Pinhous

Pinhous

Home buyer-centric real estate experience with Pinhous iOS App: Pinterest for Real estate

Home buyer-centric real estate experience with Pinhous iOS App: Pinterest for Real estate

Home buyer-centric real estate experience with Pinhous iOS App: Pinterest for Real estate

Project Overview

Project Overview

Project Overview

My Role

My Role

My Role

0-1 Product Design : Strategy, Interaction design, Prototyping, Visual design,

User Research, UX/UI Design


Duration

Duration

Duration

7 months (Nov 2023 - Jun 2024)

Deliverables

Deliverables

Deliverables

iOS App (MVP), Scalable component based style guide

Team

Team

Team

Product Designer (Myself), Brand Designer, Development team

CONTEXT

CONTEXT

CONTEXT

Pinhous, its Pinterest for real estate

Gap in the current market

54% of homebuyers find identifying the right property as the most difficult part of the home search process, and 34% struggle to find homes that fit their criteria.
A leading cause of dissatisfaction with agents is their inability to listen to homebuyers' home requirements. All of this contributes to a tireless ten-week search.

Less than 20% of listing photos contain detailed image-level data, despite images leading to 5.5x higher conversions. Visual search technology can help buyers find homes matching their specific preferences in a fraction of the time, making finding the right home easy for homebuyers and agents.



Reference: NAR 2022 report

Visual similarity model

Opportunity

Current online search platforms lack searching based on interior styles and home features. This is an opportunity to introduce and test visual board-style search powered by image tags and visual similarity CV models to help homebuyers find the right home.


Shortened search times, as much as 20%, and an Al-powered search can set Pinhous apart from the market competition.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

PROBLEM STATEMENT

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Existing real estate apps failed to engage design-conscious buyers, offering generic features without catering to their personalized preferences. Create a Pinterest-like property browsing and style curation experience."

Challenge

How might we enhance property browsing experience by focusing on modern buyers' style and amenity preferences while improving search efficiency?

Considerations

Can we reduce the 10-week average home search-to-selection time by increasing user engagement with property listings?

Can this solve the agent-buyer communication hassles?

RESEARCH

RESEARCH

RESEARCH

1.Secondary Research

Uncovered two interesting data points with online home search and homebuyer expectations

Uncovered two interesting data points with online home search and homebuyer expectations

  1. Finding homes that fit buyer criteria is the second leading obstacle after home price


  2. 75% of online home search is carried out on a mobile phone. This is observed in Gen X and Millennials.

  1. Competitor Analysis

Compared primary offerings from real estate apps in the market. Very few apps provided custom search and filtering capabilities.

Compared primary offerings from real estate apps in the market. Very few apps provided custom search and filtering capabilities.

  1. Pinterest users profiling

Pinterest offers a powerful visual search option. There is an overlap in some of the demographic and psychographic data points between Pinterest users and the average home buyer in the United States.

  1. Defining Target Users

User Segmentation - A User survey with potential homebuyers and real estate agents informed us of three types of home buyer groups based on their focus and characteristics in home search.

User Segmentation - A User survey with potential homebuyers and real estate agents informed us of three types of home buyer groups based on their focus and characteristics in home search.

  1. Personas

Developed personas for the above three homebuyer types to map out their needs and motivations during online home search.

Developed personas for the above three homebuyer types to map out their needs and motivations during online home search.

Northstar Principles

Personalization

Push tailored listings to individual preferences based on activity on the app

Push tailored listings to individual preferences based on activity on the app

Visual-First Exploration

Prioritize visual engagement to make property browsing effortless and inspiring.

Prioritize visual engagement to make property browsing effortless and inspiring.

Simplified Decision-Making

Help users make informed decisions quickly by streamlining workflows and reducing cognitive load.

Help users make informed decisions quickly by streamlining workflows and reducing cognitive load.

CONCEPTS

Personalized Discovery

Personalized Discovery

User style profile

User style profile

PROTOTYPE TESTING AND FEEDBACK

User Tests and Iterations

User Tests and Iterations

User Tests and Iterations

Final Designs

Final Designs

Final Designs

App Onboarding

App Onboarding

Home page and listings

Home page and listings

Listing details and interactions

Listing details and interactions

REFLECTION AND LEARNINGS

Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Two main takeaways from this project


  • Learnability may vary with context: The user may need some help getting familiar with the interactions when the context changes

  • Progressive disclosure: The MVP need not be feature-rich. The users need to get familiar with the brand and brand value to accept new features better.

I'm glad you stopped by. Find me at more places!

I'm glad you stopped by. Find me at more places!

I'm glad you stopped by. Find me at more places!