HOUSECANARY APP FILTERING
Finding that hidden gem of a home all across the United States
Role: Product Designer
Timeline: 6 Months
Surfaces: Android, iOS, Web App
Finding that hidden gem of a home all across the United States
Role: Product Designer
Timeline: 6 Months
Surfaces: Android, iOS, Web App
Filtering is a core feature of this app, since user are trying to discover that hidden gem of a property that no other app can find. From the interviews we spoke to a handful of Investors that commonly are looking for unique filters, especially high growth areas.
Furthermore, one of the key metrics for the intial phases of this app is 40% retention from 500K unique users - by allowing users to save their search and opt-in to e-mail notifications on any properties that fit their search criteria.
First iteration of filters focused on a unique animation that involved a slot machine style toggle, however the filtering style was too difficult to scale past a certain number of options. We then implemented another version that ultalized horizontal scrolling and and to stack filters on top of each other. However, filters showed low engagement from analytics, ranking below property details. Overall, filters was a bit scattered and lacking focus and there was little to no room to add a save function.
My team and I went back to the drawing board to truly improve the filtering experience and implement save searches into the mobile app. The previous version had little room to add another feature. In my third ideation, I decided to utilize a iOS style drawer style similar to that of Apple Maps due to the familarity of the interaction and look and feel.
After doing a prototype and collected user testers around the office, the new filters seemed intuitive and easy to use. However, there were still key problems that need to be solved.
Insights:
1. 5/6 - Users had a hard time finding where filters were located
2. 4/6 - When asked to apply filters, they were held up by the word "save"
3. 5/6 - Went to Alerts to find save search results
4. 6/6 - Went to magnifying glass to find saved search list
Feedback Results
Improvements:
1. Have the filter icons animate into the app to draw attention to the functionality
2. Placed save search results within alerts
3. Placed magnifying glass into save search list
After the redesign of filters, filtering engagement increased 3x
