'Request a viewing' Feature for Real Estate
Finding a good rental without agents and intermediaries is a challenge in Canada. In this project, I designed a new feature to enable renters to request/schedule a viewing directly with landlords for the rental property listed on Kijiji.
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Slides
Introduction
Enable renters to request a viewing and landlords to schedule viewings for the rental property listed on Kijiji
Toronto's rental market, characterized by its rapid pace, high demand, and inflated prices, presents a unique set of challenges for both renters and landlords. The process of securing a rental property involves multiple intermediaries such as viewing agents, listing agents, and various stages of applications and approvals that extends the timeframe for securing a rental and also adds layers of frustration for all parties involved.
This feature was designed to enable long-term rental tenants to send property viewing requests on property listings as a pre-formatted Chat message with date/time availabilities to landlords. Landlords will receive requests in chat and can finalize the scheduling and visit details with the tenant directly within Chat.
Key Project Highlights
Positioned as the first step in a long-term strategy to differentiate and enrich the reply experience specifically for long-term rental (LTR) users.
Focused on addressing the primary user job identified through extensive research - understanding the actual condition of the rental unit before proceeding to the application stage.
Despite facing limitations with the existing chat API, the team ingeniously worked around these by customizing pre-constructed chat messages, ensuring the feature could be rolled out without delay.
Problem Statement
Identifying the Core Issue:
Kijiji has traditionally served as a platform that reduces the gap between renters and landlords, offering a more direct line of communication compared to other market players. Despite this advantage, the insight was gained that the market remains underserved, with existing solutions focusing more on lead generation and sales funnels rather than fostering genuine connections between landlords and their potential tenants. This misalignment with user needs highlighted a significant opportunity for innovation.
Specific Challenges Identified:
The standard rental process involves intermediaries, making direct landlord-renter communication rare and difficult.
Each intermediary step adds time and complexity, significantly slowing down the viewing and application process in the fast paced rental market of Toronto.
While competitive real estate websites are plenty, their focus often remains on lead generation rather than facilitating real, meaningful interactions between renters and landlords.
Reply experience is mostly the same across all categories despite different user jobs to be done after replies and towards the transaction.
Goals & Objectives
To drive replies from LTR VIP and expand the definition of replies from Chat/Email to include Viewing Requests. (Along with other LTR product initiatives) Targeted to increase LTR Replies per VIP from 10% to 15% YoY in Q3.
This feature will the starting point of the long-term strategy to:
- Drive the user behaviour and customize the reply experience for LTR users.
- Deepen the LTR journey beyond replies and towards actually filling (landlord) or securing (tenant) a rental property.
User/Business Value:
We believed that differentiating the reply experience for LTR tenants / landlords by enabling viewing requests will:
Generate more qualified (high intent) leads for landlords.
Expedite the scheduling process of viewings for tenants / landlords.
Create opportunity for Kijiji to offer new tenant qualification features for landlords.
Drive user behaviour of high-intent tenants to use Viewing Requests instead of Chat so that they communication between landlords and tentants can be quick and efficient.
Discovery Phase
Uncovering Insights and Opportunities
The journey to create the "Request a Viewing" feature began with a comprehensive discovery phase, aimed at thoroughly understanding the nuances of Toronto's rental market and the specific needs of Kijiji’s user base. This phase was instrumental in identifying the exact pain points faced by renters and landlords, which guided the technical consultation with the developers. The discovery phase that involved UX research, CS, Product and Tech led to strategic and collaborative decision making.
Key Activities
Conducted extensive interviews and surveys with both renters and landlords. This research confirmed that the primary concern for renters was to quickly ascertain the actual condition of a property, which was not adequately addressed by the existing platforms in the RE industry.
Reviewed competitive platforms to assess how they handle property viewing requests. It was found that many competitors used viewing requests primarily for lead generation, missing the opportunity to facilitate direct interactions between renters and landlords.
Engaged with software architects and developers early in the process to understand the capabilities and limitations of Kijiji's existing chat system. This collaboration revealed that the desired system-level messaging features were not feasible in the short term due to technical API constraints.
Qualitative Findings
LTR tenants rank ‘Find out what the actual condition of the unit is’ as the most important user job in their rental search journey (JTBD UXR survey 2022)
Today on Kijiji, this user need is not served because the buyer journey ends at replies
For the rentals search journey, for example, tenants would want to first schedule a viewing to qualify the rental’s condition and environment before they decide to submit an application.
