunity to assist agents and consumers at this stage

Agents understood the benefit of the chat feature for customers. They understand that not everyone wants to speak on the phone straight away when searching for houses

Consumers expected chat to provide them with quick replies and real-time communication about their property search

The chat experience was fragmented for agents, they felt frustrated as they were unable to follow up with unresponsive consumers 

Agents were not clear about the differentiator of chat in their journey. Their workflow already had well-established tools, and chat was yet another channel for them to check

Agents rely on phone calls to have a reliable way to follow up with consumers and secure the lead. It also helps them to build trust and better understand their needs

WhatsApp dominates the communication process. It supports both agents and customers with all their needs, from initial contact to closing the deal 

Conclusion
It’s a risky business

The chat feature did not add any value to consumers and agents. It did not offer anything unique vs other communication channels, and it was not contributing to the initial problem it was meant to tackle: agent responsiveness. If anything, it only surfaced issues on the agent's quality of service that reflected the disengagement and lack of value they were getting from it. 

Agents side
Chat added challenges to their workflow by not having contact details from the consumer.

Consumers Side 
Users were frustrated for not getting a real-time response and quick response they were expecting.

impact
When the chat window closed,
new opportunities appeared

Bye chat, hello WhatsApp
The product team deprecated the feature after six months of the beta-release and introduced WhatsApp contact option in the apps. Agents and customers used WhatsApp already, so there was no risk of adoption. 

the impact of whatsapp

60% of leads

#1 contact method used

in the Consumer apps (iOS & Android)

1.9x over phone calls

188x over Chat

customer profile
How might we provide the search criteria to help agents better serve users in their property search?

automating consumer qualification
How might we support agents and educate about the agent’s requirements and the process of getting a property in the UAE?

Scheduling viewings
How might we allow our consumers to easily schedule a viewing using the Property Finder App to be able to move forward with their property search and improve agent responsiveness at this key moment in the journey?

Learnings

no discovery = high risk 
Discovery work in this project was missing to identify in an early stage what the real problems and pain points were.

The value of research
This research study made evident that there were high value and usability risks about agent adoption and consumers’ understanding of the value of the feature.   

Experimentation + validation
Making informed decisions and experiments with research in place can support the business invest time & resources in the right areas of the journey. 

Just because a feature is cool doesn’t mean it will be adopted by your users. It’s important to get out early and validate your assumptions with real users.

Let’s work together

I’m open to collaborations with fun & friendly people. If you’re looking for someone to partner with for branding, design or illustration projects, contact me.