YourEstate – Case Study
Prompt: Adapt user experience of a real estate website for foreigners looking for a house in Berlin.
Goal: Increase conversion, reduce bounce rate and exit rate of visitors from outside of or foreigners in Germany, looking for an apartment in Berlin.
Intro
This is an opportunity to better display my user-centric approach. I feel this case study can shine a light on my methodology, enriched by my own experience of issues encountered. When I moved to Berlin, I felt that because of unfamiliar German customs and the difficult Berlin housing market, looking for a rental in the city could be overwhelming. This is a rhetoric also echoed in several online platforms. However, considering the influx of foreigners into the city, it is also a good impact opportunity. I based this case study on the Immoscout24 platform- one of Berlin’s most popular websites for apartment hunting. As a source of information for foreigners moving into the city, I used allaboutberlin.de which provides nearly all that I needed for my adaptation.
Pain Points
With experience as a foreigner looking for an apartment rental in Berlin, I could estimate some of the pain points. Exploring the Immoscout24 website and reading the documentation found at allaboutberlin.de gave a fair perspective on the issue.
- Websites are usually not translated;
- German terms like Anmeldung even in English documentation are not translated;
- Most landlords don’t speak English;
- Filtering searches have little options
Ideate
I ideated solutions for the pain points by asking myself what users need, when they need it, if they should have it beforehand and how it can be provided to them.
Wireframing
I find designing wireframes on paper is best to study specific screens that warrant more creativity. Digital tools, on the other hand, allow to wireframe the whole experience with slightly less speed but more flexibility.
