DES.Inna product designer

About

Within the competitive landscape of real estate companies, our firm has established a distinct specialisation in residential property rental. Our primary objective has been to enhance our standing among tenants by attracting a broad spectrum of landlords.

However, a persistent challenge, both historically and presently, lies in the intricate procedures that landlords and tenants must navigate during the rental process.

Landlords face various challenges from listing their property for rent until the offer is signed, including marketing and advertising, property showings, tenant screening, negotiating terms, legal compliance, offer management, documentation, and financial considerations. Successfully navigating these challenges requires effective communication, organisation, and attention to detail.

Problem

Our existing platform for entering property data was overly complex and unintuitive. Users faced numerous fields to complete, constantly navigating between flipping cards, opening modals, and reloading pages. This cumbersome process not only extended the time required but also led to frustration and monotony. As a result, many users reached out to our office for support, significantly increasing the workload for our agents. Instead of freeing up their time as intended, the platform inadvertently created even more work for them.

⛔ 42% users dropped off before completing their property advert

⛔ Confusing structure, no onboarding, too many fields at once

As a result, many users reached out to our office for support, significantly increasing the workload for our agents. Instead of freeing up their time as intended, the platform inadvertently created even more work for them.

Project goal

🔹 To redesign the data entry process by creating a more intuitive experience that visually mimics the final property advertisement.

🔹 This helps landlords understand the purpose behind each piece of information they enter, reduces the time required for completion, and improves the overall user experience.

To redesign the data entry process by creating a more intuitive experience that visually mimics the final property advertisement.

This helps landlords understand the purpose behind each piece of information they enter, reduces the time required for completion, and improves the overall user experience.

Solution

✅ New step-by-step flow with a progress bar

✅ Contextual help, inline edit mode, and smart field grouping

✅ Clear preview and draft-saving logic

To redesign the data entry process by creating a more intuitive experience that visually mimics the final property advertisement.

This helps landlords understand the purpose behind each piece of information they enter, reduces the time required for completion, and improves the overall user experience.

Impact

📈 +38% completed adverts

⏱ –25% time to complete

🧠 Improved self-service experience, reduced agent dependency

To redesign the data entry process by creating a more intuitive experience that visually mimics the final property advertisement.

This helps landlords understand the purpose behind each piece of information they enter, reduces the time required for completion, and improves the overall user experience.

Research and Analysis

Methods

1️⃣ Conducted interviews with agents to identify the most challenging parts of the process.

2️⃣ Analysed current service metrics, including average form completion time, number of returns to edit, and the number of incomplete sessions.

3️⃣ Performed a competitive analysis to understand how other companies handle similar challenges.

Insights

0,8% The conversion rate of users who filled in an advert without help of agents.

78% The majority of agents found the current process too lengthy and confusing.

32% Users lost motivation because they didn't understand why so much information was required.

0,8% The conversion rate of users who filled in an advert without help of agents.

78% The majority of agents found the current process too lengthy and confusing.

32% Users lost motivation because they didn't understand why so much information was required.

Define the objectives

1️⃣

Redesign the data entry process to make it more intuitive and user-friendly.

2️⃣

Enable landlords to see how their data will appear in the final advertisement in real time

3️⃣

Reduce the time required to complete all fields by at least 30%.

4️⃣

Decrease the number of errors related to modal windows by 50%.

Ideation and concepts

When we set out to design our new advert builder, we embarked on a creative journey using three key approaches.

First, we gathered our team for brainstorming sessions, where we freely exchanged ideas and explored every possibility to make the advert creation process better.

This collaborative environment sparked innovative concepts and allowed us to think outside the box.

When we set out to design our new advert builder, we embarked on a creative journey using three key approaches.

First, we gathered our team for brainstorming sessions, where we freely exchanged ideas and explored every possibility to make the advert creation process better.

This collaborative environment sparked innovative concepts and allowed us to think outside the box.

Next, we mapped out the landlord’s entire journey, from the moment they decided to list their property to the final ad publication.

This user journey mapping illuminated the critical pain points and opportunities for improvement, helping us see where the process could be simplified and made more engaging.

Next, we mapped out the landlord’s entire journey, from the moment they decided to list their property to the final ad publication.

This user journey mapping illuminated the critical pain points and opportunities for improvement, helping us see where the process could be simplified and made more engaging.

Finally, we used “How Might We” questions to channel our creative energy into solving specific challenges. Questions like “How might we make data entry simpler?” guided us to develop practical solutions that directly addressed user needs and enhanced their overall experience.

✅ We could reduce the number of fields or use intelligent defaults based on previous entries.

✅ We could implement tooltips, a guided walkthrough, or a chatbot to answer common questions instantly.

✅ We could include a visual preview of the advert updating in real-time as they enter their data.

✅ We could use visual cues, progress bars, or gamification elements to motivate users through the process.

✅ We could allow users to upload documents or images that the system could scan and extract relevant information from.

And many many others….

✅ We could reduce the number of fields or use intelligent defaults based on previous entries.

✅ We could implement tooltips, a guided walkthrough, or a chatbot to answer common questions instantly.

✅ We could include a visual preview of the advert updating in real-time as they enter their data.

✅ We could use visual cues, progress bars, or gamification elements to motivate users through the process.

✅ We could allow users to upload documents or images that the system could scan and extract relevant information from.

And many many others….

Design and itirations

Before

After

Measuring usability

So, when the main design was ready, we decided to apply the KLM-GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection Rules) methodology to analyse and predict the time required for a user to complete a task within the interface.

K = 0.2 sec Keying: The time to perform a keystroke, or mouse click

P = 1.1 sec Pointing: The time to position the mouse pointer

H = 0.4 sec Homing: The time for user to move hands from keyboard to mouse

M = 1.35 sec Mental: The time for the user to prepare for the next step

R = ? Responding: The time for the computer to respond to the user inputs.

Old Version

We broke down the task into actions required to fill in the mandatory fields and calculated the time for each.

The sequence:

HMPKMPKMPKMPKMPKKKKKMKMPK

Calculating:

0,4 + 1,35 + 1,1 + 0,2 +1,35 + 1,1 + 0,2 + 1,35 + 1,1 + 0,2+ 1,35 + 1,1 + 0,2 + 1,35 + 1,1 + 0,2 + 0,2 + 0,2 + 0,2 + 0,2 + 1,35 + 0,2+ 1,35 + 1,1 + 0,2 = 18,65

Result: 18,65 sec

it took a user seconds to complete a single task in the existing design version.

New Version

To perform a similar task in the new design, calculations were done in the same way.

The sequence:

HMPKHMKKKKMKHMPK

Calculating:

0,4 +1.35 +1.1 +0,2 +0,4 +1, 35 +0,2 +0,2 +0,2+0,2 +1.35+0,2+0,4 +1.35 +1.1+0,4 = 10.4

Result: 10,4 sec

it took a user seconds to complete a single task in the new design version.

🔥 This way, we calculated that, on average, filling out a new advert

would take at least 15 minutes less, which is already a significant improvement.

🔥 This way, we calculated that, on average, filling out a new advert

would take at least

15 minutes less, which is already a significant improvement.

Results and Evaluation

A month after the release of the new version of our advert builder, we saw a significant increase in the number of users who successfully completed their adverts independently, without needing assistance from agents.

The average form completion time decreased by 40%.

Landlord satisfaction increased by 30%, according to a survey.

The percentage of completed sessions rose by 25%.

The conversion rate of completion a task increased by 2.4%