During the house-hunting process, a Buyer/Renter has to visit various localities and projects to make an informed decision. Shortlisting a property through this tends to be a long-drawn process costing the user both time and money. The project objective is to reimagine an online house-hunting experience that will enable and assist the user at various touchpoints when they are looking for their dream house.
The project starts with a detailed understanding of 99acres’ business model. Next, a hypothesis is formulated with the mantra being ‘From Information to Insights.' Market research helps gather the bigger picture of how the competitors in India and away are doing. Simultaneously, secondary research is done to understand the real estate sector in India.
As part of the primary research, interviews with experienced and potential buyers/renters & house owners are conducted. The business stakeholders' interviews are done in the end, to not cloud judgment. A total of 29 participants are interviewed, around the guiding question ‘How has your house hunting experience been’ along with various follow-up questions. Through this research, two personas are created. To explain their house hunting journey and pain points that came about from the analysis and synthesis, a story is sewed together and a user journey is created which helps define the final and the redefined brief.
The ideation process goes through paper wireframing, consolidating into a detailed low-fidelity prototype. With feedback from business stakeholders and input from the design team, a few concepts are put forward keeping in mind certain development limitations. The final design deliverable is compiled into a high-fidelity clickable prototype with a brand-new design language and micro-interactions.
99acres, Home Hunting, Proptech, Reimagine, User Experience
