Projects
MyNeighbor - NPO
Goodkind - Indonesia
Subletinn
Chicago’s co-living solution for students and young professionals
Role
UX Research Intern
Timeline
Feb - Apr 2021
(2 months)
Platform
Website
Team
Senior UX Researcher
Product Manager
Context
Overview
Subletinn is a co-living housing service that aims to create a self-propagating and holistic community by connecting genuine people. To achieve this goal, Subletinn curates its community with a group of diverse and like-minded individuals selected from a list of applicants gathered through its website.
My Role
As an intern, I was fortunate to work with an amazing team of UX researcher and product manager. My responsibility includes increasing user conversion rates by improving the validity of the website through comprehensive research methodologies and data-driven insights.
/01
Problem Statement
How might we enhance the branding and credibility of our housing business to attract and build trust with potential customers in a competitive market?
Subletinn's credibility challenge arises from its status as a young establishment lacking resources for an effective marketing campaign, resulting in a perception of sketchiness among website visitors due to inadequate information and visibility. Therefore, the goal of the project is to:
Discover user’s mental models on how and why they chose to our service
Uncover different alternatives that people could choose, and their experience with these services
Evaluate how people are using Subletinn website to surface top pain points
/02
Research
🔀
Competitive analysis
We begin conducting our competitive analysis after a brief discussion with the company's co-founder to clarify the end-user as intended from the initial market research. As we begin with the research, we noted some of the most apparent direct competitors and indirect competitors of Subletinn. We noted down similar services, identified their key features, and reassessed the existing services based on the features. To my surprise, there were not a lot of sublease services in the real estate business.
⚡️ Competitive analysis takeaways:
/03
Interview Preparation
👽
Recruitment process
To get a better understanding of our target market, we sought a diverse participant pool encompassing both tenants and non-tenants of Subletinn to obtain a well-rounded perspective. We will achieve this by utilizing discovery interviews and contextual inquiry that enables comprehensive understanding of user motivations, preferences, and real-world interactions. This approach aimed to provide us with valuable insights into the website’s user experience, specifically gauging the response of first-time applicants and ensuring a comprehensive understanding of how individuals unfamiliar with our platform engage with its flow and features.
Some of our recruitment criteria were:
Someone who is looking for a place to live at least once in the past 6 months
Has signed a lease/sublease before
Age: 18-35
Geography: Chicago only
Language spoken: English
Tools and Preparations
Research method: Discovery interviews, Contextual inquiry
Research tools: Email, Video camera, Note taking tool
/04
User Interviews
🔍
Discovery interviews
We adopted a "walk the store" approach for our one-on-one interviews, conducting insightful 30-minute conversations focused on participants' backgrounds, daily routines, and the decision-making process for choosing their current living arrangements. The discussions delved into competitors and similar services, exploring participants' sentiments towards these offerings. Utilizing the TEDW approach (Tell me more..., Explain..., Describe..., Walk me through...) with open-ended questions fostered candid conversations, enabling us to uncover valuable insights into participants' mental models and pain points without influencing their responses.
👩🏼💻
Contextual inquiry
Subsequent to initial interview, we conducted contextual inquiries to gain deeper insights from end-users who selected our service, involving a comprehensive website walkthrough tailored to their typical usage patterns. During this process, I observed users navigating the site, eliciting their thoughts aloud, and posed clarifying questions as needed. This approach, chosen for its ability to reveal users' mental models during the home search process, allowed us to pinpoint key pain points for targeted team focus. In total, we conducted five of these user interviews to inform business strategies and refine our service offerings.
/05
Research Analysis
⚡️
Key takeaways
Recognizing that our ideal end-users seek community-oriented living, we discovered that a significant portion of our targeted demographic opts for Sublets primarily due to financial constraints, indicating a willingness to compromise comfort and security for cost savings. While our challenge is genuine, its severity is moderate. The main hurdle lies in end-users hesitating to apply due to perceived credibility issues. By strategically leveraging testimonials and showcasing credibility examples, we can instill trust, encouraging more applicants.
👫️
Target user
Our primary focus is on these two distinct demographic:
Target User 1: Individuals seeking affordable housing with the flexibility of short-term leases, predominantly comprised of students and young professionals, as identified through Subletinn's initial market research on the demographics of economical and short-term housing.
Target User 2: Community-oriented individuals who prioritize social interactions and events over private living spaces, seeking environments that foster social gatherings.
#ProjectTakeaways
Reflection
Involving more quantitative research
Incorporating more quantitative research into our methodology by integrating surveys and web analytics alongside qualitative insights will provide a holistic understanding of user trends and preferences, facilitating statistical analysis for more informed decision-making.
Enjoying every step along the way
Throughout this research experience I learn that having a growth mindset that is open for new experience is crucial for my professional development. However, I also learn to enjoy every step along the way. During my intern experience I was able to learn new research methodologies, tools, and industry best practices; all the things that I love and keeps me on pursuing the UX field. Pushing myself to keep on learning new things is always a great experience but it is also important to recognize my limitations and potential burnouts. So take it easy and enjoy every step along the way.
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