As one of the leading real estate teams in Silicon Valley, DeLeon Realty is committed to providing exceptional service to their clients. Whether they are looking to make an investment or purchase a home, DeLeon Realty’s team of experienced agents will focus on providing the best possible outcome.

DeLeon Realty lives and breathes real estate – Silicon Valley real estate.

My Role

UX/UI Designer

Project Scope

• Website Redesign
• 4 Weeks (Fall 2022)

Tools

• Figma
• Google Analytics

Devices

• Desktop
• Mobile

Problem

Users navigating the company website find it difficult to search for their ideal home.

The company site has gone through many design iterations at multiple points throughout its time, resulting in an inconsistent structure that lacks user-centric characteristics.

Challenge

Evaluate the website’s data analytics to improve the user experience of viewing properties.

Using data to understand how users interact with the site, we can find ways to optimize the user flow, which would then increase conversion rates.

Solution

A redesigned interface providing users with more tools and options to help with their home search.

With the new redesign, we were able to increase the satisfaction rating, decrease the average number of errors when searching for homes, and decrease the average time spent doing a task when finding an ideal property.

01 Understanding the Audience

How Users Arrive at the Site

Before considering any design research, we needed to go back several steps in the customer experience process to understand where the site’s traffic was coming from. Typically, when a property becomes available to purchase, the following marketing is done: custom brochures, postcards, newspaper ads, and online marketing campaigns via social media platforms.

Evaluating the Data

Quantitative data was collected through Google Analytics to help us understand what users are doing as they navigate the site. By collecting this data, we are able to get a sense of what the online experience is like for interested home buyers and use those insights to optimize the user flow. The following information represents data collected from Jan - Sep 2022

Design Opportunities

Learning From Industry Leaders

Competitive analysis was conducted to learn the strengths and weaknesses of competing real estate groups. By doing this, we are able to establish benchmarks and maintain a competitive edge in the industry. Below are examples of real estate groups with intuitive user interfaces and reasons why they work.

02 Evaluating the Site's Current Design

Walking Through the User Flow

By utilizing the data analytics and reviewing the site’s most viewed pages, a user flow was created. This user flow demonstrates the series of actions a typical user takes while exploring the website.

Usability Test Insights

Usability tests were conducted to evaluate the site’s current design and identify where pain points may lie. The participants consisted of young adults actively searching for a home.

Key Insight #1

Navigation Bar

Navigation Labels Misleading the User

When the participants began their home-buying search, their initial thought was to navigate to the “Buyers” tab, expecting to view available homes. However, they found out that this tab explains the buyer services DeLeon Realty offers their clients.

Key Insight #2

Properties Tab

Subcategories Causing Confusion

The “Properties” tab is currently designed in a way where DeLeon Platinum, the luxury home division of the company, is a single subcategory under DeLeon Properties. This causes confusion because this implies that Platinum properties are the only option and does not consider non-Platinum homes.

Key Insight #3

Search Filter

Location Driving the Home Search Process

Once the participants arrived at the active properties page, most of them selected a city to narrow down their home search. Since this was an essential step in their search process, we needed to consider a way to improve the city-selection interface.

03 Designing a Better User Experience

Homepage Before

The current website displays images that extend throughout the entire width of the screen, requiring excessive scrolling. Text is placed on image overlays causing accessibility and readability issues.

Homepage After

The new design condenses each section allowing users to scan more content using less eye movement. Text is placed under the images to provide visual clarity. Showcasing business statistics establishes credibility.

Cities Feature on the Homepage

Allowing users to select a city directly from the homepage creates a shortcut and a quicker way to find their ideal home.

An Intuitive Mobile
Experience

With more than half of the site's users being on smartphones, the new design has been optimized for both desktop and mobile interfaces.

04 Testing the New Design

Results and Outcomes

In order to validate the new design, another round of usability tests was conducted. The participants consisted of different individuals but were given the same task. Below are the results comparing the new design with the previous version.