TRACTIQ Case Study
Spining Off a New Product
I led the design efforts to create a new product for real estate analysis, leveraging the latent features of an existing Social Explorer product designed for academia.
I conducted and assisted in primary research, and conducted all secondary research mentioned in the study.
As an individual contributor, I developed initial concepts and designed nearly all parts of the application presented here; for those parts I did not, I led the team responsible for their design and execution.
Context
Real estate agents, who were previously introduced to Social Explorer during their academic studies, have begun utilizing its capabilities. Their latent use showcases the tool's versatility, indicating that the platform can find applications in diverse industries.
Business Case
Problem
Market Limits Reached
In academia, Social Explorer has already captured a significant share of the market, leaving limited room for additional growth. Simultaneously, its adoption by real estate professionals shows potential but reveals a mismatch in features and experience for this new user group.
Objective
Adapting for New Industries
Revise the tool to meet the specific needs of real estate professionals for site analysis while ensuring that entering a new market maintains Social Explorer's product integrity and position in the current market.
Research Summary
Stepping into a new market, we knew the importance of understanding the customers' needs and expectations. The most valuable asset was having a Social Explorer product as a foundation to assess what could work for the new market, as it provided a good starting point. Here are the main takeaways from our research:
Kickstart
Support Tickets & Feedback
Real estate agents expressed a pronounced need for custom user-defined area analysis, particularly emphasizing drive time and radii.
A significant demand was evident for on-the-fly calculations that combine demographic insights with tangible property metrics.
Agents frequently highlighted the utility of generating shareable reports for their clientele.
The Social Explorer approach to data and visualizations is overly academic and rigid, strictly adhering to the segregation of data from different surveys and years of collection.
Discovery
Initial Focus Group & Interviews
Identified our tool's primary function as being suited for preliminary market research.
Agents prioritize quick access to tailored data for efficient client communication and decision-making.
Highlighted the importance of forming partnerships with industry experts to better align tool functionalities with on-ground realities.
Identified a clear need for easy-to-interpret data visualizations tailored to the specific demands of real estate agents.
Emphasized the critical importance of ease of use and few clicks to generate desired outputs.
Diving into Competition
UX Centric Competitor Analysis
Our edge lies in superior mapping capabilities and speedier technological solutions.
Potential to stand out by delivering visually compelling outputs, both through maps and charts.
Recognized a chance to offer one-click print-ready outputs and easy snippet pasting for agents market studies.
Day in the Life (Learning Context)
Real Estate YouTubers
Offered me a window into the daily routines of real estate agents, emphasizing their reliance on data-driven tools.
Shed light on the significant portion of an agent's day dedicated to fieldwork, client consultations, and internal strategizing.
Reinforced the agents' preference for easy-to-digest outputs, like charts and tables, to streamline client presentations and recommendations.
What user problem are we solving?
Conducting a quick preliminary market study and exporting the results in a meaningful format.
Synthesis
Affinity Mapping Takeaways
User Defined Market Areas
The ability to define custom market areas, be it a 1, 2, or 3-mile radius or a specific 15 to 30-minute drive time, is not just a feature – it's essential.
Relevant and Trustworthy Data
Realtors often lack familiarity with data sources and their nuances. They seek a streamlined experience, aiming to access crucial data without the complexities of delving deep into surveys or grappling with intricate tool functionalities.
It's All About Supply and Demand
Real estate agents primarily sought a tool to gauge demand in specific areas and understand the supply, helping their investment decisions and predict growth.
Their Goal is Swift, Clear and Actionable Information
The tool would fit well in facilitating preliminary market research, with an emphasis on user-friendly operation and minimal steps to produce actionable results.
Segmenting for Distinct Real Estate Sectors
An early insight from our research indicated the value of segmenting for distinct real estate sectors. To offer genuine value, the data must align closely with each sector's needs.
