Property listing using winning strategy

Web research and development for VinaOpera Real Estate Agency.

Dec 2023 - Feb 2024

Interactive web

Researcher, designer, and developer

My role

Timeline

Platform

Project overview

‘VinaOpera Website.’ - A responsive online platform dedicated to presenting real estate listings for both buying and selling purposes. This digital presence includes the company's history, service offerings, and provides an efficient means of communication with customers. The primary goals of the website align with VinaOpera's core values of prioritising excellence in customer relationships and maintaining professionalism in property management.

With an emphasis on a niche and minimalist design, the website is crafted to ensure that users can easily focus on the information related to property listings. Moreover, the minimalist style enhances the company's credibility and builds trust with visitors.

👪 ❤️ 🏠

Home is where it all begins

👪 ❤️ 🏠 Home is where it all begins

Situation

A thriving successful real estate agency would like to have a website to improve their online trust and presence in the eyes of internet users. They also want to have a professional platform of their own to attract more leads and clients for their business as well as a way to popularise themselves in the property market in the Western of Sydney

Initial thoughts

Whether users are in the market to buy or sell a property, it's become common practice to turn to online services for comprehensive market research. Realestate.com.au and Domain are two well-known names in this realm, and there's much we can learn from them to enhance VinaOpera's web presence.

Numerous resources and articles emphasize the benefits of having a dedicated website for a real estate agency. These include boosting credibility, independently generating high-quality leads, and standing out from competitors in the listing arena (source: upcity.com, eXp Realty Australia).

Following in-depth secondary research, it's clear that VinaOpera's website should have several key functions. These include providing detailed information on property listings, offering services related to property management, sharing important updates from the agency, showcasing both past and current listings for reference, outlining the steps of how VinaOpera operates and supports its clients, offering suburb reviews, and featuring testimonials from satisfied clients.

Design process

Research - Understand and define
Ideation and wireframe creation
Mockups and style guide
User testing and iteration
Web building and development
Handover and future development

Research

Business and client relationship

Business perspectives
- How do we expand to new markets?
- How do we get more clients to buy properties from us?
- How do we have more clients to list their properties using our services?
Client perspectives
- Why do people want to buy property on our website?
- How do people want their property to be listed?
- How to gain trust from people?
- Why do people pay more for a listing?
- What do people think about our property listing from outside of our regular suburbs?
What to focus on to create meaningful relationships?
- Explanation of how we do listing (advice, exposure, services)
- Clean and informative listing to get people to trust us more and pay us more
- The above standard of listing style to gain the attention and belief of clients
- Create trust, create credibility, create interest, and create a bonding

Experience mapping

Start with the first moment the user has
- "I would like to change my living condition/location/place"
- Users would want to change the place where they live, the condition of their ownership, change to a better home, own a new property, change to a better location or simply make an investment.
Steps that users would go through
- Consider how much funding they have to own or change property
- Check the market price of the suburb and surrounding area
- Check the listing conditions (number of bedrooms, baths, facilities, parking, etc)
- Check with multiple websites to see the differences or to find the best agency
- Check the credibility of an agency and how they do their job
- Check with friends and family on how they could find a good agent
- Call or book an agency to ask for more details
Possible painpoints
- Financial painpoint: Money-wise, budget-related, loan and credit problems could be users' main focus.
- Support painpoint: Information about price valuing and the credibility of the agency could be a problem. Why it is trusted or not trusted could be very important for clients to decide to contact us or not.
- Product painpoint: Listing information could be hidden or not enough could cause frustration; waiting time for replies could also be not very helpful and stop clients from following up with the agency.

Assumption mapping

Do they want this product?
- Who are the target customers?
  Employed clients from 30 to 40 YO who live in the West of Sydney and looking to sell or buy property.
- What problem do customers want to solve?
  Buy or sell property in the West of Sydney, from inexperienced to experienced in terms of real estate.
- How do clients solve this problem today?
  Go online to do market research and find a good property, call or leave a message with an agent to inspect.
- Why can’t our customers solve this problem today?
  Because of lacking listing information, agency support, or unable to find a good agency.
- What is the outcome our customers want to achieve?
  They could sell or buy a property when they use our services at VinaOpera. They could get a great deal and trustworthy service.
- Why will our customers stop using their current solution?
  They could not receive the good customer service or support they wanted; they could not get a good deal or unclear information.
Should we build this product?
- What are our main acquisition channels for obtaining new customers?
  Mouth to mouth; through realesates.com.au or other websites; through social media accounts (at the moment); leads from the contact forms (after the website launch).
- How will our customers repeatedly use our solution?
  Insightful and helpful tips for owning or selling properties; good deals or great listings for buying to get more customers; trustworthy services to get more listings to sell.
- Why will our customers refer us to new customers?
  Excellent services from face-to-face interaction to document process and creative approach to gain good deals for clients. Facts and transparency will satisfy clients more.
- How does this solution support our company vision?
  Build trust and credibility towards new and existing clients.
- How will our solution generate revenue?
  The website for VinaOpera could generate quality leads for more business, and create a professional presence online for new and current clients through mouth-to-mouth recommendations.
- Who are the primary competitors to our solution?
  The Rubenstein Group, WhiteFox, and Belle Property.
Our assumptions
What assumptions are we making that, if proven, will cause this product/solution to fail?
- Lack of management and improvement for the website
- Lack of user support and user-friendly interface
- Lack of solutions and ideal products towards users’ needs
- Lack of reasons to push clients to buy the property
- Lack of good transition from the current excellent customer support and service of VinaOpera to user experience via our website.

