Estatly the case study
jaynryde@gmail.com | 0499354223 www.linkedin.com/in/iamj/ www.iamjay.design/
Estatly the case study
Effective communication between anxious Australians and property managers.
Overview This was a personal UX project conceived in June 2021 when people from the cities were moving into regional NSW since WFH was in effect. I identified the problem space when I noticed anxious renters often worrying on Facebook about their relationship with their Property Manager (PM) and Landlord (LL). Jay, 21 Sept 2021
My role:
End to End Designer
MY TOOLBOX. Figma. Trello. Otter. Miro. Zoom. Google Slides. Slack. Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Photoshop.
TIMELINE. 3 week sprint
The Original Problem Statement Australians who feel anxious about renting and needs help but is confused.
I conducted 1 survey and gathered 52 responses. I also found one other competitor through my desktop research and conducted 8 remote interviews which include tele-conversations.
https://www.iamjay.design/estatly
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Competitor analysis at a glance I learned about dontrentme.com during my desktop research and had the following points to note. Not user friendly Facing legal issues due to the personal nature of complaints The design needed to be updated Did not solve problems; mainly for ranting Didn’t encourage personal trust and responsibility Complaints/ comments couldn’t be validated Has a reputation in the industry for wild claims and personal attacks Not taken seriously by property managers/ owners/ landlords
I conducted 8 remote interviews and these were some of the insights I gathered.
“Made me feel like I’m not a priority to them” - Monica Tran
“Reaching out to them for maintenance is difficult” - Rina Jay
“Frustrating experience” - Molly Helmuth
“Took some time to reply me” - Rachel Edwards
“I’m time poor and can’t be chasing them” - Sinapohn Sri
Surveys 94.3% felt their renting experience could be improved 97.1% wanted to build a better relationship with their PM Above 98% were female and between 20 to 60 years of age 74.8% had anxiety when repairs were needed at their rental 80.2% had difficulty reaching out to their PM
I next synthesized my research and collated all the important nuggets of information from the research to form the Affinity and Empathy maps. The insights that I uncovered led me to realise that my problem statement had changed. At this point I pivoted to craft another problem statement that I felt was now relevant.
the new Problem Statement Australians who feel anxious about contacting their property manager and needs help but are/feel ignored.
Personas
Crafting the HMW Statements One
Two
How might we help Jennifer communicate with her PM effectively?
How might we assist Jennifer to resolve her maintenance issues quickly?
Facilitating a design workshop Brainstorm several answers and then placed the valuable insights onto a MVP Matrix.
Of the several quick wins that I realized, I picked 3 feasible features to incorporate: Direct contact with tradies, Photo sharing of issues and Digital logbook
Before creating a user flow on Miro, I did 2 quick sketches to reveal barriers and connections I didn’t see before. The user flow that I next crafted on Miro was helpful to visualize Jennifer’s journey through the product. The Jennifer’s I tested the flow on wanted better: 1. Discoverability 2. Predictability 3. Explorability 4. Forgiveness The above principles guided me to build a better user flow for Jennifer.
What did I learn from the low-fidelity wireframes? Jennifer liked the layout but she mentioned finding it “a bit much”. While she could identify what she wanted in certain shapes, another section confused her. Jennifer wanted more context and clearer IA.
Summary: Low-Fi Wireframes Usability Tests
2 Iterations, 6 User Tests Good: Liked the layout Bad: Want more context and clearer IA
Next up, the mid-fi wireframes. What did I learn here? I learned that my persona wanted a utility experience; Jennifer wanted an easy way to solve her main pain point reporting issues as they arose and having the PM accountable. So what she wanted was a product with a streamlined IA. Bells and whistles were nice to have but she really wanted to quickly report maintenance issues as they arose.
Summary: Mid-Fi Wireframes Usability Tests
2 Iterations, 6 User Tests Good: Jennifer like the icons and layout Bad: Wants to quickly report issues
On to the high-fidelity wireframes, what did I learn here? Jennifer loved these wireframes! She found her experience engaging and interactive but reminded me that ultimately, this was another tool to connect with her PM. She loved the ease of access with which she could upload photos but wanted several elements enlarged for accessibility.
Summary: Hi-Fi Wireframes Usability Tests
2 Iterations, 6 User Tests. Rating: 8/10 Good: Jennifer loves the aesthetic and layout! Bad: Make the repair request more realistic! Make text larger, not easy to read.
Final prototype Click to see the interactive prototype in your browser: https://bit.ly/3HurS9p
What did the stakeholder’s say? www.reallygreatsite.com “Great job Jay, continue developing the product, we would consider using it.” Gabe Sarkis, Investment Property Specialist & LREA, NNW Property
“I like it, will definitely use it to contact my PM!” Monica Tran, Renter
“I will be happy to use the app and ask my users to consider your app when property agencies utilize Estatly for their communications with renters.” Anthony Ziebell, Owner - dontrentme.com
Estatly the case study
jaynryde@gmail.com | 0499354223 www.linkedin.com/in/iamj/ www.iamjay.design/