// User Research
Relaunching a real estate service by starting in the field
Four months in the field, alongside advisors, agents and customers, to understand why a real estate referral service was running out of steam. The goal: give it a new direction!
We delivered three levels of solutions, from a long-term strategic vision to ideas teams can apply the very next day.
In short
This service was born from a partnership between a major postal-sector group and a network of independent real estate agents. The idea: use the group's close ties with local residents, through its branches, to spot people with a property project. Branch advisors, postal workers and agents present during in-store events pass these contacts on to the partner network, which then supports them all the way to the sale.
“I didn't pay attention, I thought you were a new reception desk.”, a customer, during an in-store event
That sentence sums up what we discovered pretty well. On paper, the programme had everything it needed to work. Yet its results were falling, and it was hard to understand why. We had to go and see for ourselves.
For four months, we spent full days in branches, right next to the stand, listening to customers, advisors and agents. The first finding: what we saw looked nothing like the official processes. Events didn't run as planned, advisors did their best without really knowing what to offer or how, and the relationship with the agents was distant, sometimes non-existent.
What I did
- Observation and “guerrilla” interviews in 1 branch
- Remote interviews with 9 agents
- Facilitating focus groups and co-design workshops
- Experience maps and co-producing the deliverables
All projects I work on are subject to a non-disclosure agreement. For more details, please contact me directly.