Success metrics and signals

Goals: what problems are we trying to help users to solve?
- Sell and buy property; understand property market and available options
- Clarify the process of owning or selling properties
- A thorough process of managing properties with precise options
Signal: What change in user behaviours or opinions would indicate that we have been successful?
- Clients use VinaOpera services to manage properties
- Increase the number of new listings and selling properties
- User opinions increase in terms of professionalism and excellency
- Users are more familiar with how business is done at VinaOpera. This could save time and effort for both sides and also close the gap between digital and human interactions.
Metrics
- What do users think of Real Estate websites? (such as realestate.com.au, domain.com)
  Useful and informative (rate 8/10) and these two are their main options; some users would use conveyancing service before purchasing.
- How long do users spend on average to browse properties?
  From half an hour to one hour every day when they are on the search for a new place. Users would use their mobile phones mainly for this activity.
- Would users come back and use the website again?
  Most users would use these websites again because they are convenient to use for research and booking.

Personas

Persona 1: Hoang Nguyen and Anh Tran
A family of 3 who are looking to own a house with 2 bed rooms in West of Sydney

Goal

Get a house of his own for his family within the next 2 months

Frustration

Tight schedule with work and not sure which agency to trust

Narative:

Hoang and Anh - a couple of 34 and 36 YO who work full time and share the responsibility of a 4 YO son. Hoang is looking to move out of his rental place and is ready to own his own house together with his family. Anh would like to have a two-bedroom place so her son would have his own space for better development. The couple has been doing market research around Cabramatta and Canley Vale and still deciding on the agency to assist them with getting a good property.

Persona 2: Mohamad Sandeep
Need to upgrade to a more spacious property and sell his current home

Goal

Sell his current home and upgrade to a bigger property within the next 6 months

Frustration

Could not find a trustworthy agent or a suitable place to upgrade

Narative:

Sandeep is a 38-year-old tax office manager, He owns a property in the Canley Height area and is looking to upgrade to a larger property for investment. Because he wants to invest more in the property field, Sandeep is quite particular in choosing the next place to buy. He has contacted several agencies in the surrounding area but has not found a good solution yet.

Problem and vision statements

Problem statement:

VinaOpera is lacking of their company website and digital presence to build up more credibility and trust towards its clients. They would like to stand out more apart from the competitors.

Vision statement:

The creation and design of ‘VinaOpera Website’ will benefit the business in multiple ways. From gaining leads and credibility to efficient communication with clients. It also helps clients to acknowledge VinaOpera better as well as the way they do business in local area.

Primary persona:

A couple with their son is seeking a property to call their new home that can cater for their need as well as price range. With VinaOpera website, they can easily search for a matching property in West of Sydney and understand how and why to trust VinaOpera as their agent to purchase the house from.

Secondary persona:

A full-time worker who is seeking to invest wisely in the next property purchase and selling. He is on the look for a great agency for reliable and smart property management in West of Sydney. VinaOpera website would inform this client with company’s details and build trust toward him.

Scenarios and user journey map

Hoang Nguyen at work, during lunch break

A husband of a family of 3 is looking to buy a house for his family. Hoang used his phone to search on Google for properties nearby. He found some suggestions and recognised VinaOpera because he came across their office during the time in Cabramatta. Hoang clicks on the link and spends some time to understand more about the agency. After realise how professional and thorough VinaOpera is through the website, he decided to make a booking for property inspection.

Mohamad Sandeep during his time off after dinner

A tax-office manager is taking his time off after dinner in front of the laptop to search for properties to upgrade and also to make some investments. Sandeep has been searching for some time now but has not found any good properties yet. He happened to click on the VinaOpera website through Google listing results. Sandeep was impressed by how amazing the listing is with useful information and an easy-to-use web layout, he gained more trust with this agency. Sandeep decided to book for an appraisal with VinaOpera.

