Virtual Close
Foundational research for a new product
Anywhere Inc. needed to develop a new product to meet the needs of the post-pandemic real estate market.
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual closing on home sales became a lot more common. Realtors had two main tools for running virtual closings- CORE (where closing documents could be created and prepared) and Notarize (where those documents could be legally signed by the buyer and seller).
Anywhere Inc. wanted to build a new product that would bridge these two very different tools and streamline the closing process.
However, the UX Designer tasked with designing the new product was unfamiliar with the very technical closing process and was unsure of what was needed and how the new product should function.
HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
I conducted the study over 3 weeks. I spent 1 week compiling the data into a final report.
MAKE OF THE TEAM
The team consisted of myself (UXR) and the UX Designer
KEY GOAL
Gain a better understanding of the closing process in order to identify key functionalities for a new product.
MY ROLE
I was the sole researcher on the team and collaborated with the UX Designer to plan and execute the study.
This project was a collaborative process between myself and the UX Designer. He assisted with the development of the interview script and participated in research sessions. I recruited and scheduled interviews, ran sessions with participants, and completed the final anaylsis and report to share with the UX Designer.
Research
Process
I conducted 8 exploratory user interviews with real estate agents who were experienced in real estate closings to understand their process for preparing and conducting closings with their clients. I also learned about their experiences and hesitations around virtual closings.
I first met with the designer to understand project requirements and restraints. At the time of this project, not all states allowed virtual closings and each state’s closing process was slightly different.
To address this constraint, the study would focus on only 4 states that currently allowed virtual closings.
User interviews were conducted with agents to walk us through the non-virtual closing process. The hope was to use this understanding as a foundation on which to build the new product.
Standardization with some customization
There are a lot of standardized documents involved in closing on a home sale, but agents need to be able to customize specific things for each closing they do. Putting together these documents for each closing was a major pain point for agents and would be something critical to address with the new product.
We were speaking to the wrong target user
Initially, we assumed the real estate agent was the primary user for this new product because they work with buyers and sellers and attend the closings. However, we discovered through the interviews that most of the preparation work for closings is carried out by agent assistants. These were our actual target users.
Important to maintain the personal touch
Buying or selling a home is a major life event and the agents enjoyed being a part of that experience with their clients. Being in person felt very personal and it was important to them to maintain that feel for virtual closings as well.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
LESSONS LEARNED
UX research done early in the product development cycle is critical to laying a foundation for a successful product launch.
A good grounding in how a process is currently done can help highlight what’s important for users and what could become a future pain point if not addressed up-front.
By doing this foundational work early, before any design solutions were started, Anywhere Inc. avoided making mistakes that would be more costly to fix further down the product development cycle, such as focusing on the wrong target user.