Strategy & Product Vision
New Brand: TractIQ
Social Explorer's brand lacked leverage and resonance with the new target audience. We decided to create a distinct brand identity, and that part of the work has been outsourced. I regularly synced with the external brand designer, offering feedback to ensure we achieved the desired feel.
Efficiency: One-Click Insights
Simplifying the user experience aims to streamline the process of addressing critical investment-related questions, ensuring agents gain insights with minimal steps, sounded impossible at the time, one-click.
Single-Market Focus: Self Storage
We focused on one niche, starting with self-storage, rather than general real estate, which reduced the volume of data and design tasks. Partnering with niche specialists ensured optimal user experience and decision-making.
Experience Map Phases
Defining Market
Reviewing locations along with their market areas, and considering contextual factors.
Process should be straightforward. It's important to easily define market areas. Also, understanding what's around the location: competitors, relevant nearby places, and signal brands, is key.
Analysis
In-depth, data-driven evaluation for location potential and possible growth.
Users aim to make informed decisions but feel frustrated when they must delve into surveys or deal with complex, hard-to-understand data. Their goal is to swiftly gauge demand and understand the supply.
Outputting
Preparing insights and recommendations for sharing.
They strive to highlight their arguments as well as elevate their image as data-driven experts. They seek a quick and efficient way to share important insights and ultimately distinguish themselves through the quality of presentation.
Defining the Future State
UI Framework
Since we were going to use a single codebase for both TractIQ and Social Explorer, with no changes allowed on the latter, the process involved thoughtfully adding new elements, creating shortcuts to certain states of the application, and adapting existing components to achieve the desired results for the new user base.
The images below show the wireflow of the main user journey, and it is just a small subset of many produced during work on this project.
Concept development…
For about four weeks, I explored different ideas and iterated on covering the customer journey using low-fidelity prototypes. I focused on the user journey described above and the overall data presentation concept.
During that time, I frequently discussed feasibility with the lead developer and held weekly syncs with the product manager and head of data to ensure alignment.
…and Validation
Later in the process, I included subject matter experts—self-storage real estate professionals we talked to during the initial research and who would use the product daily. Based on their feedback, I made several alterations to ensure the concept effectively solves the problem and cover the main use case of conducting a quick preliminary market study.
Defining Market
Streamlining the Experience
By setting 1, 3, and 5-mile areas as default preferences—a popular choice among our interviewees—and requiring only a specific address from the user, we’ve streamlined the process to access analysis and outputs down to a single click.
Several usability tests were conducted to improve the final solution presented below, focusing on task completion rates, and identifying any usability issues. The feedback and results were used to refine and improve the design.
See it in Action
From the Dashboard to the Analysis
Analysis
Turning Data into Insights
Starting with data selection, our main aim was to pinpoint vital information and present it clearly. I closely collaborated with our team's data analysts and developers to determine the best way to visualize and prepare the data, bridging the gap between customer needs and achievable outcomes.
See it in Action
Going Deeper Into the Analysis
Using thematic maps to analyze the target area, explore competition, and review demographic data, including self-storage facilities, rental prices, and other key indicators.
Outputting
Presentation
Whether it's a single chart for a feasibility report or a full set of charts, graphs, tables, and maps to convince a client of an investment opportunity, or a full market study, we provided multiple ways to view and output data.
See it in Action
Easy Report Access
Opening Opportunities
Successful Product Launch
Unlocked a New Market
The efforts led to the launch of a new product, successfully transitioning all targeted customers who were using Social Explorer and partner software to the new product with a higher-paying tier.
Efficient User Experience
Cuts Client Onboarding
The need for client onboarding by salespeople has been significantly reduced. A key factor was developing a streamlined user experience, with 90% users starting interactions from the dashboard.
Learning Experience Vital for Making Future Strategic Decisions
While designing visualizations and translating data into insights, we discovered the importance of specific indicators and many intricacies and creative perspectives needed to deliver valuable insights and create a viable product for self-storage market customers. These learnings were crucial for understanding the challenges in entering other sub-markets as well.