Zillow

Introducing ratings and reviews feature to increase engagement rates for rental listings.

Tasks

Research

UX UI Design

Prototyping

Usability Testing

Team

Sophie Tran

Katherine Eng

Yunlan Fu

Timeline

March - April 2024

Timeline

March - April 2024

Overview

While conducting desktop research of the Zillow app, we noticed that many users have reported Zillow does not provide access to reliable verified insights. Furthermore, rental listings are hard to judge until you see it in person, we wanted to give users the power to leave reviews for rental properties. This will increase customer confidence in using Zillow for viewing rental listings.

Problem
Statement

Problem statement

We have observed that customers are struggling with gaining insights into properties from listings to make informed decisions, which is causing them to close the listings without any interaction.

"Zillow should absolutely add comments to listings, it would allow people to communicate about neighborhoods…"

"…make it possible to rate realtors and leave comments on properties or atleast the communities they reside in."

"I use Zillow to quickly view broad value info, school info, or tax info, but it's not specific in its valuations of property features."

User
Segments

User Segments

Zillow has a very diverse user group. For our study, the team first needed to understand the perspective of those we observed voicing a need for verified insights: renters and buyers.

Understanding the user perspective, we created the personas
to help us move forward with our decision-making.

Considering the personas and user flow, we aimed to address the
specific problem through the following user stories.

Considering the personas and user flow, we aimed to address the specific problem through the following user stories.

"When searching for rental buildings... I want to filter by my desired rental criteria so that I have a positive experience living in an apartment building that I have selected."

"When deciding between two properties... I’d like to access verified neighborhood and building insights so that I can choose a property that best suits my needs."

"When evaluating a property...
I want to be able to check out user reviews so that I can be informed about their living experiences and property conditions."

Solution
Brainstorm

Solution Brainstorm

To visually represent the desired outcome of the users, we created a solutions tree to show how our team made a unanimous decision to solve our problem statement.

Based on the pain points of our personas, we generated several potential
ideas and voted on the most actionable solution.

Based on the pain points of our personas, we generated several potential ideas and voted on the most actionable solution.

Design System

Creating the foundations of the design system, we worked off the current Zillow branding guideline and created the necessary components to design our solutions.

Prototyping

Our main goal was to integrate the review feature without cluttering the existing layout. This required careful consideration to maintain balance between comprehensive information and user-friendly navigation.

Locating the comments and reviews section from the property detail drawer.

Leaving a review of the property as a current resident to inform new and prospective residents.

Usability Testing

Moving on to the usability test, the team conducted 5 moderated tests via Zoom. As a baseline, each user had experience using an online platform (mobile app) to browse rental apartments.

We asked users to complete two tasks: 1) Identify the apartment review section and 2) the user taking the action to write a review and submit it.

Moving on to the usability test, the team conducted 5 moderated tests via Zoom. As a baseline, each user had experience using an online platform (mobile app) to browse rental apartments.

We asked users to complete two tasks: 1) Identify the apartment review section and 2) the user taking the action to write a review and submit it.

Moving on to the usability test, the team conducted 5 moderated tests via Zoom. As a baseline, each user had experience using an online platform (mobile app) to browse rental apartments.

We asked users to complete two tasks: 1) Identify the apartment review section and 2) the user taking the action to write a review and submit it.

The test aimed to assess 3 touch points: 1) Entry point and discovery, 2) Browsing existing reviews and 3) Submitting reviews.

Key Findings

· The feature is valued by users, especially by renters looking to make quick, informed decisions.

· While users do consider reviews when making rental decisions, they would prioritize other factors such as price, amenities, neighborhood, pet policy, and property photos.

· Detailed reviews on the quality and quantity of amenities could significantly impact decision-making.

Recommendation

Display the review section more prominently

· Place the star ratings below the property headline. Instead of having to scroll down the listing, users can click on the stars and be directed to the review section.

Recommendation

Reduce rating criteria to one overall rating

· Increase the size of the stars to 48x48dp, as recommended by Material Design for touch targets.

Recommendation

Reduce rating criteria to one overall rating

· Increase the size of the stars to 48x48dp, as recommended by Material Design for touch targets.

Lessons Learned

· Start working on our problem statement earlier to have the right KPIs before testing.

· Trim down our prototypes to the most essential interactions.

· Run unmoderated testing to compare click-through rates (CTR) for a listing with reviews versus a listing without the feature.

· The design process is iterative and can often be messy. We go back and forth between different stages of designing as needed.

Zillow

Zillow

Zillow

Tasks

Team

Timeline

Timeline

Overview

ProblemStatement

Problem statement

UserSegments

User Segments

Understanding the user perspective, we created the personasto help us move forward with our decision-making.

Considering the personas and user flow, we aimed to address thespecific problem through the following user stories.

Considering the personas and user flow, we aimed to address the specific problem through the following user stories.

"When searching for rental buildings... I want to filter by my desired rental criteria so that I have a positive experience living in an apartment building that I have selected."

"When deciding between two properties... I’d like to access verified neighborhood and building insights so that I can choose a property that best suits my needs."

"When evaluating a property... I want to be able to check out user reviews so that I can be informed about their living experiences and property conditions."

SolutionBrainstorm

Solution Brainstorm

Based on the pain points of our personas, we generated several potentialideas and voted on the most actionable solution.

Based on the pain points of our personas, we generated several potential ideas and voted on the most actionable solution.

Design System

Prototyping

Locating the comments and reviews section from the property detail drawer.

Locating the comments and reviews section from the property detail drawer.

Leaving a review of the property as a current resident to inform new and prospective residents.

Leaving a review of the property as a current resident to inform new and prospective residents.

Usability Testing

The test aimed to assess 3 touch points: 1) Entry point and discovery, 2) Browsing existing reviews and 3) Submitting reviews.

Key Findings

Recommendation

Display the review section more prominently

Recommendation

Reduce rating criteria to one overall rating

Recommendation

Reduce rating criteria to one overall rating

Lessons Learned

Back to Top

Problem
Statement

User
Segments

Understanding the user perspective, we created the personas
to help us move forward with our decision-making.

Considering the personas and user flow, we aimed to address the
specific problem through the following user stories.

"When evaluating a property...
I want to be able to check out user reviews so that I can be informed about their living experiences and property conditions."

Solution
Brainstorm

Based on the pain points of our personas, we generated several potential
ideas and voted on the most actionable solution.