New office profile page for realtors
Problem to solve
The feedback I got from realtors was that they could not promote themselves effectively on funda. At the same time, funda users complained that funda did not provide enough relevant information on real estate offices to make a proper decision with which realtor they want to collaborate. Over time we collected a large amount of input from both sides of the platform, in what they were looking for. Based on this information a first draft of a ‘new’ office profile page and realtor search was created. In this case I will elaborate on the ‘new’ office profile page. For this specific ‘new’ office page the team set a metric to have 500 active contracts in the first month (March) after launch, with the aim of reaching 2000 active contracts at the end of 2021.
The request the product team for UX Research was:
- To evaluate with realtors the set-up and content of the current and ‘new’ profile page
- Understand the pains and gains from realtors in consumer communication with funda searchers
- Validate with consumers if the ‘new’ office page helps consumers find the right realtor
- Validate with consumers if the ‘new’ office page is also successful without the statistics
This case will focus on the above two objectives, as they need B2B research input from realtors, which is my domain.
What I did
Intake / Kick-off
To answer the first two objectives, I started off with a kick-off with the Product Owner, UX Designer, Product Marketeer, Sales Manager and a Business Developer to gather all the knowns and unknowns around the current and ‘new’ profile page, including assumptions and questions we had. All of this was plotted on a board, grouped and prioritized to define the most critical assumptions we should tackle during research.
Research
Out of the input from the kick-off I created a research plan with research objective, questions, scope, research method, approach and timelines. The plan was discussed with the main stakeholders to get everyone on board. After commitment, I set up the research by starting recruiting realtors for participation. Also, I started with sitting up a first draft of the interview script. Before making the final script, it is discussed with the stakeholders to make sure I do not miss important questions.
Research objective and questions
The aim of the realtor research was to gain a better understanding of how realtors use and would like to see the office page. Next to that we wanted to see how they responded to a basic and pro version and the connected costs.
- How / for what purpose do they use the office pagina?
- What elements of the kantoor pagina are important and how do realtors want to use them?
- How do they respond to current and ‘new’ version of the office page?
- Is their information missing on the office pagina?
In-depth interviews
The method and approach is based on the objectives and type of questions. The first objective we want to answer is evaluative. The second objective is explorative. For both types we decided to go for qualitative research to get qualitative information, using in-depth interviews with realtors.
During the field days at the funda office, I run the interviews, making sure another researcher is making notes for analysis afterwards. My aim is to make sure all stakeholders attend the interviews via a videostream so they hear the answers first hand. This helps in making sure they are on board. After every interview I did a short debrief and discuss the highlights before going in the next interview. For this project I spoke to N=6 realtors from different regions, sizes and approach.
Analysis
The day after the field day a short analysis session is planned with the entire stakeholder team to discuss the input we got. The main reason is for involvement of the team, but also to get a first grasp of the highlights they saw. The actual analysis is done by me as a UX researcher.
I start of with refreshing the objective(s) and research questions. Placing them on top of a board. Then collect all the input we got underneath and start grouping the information basis on the objective and research questions.
Then go over each group to pick out the main message. This will be my main insight, backed up with other information I found on that specific insight.
Reporting & debrief
Based on what we discussed, a report, video, journey map etc. will be produced by me. In this case it was a Powerpoint report, backed up with a short video with the main highlights from the interviews.
This report was presented by me to the complete Product Department and Commerce Department (marketing, sales, Service & Operations).
Next steps & ideation
After the debrief a next step session is planned to again go over the results and collaboratively discuss the next steps. Main goal is to make sure the team is acting on the results.
Progress tracking / evaluation
After launch, I was responsible for tracking the satisfaction and usage of the new profile page. I did this by making use of a poll via GetFeedback that popped up in funda desk (our CMS system for real estate offices). I also analyzed our platform data. Based on this feedback the profile page was tweaked. The Product Owner kept track on the number of contracts.
Impact & Learnings
The outcome of the research was better insight in the purpose of the office page. What information is important to realtors to show to funda searchers. But also their view on the current and new profile version, including the costs. Based on the research insights, the ‘new’ office page (called Kantoorprofiel Pro) was refined by UX Design and eventually released during Q2 2021. The product team’s metric with the ‘new’ profile page was a product setup of 500 contracts the first month (March), with the aim of 2000 active contracts at the end of 2021. After launch, within one week we already reached 800 and at the end of 2021 we hit the number of 2650 contracts. A side note. During build it was decided to initially offer the ‘new’ page for free to NVM-offices. This was a political reason.
