Zillow is an industry-leading company in real estate and property management. However, even titans have room for improvement. As a frequent Zillow user myself, I aimed to improve communication between users and property managers, a core functionality that, up until recently, was a point of frustration for many users.
Add a Feature
Before
After
Role
UI Designer
UX Designer
Skills
UX Research & Interviews
Wireframing
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Visual Design and Iteration
Summer 2024
12 weeks
Timeline
The Problem
I initially took this project on as it would solve my own frustrations using Zillow’s mobile app. I have been a frequent user of Zillow over the years and was always challenged by its overly-complicated messaging feature. While Zillow has a highly functional and polished platform, its messaging feature provided room for improved user experience. The goal was to streamline the communication process between users and property managers, ensuring the feature was accessible, intuitive, and valuable—especially for those actively searching for housing.
Research and Discovery
Starting my research process, I was curious about Zillow’s competitors and wanted to know how companies like Apartments.com, Redfin, and Trulia compared to each other, but especially to Zillow. This felt like a crucial step for me as it not only provided me with insight into the intricacies of these companies, but it also set a standard for what to expect within the real estate industry; a field within which I’ve never worked so learning its systems and standards was important.
Competitive Analysis
User Interviews
Each company offers some form of messaging and communication amongst property managers, buyers, sellers, and renters.
A filtering features for residences exists in each company, however filterable categories differ.
Because each company offers very similar services to their users, the distinguishing factors will come down to small differences that make big impacts.
Key Insights from Competitive Analysis:
Overall, Zillow’s usability is excellent and relatively easy to navigate with the exception of finding past messages and contacting property managers.
Most users agreed that, once they found their messages, it felt confusing to communicate since it wasn’t immediately obvious which property was being discussed in a conversation.
Some of the major frustrations mentioned by users in the Zillow app were: wanting to be able to silo and filter messages to find property managers and conversations easier, repeatedly filling out the same information over and over again while applying to properties, and keeping track of showings and places already seen/contacted/visited through the app.
When asked where they would like to see the messages feature appear in the app, most users would place the messaging feature under “My Zillow” in the bottom banner, or place the feature in the top right corner of the home screen.
Key Insights from User Interviews:
I interviewed 5 users familiar with Zillow’s app. During each interview, I felt it was important to have each user test Zillow’s current (summer 2024) app and have them look for the messages feature and think about how they would contact a property manager. My hypothesis was confirmed during this testing as 100% of users struggled to find the messaging feature and were visibly and verbally frustrated in the process.
Research Synthesis
The User Interviews were so helpful in both validating my hypothesis about the frustrations with the messaging feature as well as establishing more detailed next steps. Users were clearly frustrated with not being able to personalize and customize their experience so that became my focus moving forward.
How might we make it easier for users to find, manage, and respond to messages by improving visibility, organization, and notifications within the messaging experience?
Prioritization & Roadmapping
Conducting user interviews and competitor analysis was vital in narrowing down the focus for next steps, now I wanted to visualize what users would need to do in order to have a better experience. I created user flows for starting a new conversation and filtering messages
Creating these flows also gave me the chance to start to think about what users would need to filter for in their messages or saved properties. Users mentioned wanting quick filters for previously toured properties, read or unread messages, or filtering for properties that meet specific requirements for the renters or buyers. I kept these in mind as I moved on from user flows to designing.
User Flows
Start a Conversation
Filter Messages
Wireframes & Usability Testing
While building out my wireframes for this added feature, I considered the User Flows and User Interviews to design wireframes that reflected and resolved the users' frustrations with quickly finding and filtering the chat feature in Zillow's original design.
I conducted two stages (LoFi and HiFi) of wireframing and usability testing ensuring to make iterations after each stage to smooth out the wrinkles users experienced in the process.
LoFi Wireframes
HiFi Wireframes
Usability Testing and Revisions
NB: Throughout this process I had, of course, returned to Zillow’s app to make sure that my designs aligned with their UI and would integrate well with what they had already created. However, as soon as I began working on my HiFi mockups, I noticed that Zillow had added a very important new feature to their home screen: easy access to a messaging feature. Luckily, I had already taken plenty of screenshots of their original designs when I first started this project, so I didn’t have to open Zillow again as I did not want their designs to influence my decisions moving forward.
I conducted Usability Testing with 5 participants, two of whom were unfamiliar with Zillow’s app and provided the new user’s perspective.
Overall, user satisfaction was high and time for task completion was low. Users found that they could easily navigate through flows and find what they were looking for.
Example of Revisions:
As I began to design the filters I made the mistake of initially creating my own design, rather than aligning with Zillow’s UI (left image). When I recognized my mistake, I pivoted and maintained consistency by utilizing Zillow’s pre-existing filtering system.
Add an apply button and coloring to distinguish between past tours in messages and the selected “past tours” toggle
General consensus in wanting the colors changed for past tours, upcoming tours, and off market
Past tours: darker blue or a green
Upcoming tours: Zillow blue
Off market: stay the gray that it is currently
Suggestion to remove the inbox carrot or allow for more filters through the carrot
Create a version where properties can be swiped left or right to reveal new information about what you see offered regarding that property (delete property, see messages, tour property, etc.)
Ease of use: 4.8/5
User satisfaction: 4.7/5
Average time for task completion: 1 minute 13 seconds
Key Insights from Final Usability Testing:
In order to better visualizes the changes that I was trying to make, I paired my LoFi wireframes with the current (at the time) versions of Zillow’s same screens. This helped users during LoFi user testing to get a better sense of what they were looking at and what changes were being made. Users commented that the new flows felt a lot more intuitive and they appreciated the additional elements like filtering through messages both with a search bar and preset filters.
Using the LoFi usability testing, I was able to develop HiFi mockups that addressed user feedback. Every user agreed that placing the messaging feature in the top right of the screen felt intuitive and they agreed that being able to filter messages would be a game changer. Users also discussed the types of categories they would like to see filtered such as: past, upcoming, and not yet scheduled tours, read or unread messages, and off or on market properties.
Results & Conclusion
Results
The redesigned messaging feature offered a cleaner layout that made initiating and continuing conversations more intuitive. I worked to align with Zillow’s UI while introducing subtle usability enhancements within the filtering process. And I was able to resolve a previously major point of frustration for many users.
Lessons Learned
The importance of user research:
Understanding user needs and behaviors is crucial to designing effective solutions.
Iterative design process:
Regular testing and feedback help ensure the final product meets user expectations.
Designing within an existing system means knowing when to conform and when to challenge established UI patterns for better usability.
This project underscored how impactful small changes can be, especially when improving an already functional product. It was gratifying to work on a feature that I had used myself and to know that my designs could contribute to a smoother experience for others. By addressing key pain points and introducing innovative solutions, I was able to create a more intuitive, personalized, and engaging platform for users to find their dream homes. The success of this project highlights the value of thorough research, iterative design, and understanding user challenges to achieve results.
Reflections