iProspect
Update an outdated UI experience
THE PROBLEM
iProspect had an outdated user interface that needed modernization, but where should the team focus their efforts?
iProspect is used by branch managers and recruiters to identify potential real estate agents to recruit to their real estate brokerage. The team was preparing to update the tech stack and wanted to modernize the user interface at the same time. The goal was to make the interface more user friendly without losing any of the functionality.
This product had never had any formal user research done and so the team wasn't sure what the major pain points were in using the product and what parts were critical to keep in the new interface.
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
I conducted the study over 2 weeks. I spent 1 week compiling the data into a final report.
MAKE OF THE TEAM
The team consisted of myself (UXR), a UX designer, the Product Manager, and several engineers.
KEY GOAL
Identify major pain points and key functionalities.
MY ROLE
I was the sole researcher on the team who conducted the study. I collaborated with key internal stakeholders to plan and execute the study.
As the sole researcher for the study, I was responsible for creating the research plan and running the research study. I also analyzed the data and compiled a final report to present to the rest of the project team.
Research
Process
The research plan consisted of three parts: review of past user feedback, participating in user training on the product, and conducting contextual interviews with experienced users.
I had no experience with the product I would be doing research on and so my first step was to attend a training session that new users attend to learn how to use the product. This allowed me to quickly familiarize myself with the primary functions of the product and see how it was meant to be used.
I then reviewed past user feedback that was collected sporadically over time by the product manager. I pulled any relevant feedback that could then be added to the data I would collect through user interviews.
The final step was to conduct contextual inquiries with experienced users to learn how they are using the product as part of their daily routine and to identify pain points and what they consider to be the key functionalities.
Low-hanging fruit with big impact
After analyzing the data, I was able to identify 5 areas that would be relatively quick and easy fixes but that would have a big impact on the user's efficiency in using the product. Implementing these would give the product team a quick win in modernizing the product without a huge investment of resources.
Ways to increase user efficiency
Users were spending a lot of time navigating through pages of prospects and using their own unique methods of contacting potential prospects. They were forced to do this because the product wasn't customizable enough and didn't support all the different ways users wanted to contact prospects.
Addressing these pain points would greatly improve the functionality of the product.
Next Steps
The team were able to take the insights from this research and focus their brainstorming efforts on specific areas to develop new solutions and ideate on different design options.
Additional research could be done to test the new designs with users to ensure we were still on target to improve usability without losing any functionality.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
Everything can benefit from user research and design, even out-dated real estate recruiting CRM tools.
We are only as efficient as the tools we use. Taking the time to update a seemingly utilitarian tool will make a big difference in the day-to-day routines of the branch managers and recruiters that use this product. Recruiting new real estate agents is just one of many responsibilities they have and being more efficient at this task frees them up to focus on other areas of the business.
Learning how to use the tool as a user would learn to use it and then seeing how experienced users were actually using the product helped highlight gaps in the product experience.