Rental Application Redesign
Background:
The rental experience in Domain is an emerging market that presents untapped potential. This project comprises two distinct phases, each serving a specific purpose:
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The first phase entails comprehensive user research to gain a deep understanding of the user journey and identify potential areas for product development.
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In the second stage, in collaboration with the product manager, we determined that the application stage is the primary focus for exploration and improvement.
My Role in this Project:
In my capacity as the lead product designer, I worked closely with the product manager, developers, and fellow designers. My responsibilities encompassed opportunity identification, conducting thorough user research, crafting high-fidelity wireframes and prototypes, as well as conducting usability testing.
This collaborative effort aimed to ensure a holistic and user-centric approach to the project's development.
Problems
High demanding and not enough supply drives a competitive rental market in metropolitan areas.
The hot market also requires the rental applicants react fast and become more compelling. ​​
Long Forms
From the competition product research, we found that the existing application forms are too long.
Applications from the competitor product or the agency site usually have 100-120 fields.
However, from the agent research, we found that only 70% of the information on the form is required.
Duplication of effort
The biggest pain point for users is filling long forms with the same information repeatedly.
Privacy concerns
Since each agency has its own system, they asked the applicant to place the information on their platform. For the applicant, they are worried that their data and privacy will be leaked.
Worse than the duplicate effort, the survey found that 80% of agents still require applicants to use paper to fill out the form.
How should we start?
Simplified the form, remove the unnecessary information.
Conducted a quantitative survey with 3 big agencies. Get 129 responses.
Design Solutions
7 ± 2
An avg. human working memory
Most application forms are long. However, our mind can hold just seven items at a time (plus or minus two) in the short-term memory.
This means that it's all too easy to overload people with too many information. So we group items together and structure them logically, it's much easier for the user to read and understand.
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From the agent quantitive survey, we found only 70% of the information applicants provided are valuable to the agent. We removed the 30% of useless forms.
"We place a greater value on products seen as a whole in shape."
Filling a long form is boring and stressful.
To bring accomplishment, and let the user feel that the form is not that long. Progress bar here is a way that not just encourage the user to complete the form, but also makes them feel that it doesn't take too much time to complete the form.
For returning users, since we have saved most of their information, they only need to complete two steps.
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1. Fill in the information related to the property and the contract.
2. Review the personal information that they have previously filled in to ensure that all information is up to date.
User validation research
Research goals
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Test usability. (UI design and interactions)
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Test information structure and visual hierarchy, including test copy and visual design variation.
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Discover unmet user needs.
Key user insights
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For multiple applicants, the primary applicant wishes to ask the secondary applicants to complete their part.
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Anything creates urgency makes people feel overwhelmed.
3
Design Iterations
7+
Design variations to match the brand and fits the visual hierarchy
24
User interviews
129
Agent quantitative surveys
Domain Location Research Tool
UI/UX Design
User Research
Product Planning
Prototyping & Test
Strategy Design