Creating a comprehensive rental management experience
Feature addition of a streamlined income and expense tracker to increase product competitiveness and encourage user retention
Role
User Research
Competitive Analysis
UX/UI
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Timeframe
4 weeks
Note: Suggested features and improvements are ideas I explored and not related to any business redesign of Zillow Rental Manager itself.
Context & Problem
How might we make Zillow’s rental management capabilities more comprehensive and encourage user retention?
Zillow Rental Manager is a property management tool that helps landlords streamline operations related to property listings, tenant screening and rent collection. However, users are migrating to competitors that have more extensive rental management features.
Solution
Streamline the process of tracking rental income & expenses
By balancing user and business goals while also considering potential technical constraints, I narrowed the focus to adding a rental income and expense tracker. With the feature addition, users have a centralized tool to address their rental management needs, which encourages user retention while increasing product competitiveness.
Competitive Analysis
Where does Zillow Rental Manager fall short?
To get insight into how the the problem is being approached in the landscape, I analyzed competing rental property management solutions and found that Zillow lacks in finance and resident management features.
For example, Apartments.com which is Zillow’s closest competitor, offers a more comprehensive set of rental management tools including expense tracking and resident management.
Primary Research
Empathizing with rental property owners
To get a better understanding of potential users and their experiences, I interviewed four rental property owners who manage their own properties and discovered that:
Tracking rental income is an essential but time-consuming task
“The most time consuming thing is probably the book-keeping aspect”
“It is important for me to make sure is it worth it - sit down to look at income and expenses around tax time”
Interviewees use spreadsheets to track their rental finances but need more specialized software for more units
“I should be updating sheet once a month...but really compiling everything around tax time because of procastination”
“..spreadsheets in Excel to manage income and expenses because one property is manageable in Excel alone”
User Personas
Defining our target users
Based on the interviews, I created a persona to guide my design process. I focused on a rental property owner who is looking for an efficient and convenient tool to help him manage multiple properties on his own.
Initial Sketches & Considerations
Combine all rental finances or separate by property?
I conducted a comparative analysis to learn more about the features offered by tools that are specifically for rental finance management. I found that these tools primarily address rental finance management in one of two ways:
organize and group finances by individual properties
aggregate and combine all finances for all properties
Which approach is better?
After referencing research interviews and speaking to both peers and mentors, I decided that organizing income and expenses by property would be better for the following reasons:
Organizing by property:
✓outstanding transactions for each property at a glance ✓accounts for property tax and insurance
✓ matches ZRM’s existing structure
✓ less visually overwhelming
Ideation
Honing in on the basics
After sketches and deciding on the direction to take, I honed in on the specifics of what information would be most essential and helpful for users to track as well as how this information should be organized and laid out.
What information is important for users to track?
In addition to referencing research interviews, I found a spreadsheet template that Zillow offers for tracking income and expenses associated with rental properties.
Based on both sources, I grouped common types of rental income and expenses into overarching categories: Repairs, Maintenance, Utility, Insurance, Mortgage Interest.
How should information be visualized?
Based on insights from research interviews, I separated rental finances by incomes and expenses as it is standardized and familiar for users.
Expenses are also placed before income as the types of rental income are more redundant, whereas the types of rental expenses vary.
Wireframing
Refining the user flow & defining new design patterns
After defining what is important for users to track as well as the best way to present it visually, I built out lo-fidelity wireflows focusing on the two main paths a user could take between filling out expense details manually or using scan to autofill.
Though ZIllow Rental Manager had existing design patterns for dropdowns and number selection, it did not for date selection and scanning documents. Therefore, it was important to define the patterns for the new functionalities while closely matching ZIllow’s existing design.
How would the Pay By/Paid On Date be autofilled?
Through building out the wireflow to define the steps that a user would take to complete the task of adding an entry to the tracker, I started thinking about use cases that weren’t defined in the basic flow.
One issue I discovered in the Scan & Autofill flow is that dates can be autofilled but whether it is the Pay By or Paid On date is dependent on the status. Therefore, the status must be defined in the process of scanning the document through the addition of a modal.
What if users wanted to skip details or save attachments?
Another important consideration is that the use of a toggle design pattern subjected users to a default option for Status and Tax. However, after speaking to mentors and peers for input, I decided that status and tax should not be required of users to fill out. Therefore, I changed the design pattern for both Tax and Status fields to a dropdown which allows users to skip or select N/A.
Additionally, documents are saved automatically when users use the scan & autofill function. However, there was no option to save an attachment of their documents if users filled out the details manually. To solve this, I added an Attachment field for users to upload or capture an image of their documents if they choose not to scan and autofill.
Usability Testing
Improving on feedback and clarity
I tested my mid-fidelity prototype with 6 participants to gain insight into the comprehension and usability of the new feature and whether it functions as participants expect. I also wanted to discover if there were points of friction and potential areas for improvement.
Main Improvements
Making the scan button more visible
Usability test participants frequently overlooked the scan feature due to its placement and a lack of context accompanying the button.
After various explorations, I decided to move the scan button to the top of the screen for more visibility and priority as it is the more convenient route for users. The button also matches Zillow’s existing design patterns more closely.
Eliminating extra steps to edit entries
Based on feedback and usability testing, I got rid of tedious steps that users have to take to edit their entries, especially when marking unpaid entries as paid or vice versa.
Instead of requiring users to go within each entry to update its status, I added a kebab menu and modal pop-up for users to quickly perform the most common action items.
Final Solution
Streamline rental income and expense tracking within one centralized tool
01
Seamless integration into existing navigation
In Zillow’s existing navigation, properties are separated into two categories: For rent and Off market. I added an Occupied category reserved for properties with tenants. Through usability testing, participants successfully distinguished the categories and navigated to the income & expense tracker.
02
Quickly record and document finances with autofill
With autofill, users can scan and save their bills and receipts and details will auto-populate.
Users can also save attachments, which can help serve as documentation for tax and legal purposes.
03
Maintain oversight of rental finances at a glance
The most essential details are visible and differentiated while outstanding payments and expenses are highlighted to give users a bird’s eye view of what requires attention.
Conclusion & Reflections
1. Consider technical constraints early in the design process
When ideating, there were many potential angles that could be taken to streamline the process of tracking rental finances. However, when considering technical constraints such as how ZIllow may not be able to support the syncing of back accounts to automatically track and categorize finances, I was able to narrow down the list of feasible solutions.
2. Conduct heuristics analysis when multiple rounds of usability testing is not feasible within time constraints
Through conducting usability tests to gain insight into users’ comprehension and ability to use the new feature, I was able to make improvements to my design before moving into hi-fidelity. However, there wasn’t enough time to conduct another round of usability tests for the new changes. So although a heuristic analysis can’t replace a usability test, I was able to evaluate and confirm that the improvements enhanced the usability of the design.
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