Supporting consumers to view their future home

An ode to home. Working from home project to help users find their new home from anywhere. Home sweet home.

role 
Design research & product design

company
Property Finder
Dubai, UAE

YEAR
Apr–May 2020

In May 2020, when Dubai was in lockdown due to COVID-19, Property Finder released a new feature to aid the property search for consumers and ensure the viewing experience between agents and consumers could happen during a lockdown.

The new feature, Live Viewings, allowed consumers to join viewings of properties in real-time from the property listing and enabled a chat during the viewing to ask questions directly to the agents.

context
Why a viewing feature?

Viewing places is a core part of the user journey, and previous research about the process and pains of consumers scheduling viewings with agents supported our hypothesis that a feature in this part of the user journey could add value to consumers. Moreover, this was also ensuring Property Finder’s portal health and supporting Real Estate Agents during a critical time for the industry.

quantitative data
What was going on?

After a few weeks of releasing the feature, the team wanted to get feedback from consumers on how to improve it and validate the initial journey of the feature.

Our quantitative data indicated what was happening in the funnel of the feature,  helping the product manager and me to define our focus areas. 

30% of consumers who added a live viewing to their calendar, join the viewing 

2% of consumers who saw a listing with a live viewing add this to their calendar

3% of consumers who joined the live viewing, submitted a lead

our goals
Awareness & adoption

Consumer adoption and awareness of Live Viewings were our priorities. Why? It was important to ensure that we could generate the demand from consumers to join the viewings scheduled by agents. This would support the success of the feature and continue driving agents’ adoption. 

Awareness
The filter usage for the feature
is low. Why is it happening?

Adoption
How can we ensure consumers add the viewing to their calendars?

process & methodology
The power of remote collaboration

In the Design Team at Property Finder, we start every research project with a Research Plan Canvas. It’s a simple but powerful artifact that helps designers and product managers define all the research’s core aspects.

I planned and conducted seven usability testing sessions followed by a semi-structured interview to get a better understanding of our users.

Mastering remote workshops with Miro.

Analysis & Ideation
Using the power Miro & Zoom, I planned and facilitated two workshops for the team to analyze and ideate together. Design, engineering, product, and marketing all collaborating remotely.

1. Analysis workshop. We identified themes and opportunities from the testing and interviews. 

2. Ideation workshop. Using crazy 8’s, we sketched and ideated on solutions aligned with our initial research goals.

Research insights

The difference between the virtual features was not crystal clear for consumers. We need to communicate the value these features bring to their property search journey better.

Consumers see great value in live viewings as part of their searching journey. Time-saving and shortlisting properties were the most valuable characteristics.

Live viewings need more visibility in the consumer searching journey. This will increase awareness & engagement.

We can provide additional value to agents and consumers by requesting details from consumers who join a live viewing. 

Opportunities

1. clarity & communication 
How might we better communicate the benefits of the new features?

2. feature distinction
How might we better consolidate our virtual offerings?

3. visibility & guidance 
How might we provide clear guidance on how the feature works for consumers?

result
An improved onboarding experience

The design adjustments were primarily made in the initial stages of the feature before users signed up for it or joined one. This was a key finding from our research and crucial for the feature to see its full potential.

To create awareness, communicate right, and set the right expectations from the beginning, we added tooltips and a banner for a Feature Tour on the Homepage and Search Results page.

If we confuse users, we lose them
We introduced a Learn More module in the product detail page to explain users about the benefits and value of the feature.

I worked on copy adjustments in collaboration with product & marketing to ensure the texts were explicit and served a purpose in the different parts of the experience to support the consumer journey. 

Onboarding New Users
We also introduced a Feature tour showcasing Live Viewings feature and other virtual offerings that launched on the portal. This helped to communicate and guide users about the value it brought in their property search and where to find them.

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.