Track the results of property listings for real estate agents
About Muze
Muze is an early-stage start up on a mission to provide real estate agents with a platform where they can easily create websites to showcase their property listings using Muze's website builder.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Within this 7 week sprint, I built a dashboard and analytics page with several metrics that provided insight on the listings posted on the Muze platform.
Timeline
Nov 2019 - Jan 2020
Role
Lead Product Designer
+ Data Visualization
+ UX/UI Design
+ Branding
CATEGORY
Real Estate, B2C
problem
Real estate agents are missing opportunities to efficiently show listings and close properties
The job of a real estate agent juggle multiple responsibilities including marketing, client relations, and property management. How might we help real estate agents identify opportunities that allow them to track and manage their listings on one platform?
solution
Use data as a catalyst to take action
Provide real estate agents with a simple dashboard and analytics page that will be well-received and easily understood. Users will have a home base to view data on a single screen or have the option to drill down into the numbers.
Dashboard
Leads
Traffic Overview
Traffic Sources
Search Keywords
Form Conversions
RESEARCH
Property listings are the priority
I analyzed companies who focused on data visualization, website builders, and property listings. Using the client's user research, I discovered what's important to a real estate agent's motivation and goals. This information helped guide design decisions and how the designs should benefit the user.
Selecting metrics based on user needs
Metrics need to be geared towards both website analytics and performance goals.
Pairing metrics with the right data visuals
Pairing the right data visualization to a metric is crucial for user comprehension.
Increase usability with simple designs
Keep the designs simple. Each feature should have a purpose to improve the user's job.
Which metrics will help users close more listings?
For this MVP, the client wanted to create a foundation of key metrics that was most applicable to the user's needs. Due to our timeline and scope, 6 metrics were selected to track the website metrics and the user's performance goals.
1
Leads
The hub for all form responses from the site.
2
Traffic Overview
Summary of all traffic and engagement on the site.
3
Traffic Sources
Show where visitors are coming from to view the site.
4
Search Keywords
See which words are drawing the most or least site traffic.
5
Form Conversions
Show users how visitors interact with site forms.
6
Geography
Identify the number of visits by location using a map.
DESIGN PROCESS
Leverage research and common design patterns to dictate design decisions
Once the user goes through the onboarding process and creates their site using our website builder, the user will have the ability to view their metrics from 2 places – the analytics page or dashboard.
The goal is to design for simplicity so that users can quickly access and analyze the data so they can focus on what's important — selling their listings.
ANALYTICS ITERATIONS
Constructing the analytics page
The goal of data visuals is to make it easier for users to comprehend the information being shown. The following iterations will show the design decisions made to create each of the metrics shown on the analytics page.
— Iteration #1
Finding the right pair
Similar to A/B testing, I paired visuals with each metric until I found the right match. The goal of finding the perfect match was for users to quickly understand the data being shown.
— Iteration #2
Defining information hierarchy
I finalized the chart type and added functions to drill down into the data such as date ranges and the ability to compare their listings.
Final Design — Analytics
Make it easy for users to read information with proper visuals and functionalities that highlight the user's property listings.
Analytics V.1 — Pairing Visuals
Similar to A/B testing, I paired visuals with each metric until I found the right match. The goal of finding the perfect match was for users to quickly understand the data being shown.
Analytics V.2 — Adding features tailored to real estate agents
I finalized the chart type and added functions to drill down into the data such as date ranges and the ability to compare their listings.
Analytics — Final Design
The simple design of
DASHBOARD ITERATIONS
Building the dashboard
Initially, the dashboard wasn't part of the scope, but was added post-research to address the user's need to quickly view time sensitive information.
By adding the dashboard, users now have a central page to view high-level metrics in real time while having the option to dive deeper into supporting metrics with one click.
Iteration #1:
What's the dashboard's purpose?
The initial approach was to create a dashboard that shows users key metrics from the analytics page onto one screen.
Iteration #2:
Re-evaluating the dashboard's intention
Changed the dashboard intention from highlighting performance metrics to a home page where real estate agents can take action by showing visitor inquiries, home details, and upcoming showings.
Final Design — Dashboard
A purposefully minimal dashboard to surface actionable data for real estate agents.
USABILITY TESTING
Turn suggestions into opportunities
All 6 users found the visuals helpful and quickly understood how to navigate through each page. Real estate agents provided feedback on how to make the second iteration more impactful for them and their role.
Here were the main takeaways:
Local is better than global
Users didn't find the Geography metric crucial.
Provide more context
Users needed more context when navigating through the metrics.
Speak their language
Using industry language is important for comprehension and guidance.
Remove what's not necessary
5/6 users didn't find the global view helpful. With this feedback, I archived this design to explore a local version.
Communicate with affordances
6/6 users wanted more context on metrics. I added helper text to eliminate confusion.
Speak the user's language
6/6 users suggested different terms related to their industry. Using domain specific language lead to an increase in comprehension and quick usability.
Prototype
Final Screens
Real estate agents can now manage and track their website metrics on the Muze platform.
next steps
"Muze was well-received by our dev team"
After hearing the client's feedback, there were still a few new pain points that were uncovered from usability testing that I found that would further enhance the user's experience. Below are some questions I wanted to tackle if given the time:
What happens after a listing is sold? Where does the data go? Currently, there is no user flow to view previous listings. Building this out would take further coordination with the engineering team to design and implement.
How would the Geography metric look as a local view? As discovered through usability testing, users wanted a local view for the Geography metric. Users found this more relevant and helpful for their daily tasks.
What if users miss opportunities if they don't log into their Muze account? Creating an email notification system could help avoid these missed opportunities and get users closer to selling their property listing.