Golden path for clients

Connect with VinaOpera through website
- Acquire listing information on the VinaOpera website and satisfied with it, decide to book an appointment.
- Read through the testimonials and services page to understand how well VinaOpera treat its clients and decide to book an appointment.
After connecting with VinaOprea
- Instant replies and confirmation via email for the appointment
- Appointment reminder and facts
- Updates about properties and tips monthly to remind clients about VinaOpera and increase sales

Ideation and wireframe creation

Competitive audit report

Define audit goals

Understand how effective or restrained a website could be for a real estate agency by focusing on some popular names on the market.
Figure out what the main things to have on a real estate website in 2023 - 2024.

Key competitors: Their value, position on market and description

The Rubinstein Group
- Defining a new era of real estate using social media and digital marketing to emphasize the amazing work they achieve.
- High-end to a luxury portfolio of listing.
- Synonymous with Sydney’s elite property. Commitment to challenge the traditional and focus on the fine details.

Belle Property:
- With more than 20 years of experience in the property-related field. They are an elevated brand with impressive digital reach.
- A full-service agency with premium and middle market in selected locations.
- Describe themselves as a leader in lifestyle real estate providers and trusted across Australia.

WhiteFox Real Estate:
- End-to-end advisors, negotiators and advocate specialists.
- Boutique real estate agency focused on luxury properties.
- Describe themselves as bold, polished and matter of fact in terms of an agency.

Realestate.com.au
- Make property simple, efficient, and stress-free. They have 12 million access per month.
- Cater to everyone, from beginners to experienced users of property knowledge.
- Describe themselves as market-leading digital advertising business specialising in property.

Marshal White Property
- In the market for over 50 years. They are proud of defining Melbourne’s property market with experience and insight.
- A premium property firm instantly updates itself with a market approach and enduring connections to create success.
- Describe themselves as more than a real estate firm with an understanding of the subtleties of each neighbourhood.

Competitors key strengths

The Rubinstein Groups

Focus on building the brand around the founder to impress users
Impressive portfolio and articles
Clear menu items and on top position
Clear listing images, titles and information
Great way to display floorplan

WhiteFox Real Estate

Extensive search bar
Explanation of how to assist clients
Include recent social media posts
Include an impressive portfolio next to submission forms to create trust
Include sorting function in listing

Belle Property

Request for appraisal button on the main menu
Extensive dropdown menu items
Video as hero banner but not too distracting
The tagline 'Make yourself at home' could create an intention of users
Include steps to buy/sell/rent
A very clear way to display information on the listing page

Realestate.com.au

Caters to all needs and services
Great use of colour contrast and fonts
Offer user portal
Nearby school, childcare list
Recent sales in the same area for price research
Enough information on homepage

Marshal White Property

Smooth and soothing animation on the website
Effective use of fonts
Creative way to do listing on mobile web browser
Chinese version available
Include a good review of suburban schools and landmarks
Map view included in search results

Competitors key weaknesses

The Rubinstein Groups

The image load taking too long
Fonts is too thin and small
The video on the homepage is a bit distracting and makes users feel dizzy
The company’s image could be a bit too intimidating

WhiteFox Real Estate

Text on image create difficulty in reading
Images take long time to load
Information on listing page is a bit too cluttered and not devided well enough
Spaces between listings are too small
2 x 1 x 1 tile could be a bit too much

Belle Property

Too much information on the homepage
Images take too long to load
Too much advertising and marketing
Text is too spread out vertically on desktop but perfect on mobile phones
Low readability and contrast for pop-up contact forms

Realestate.com.au

Showing many real estate agents and properties at a time could make users indecisive
Advertising could be distracted
Need to scroll a bit too far to go back to the top of the page in listing page

Marshal White Property

Colour use could be a bit dull, lack of contrast and visibility
The listing style could be confusing on desktop
The website is slow to load overall
Pop-up filters could be annoying
Icons could be too small and low in readability
Could only view 6 properties at a time
Floor plan is in low definition image file

Gaps from key competitors

Fonts are too thin and small on the desktop version of the page
Videos on the homepage are a bit distracting if used incorrectly
Images of employees are a bit too intimidating and unfriendly
Text on images is a big no
Too little space/gap between listings
Loading time taking too long for long pages with big image files
Try too hard to sell and advertise the listings
The colour use could be a bit dull and not user-friendly
Some icons are too small

Opportunities to use on VinaOpera website

Fonts should be thick enough and big enough for readability on the desktop version
The group image of employees should create a harmonious and friendly vibe but also be professional enough to engage all users
Web image is a must to reduce load time
Enough information on the homepage: Search bar, hero banner, suggested properties, useful articles or how VinaOpera assist their clients
Colours should be neutral and create enough contrast
Listing page should be 1 x 1 x 1 and have enough space between each property listing
Listing information should be divided into sections and useful
Suburban guides and landmarks should be included
Recent sales in the same area should be listed in each property for references
Request for appraisal should be included in the menu
Steps to buy or sell a property should be mentioned together with testimonials