Case Study Overview
There is still “pent-up demand” from millennials who have been saving up to buy a home since the end of the Great Recession, and being “cooped up in an apartment” during the pandemic has given them an incentive to explore their options. We want to provide users with ways to be better informed so that they will feel equipped and knowledgeable about the home purchasing process.
Project Goals
Zillow
Engage and educate potential first-time home buyers on everything they need to know about the purchase of their first home.
Users
Create a trustworthy learning resource so they know they’ve made the right decision and feel confident in their purchase.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Lead Visual Designer
Responsibilities
Time
2 Week Sprint
Research Methods
Tools
Competitive & Comparative Analysis
We started our research with a C&C analysis to get an idea of how other online real estate marketplaces engage and educate their users.
Takeaways
We found that none of Zillow's competitors were utilizing any education specific tools and saw an opportunity to create something there, possibly using gamification. Since none of their direct competitors use gamification it could really set Zillow apart.
Survey
Our next step was to reach out to users with a survey to identify some of their needs, frustrations and goals when it comes to learning the home-buying process.
Survey Data
- 36.8% of respondents said they are "somewhat knowledgeable" about the home buying process.
- 84.2% of respondents said they use their phone or tablet to access home buying/ rental services.
- 36.8% of respondents said they are most interested in learning more about the home buying process as a whole.
(Data collected from 19 responses)
Interviews
For our interviews we started broad and interviewed both millennials and other age groups who had and had not purchased a home. We also interviewed an expert in home loans to get a better understanding of the financial process home buyers go through.
Our interviews gave us insight into what first time buyers need to know to feel comfortable buying and what past buyers wish they knew when they were purchasing for the first time.
Affinity Map
After conducting interviews we used the responses to create an affinity map. This helped us understand more about how the millenial home buyer (our end users) thinks and feels.
Insights
"I am intimidated by the home buying process."
- doesn't like feeling overwhelmed
"I value honesty and transparency."
- needs a trustworthy source of information
"I value the guidance of professionals."
- seeks advice from various sources
Persona
We condensed our interview insights into a persona, Kate. Kate represents our end users and kept us focused on who we were designing for throughout the process.
Problem Statement
With our persona Kate in mind we developed our problem statement.
"Kate needs a trustworthy learning resource to inform the purchase of her first home because she wants to make sure she made the right decision and needs to feel confident in her purchase."
How Might We's...
We came up with some HMW's to address Kate's problem.
- How might we make learning about the home buying process engaging and educational for Kate?
- How might we best provide Kate with the financial resources to make informed choices?
- How might we help Kate feel confident about purchasing her first home?
Our Solution
Combining the needs of Zillow and Kate, we developed a solution to guide our design.
We will develop a streamlined, educational tool for Zillow to guide and assist first-time homebuyers throughout every stage of the home buying process so that they can feel confident and informed about their purchase.
New Feature or New App?
One of our first design decisions was where to house our new educational tool.
We determined our tool would integrate well into the existing Zillow app and make it simpler for users to track their journey if they could remain in one app for the entire process.
Opportunities for Growth
Given our research we identified areas we wanted to address in our solution.
- Streamline Zillow's existing educational content into a single comprehensive source
- Provide context for Zillow's existing financial tools
- Make the home buying process more engaging and accessible
- Continue to build a sense of trust between Zillow and users
First Draft
(Low-Fidelity Wireframes)
What was created?
- An 'Education' tab, representing our tool, added to the existing navigation
- A home screen for our tool (Zillow Ed.) that shows a breakdown of the lessons included
- Dual page tabs titled "Overview" and "Your Journey." The "Your Journey" page is reserved for users with an account so you can save your progess and see where you are in the process.
- A progress bar at the bottom of the screen once you start a lesson
- Zillow's existing tools integrated within the lessons so users understand when, why and how you would use each one
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
What changed?
- "Zillow Ed." became "My Guide" to more accurately reflect the personalized aspect of the tool
- We created the character "Zuli" to give users a quick tutorial of the new tool
- Changes to the UI to better integrate the existing Zillow tools into lessons
High-Fidelity Wireframes
What changed?
- Incorprated Zillow colors, fonts, and other elements from their style guide
- Simplified bottom navigation that's more easily accessibile
- Replaced progress bar with pagination so users can see the number of pages instead of a percentage
- Subtle changes to the UI and added interactive elements for the final prototype
Prototype Walkthrough
Future Considerations
- Add text-to-speech to all lessons, and more accessibility features
- Further utilize video content throughout lessons
- Incorporate the Zuli character more throughout the process to add encouragement for users
- Spend more time on the UI, finding ways to make the learning process more enjoyable
Reflection
My first UX Case Study/ Design Sprint with a team! This case study was a massive learning experience both as a UX designer and home buying newbie. Thankfully it proved to me that you can in fact create an effective design even if you're not too familiar with the subject matter (if you're willing to learn along the way). In this case me and my teams lack of knowledge about purchasing a home worked to our advantage because our design was for others also new to the process, making it easy to empathize with our users pain points. However, I also learned the value of consulting experts and interviewing people who are experienced in buying homes because they have valuable hindsight that helped us learn where our users may get stuck throughout the process.