Quantitative Findings
LTR replies decreased -23% from H1 2022 to H1 2023
LTR replies constitutes ~37% of all Real Estate replies in H1 2023
Strategic Decisions Made
Pre-Formatted Chat Messages: Given the limitations with the chat API, the team decided to use pre-constructed chat messages for viewing requests. This approach allowed for a quicker implementation and provided a workaround that still significantly improved user communication.
Focus on High-Intent User Actions: The feature was designed to cater to high-intent tenants, distinguishing serious inquiries from casual browsing, thereby generating more valuable leads for landlords.
Defined Feature Scope: The discovery phase led to a clear understanding of what was needed from the "Request a Viewing" feature in terms of tech handoff, which included hi-fi mockups for FE and working prototypes for UXR.
Alignment with Long-Term Goals: The insights gained during this phase reinforced the feature's alignment with Kijiji's broader strategy to enhance direct communication between renters and landlords, setting a strong foundation for the ‘Submit an Application’ feature.
Pre-Formatted Chat Messages: Given the limitations with the chat API, the team decided to use pre-constructed chat messages for viewing requests. This approach allowed for a quicker implementation and provided a workaround that still significantly improved user communication.
Design Process
Drafting user journeys
Created flowcharts for user journeys for all users jobs to be done to visualize the user flow and interface.
Objective: Simplifying the process of requesting a viewing within the chat interface.
Prototyping and User Testing
Developed interactive prototypes based on initial wireframes.
Conducted user testing sessions to gather early feedback and identify areas for improvement.
Hi-fi Mockups
Refined designs based on user feedback and technical input to create hi-fi mockups.
Focused on fine-tuning the UI.
Handoff
Collaborated closely with the development team to ensure accurate implementation.
Prepared detailed design specifications to guide the development process.
Development & QA
Development Collaboration
Team Integration
I was working alongside mobile, back-end, and front-end developers from the outset, fostering an environment of mutual decision making and creative problem-solving.
Technical Feasibility
Regular technical reviews were conducted to ensure that design proposals remained within the realm of feasibility, given the existing infrastructure and API constraints.
Agile Methodology
We worked in an agile development process, allowing for process to integrate user feedback and iterative improvements to the feature.
Quality Assurance and Testing
QA Involvement
I worked along with Quality Assurance (QA) specialists who were involved later in the development process, identifying potential issues and ensuring that the feature met all usability and performance standards.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Collaborated with product team to conduct UAT, bug bashes within the product & UX team to validate the feature against real-world usage scenarios, ensuring it met the laid-out objectives and user expectations.
Feedback Loops
Established a feedback loop between QA, development, and design teams to quickly address any issues uncovered during testing, streamlining the refinement process.
Launch & Impact
Strategically Introducing the Feature
The launch of the “Request a Viewing” feature marked a significant milestone for Kijiji, representing a direct response to the identified needs of Toronto’s rental market. The strategic rollout was meticulously planned to maximize adoption and gather insightful feedback for further refinements.
Launch Strategy
Phased Rollout
Initiated with a beta version targeted at a select user group, enabling the collection of detailed feedback on usability and effectiveness.
Community Engagement
Utilized email campaigns, in-app notifications, and social media to inform both new and existing users of the feature, emphasizing its ease of use and time-saving benefits.
Iterative Feedback Incorporation
Ongoing collection and integration of user feedback continue to refine and improve the feature, ensuring it remains aligned with user needs and market trends.
Impact and Results
The “Request a Viewing” feature had a tangible impact on the user experience on Kijiji, significantly enhancing the process of renting properties in Toronto.
User Adoption
Saw a high adoption rate among target users, with positive feedback on the feature’s convenience and efficiency.
Increased Engagement
Noted a marked increase in user engagement, with more meaningful interactions between renters and landlords.
Sucess Metrics
- Noted a marked increase in user engagement, with more meaningful interactions between renters and landlords.
- Shift of 40% of all LTR replies from Chat/Email to Viewing requests
- LTR VIPs with Viewing Request generated more replies /VIP.
- 80% success rate for tenants completing the Viewings form
Lessons Learned
The launch and subsequent success of the “Request a Viewing” feature provided several key learnings:
User-Centric Design Pays Off
Initiated with a beta version targeted at a select user group, enabling the collection of detailed feedback on usability and effectiveness.
Flexibility in Development
Demonstrated the value of flexibility and innovation in overcoming technical challenges.
Strategic Rollouts Enhance Adoption
Showed that a phased approach to feature rollout can significantly enhance user adoption and satisfaction.
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