Human services professional turned
UX/UI Designer and Researcher
UX/UI Designer and UX Researcher
Analytics dashboard for Airbnb investors and hosts
AllTheRooms
Roles
Me:
Lead UX Research Consultant
My Team:
Roxana Gómez Daza, Senior Project Lead and Counterpart at AllTheRooms
Vanessa Scott-Emuakpor, UX Research Consultant
Timeline
4 Weeks
Key Skills
Qualitative user research, synthesis and presentation
Tools
Synopsis
The Problem
AllTheRooms aggregates and catalogs every short-term rental on the planet. In doing so, it provides a dashboard of tools used to do in-depth analysis of short term rental markets across the globe.
AllTheRooms recently introduced a couple of features so they wanted to get an idea of how an engaged user navigates their site, specifically:
1
where pain points or friction exist
2
what brings the most value to the users
3
who users are
Target Audience
People interested or involved in the supply side of short term rental properties. This includes: investors and potential investors in short-term rental properties, property owners interested in offering short-term rentals, property managers, current hosts of short term property.
In short...
During each job there were pain points and value added. Interestingly, historical data was what users valued most, but navigating the historical data and customizing the options was also the source of the largest pain point.
Valued Most
Historical data
Pain Point
Historical data
😧
Process
Design Thinking: Remixed
I employed an abbreviated, remixed version of Design Thinking while conducting the study. Typically, I would interview users or potential users to get an idea of who they are, what they are about and pain points surrounding a particular theme. However, because of the brief, I shifted between empathy and usability testing, then moved on to defining and articulating what I saw in usability testing. In the final part, I tested my theories out with our counterpart, who in turn gave me feedback.
This study was done under the leadership of Roxana, the Product Designer at AllTheRooms. When this study was completed, she would take our results and start to ideate to come up with improvements to AllTheRooms.
Empathize
Get to Know AllTheRooms
First I did a lot of research about AllTheRooms and made sure I familiarized myself with the platform.
It's a startup that started as a way for travelers to search both AirBnB and Hotels in an area.
Now it's used as an analytics tool for hosts or potential hosts to analyze the short term rental market in their area.
Free version is very limited. Basic subscription is $19/month and Pro subscription is $50/month. Users pay by the area, typically a city or county.
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Market Analysis
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Competitor Analysis
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Revenue Calculator
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Vacation Rental Property Score
Metrics include
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Average Daily Rate
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Occupancy Rate
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Available Supply
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Revenue per month
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Historical Data
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Predicted Future Data
Metrics
Background
Subscriptions
Features
Secondary Research
Then I compared AllTheRooms to some of their competitors.
Overall, AllTheRooms did well. The one deficiency was how the user could distinguish what they would get by paying. Their competitors had a sample city that displayed what a premium membership would look like while AllTheRooms had words describing what the user would receive.
Empathize and Test
Primary Research
Research Objectives and Methodology
Our overarching research objective was to find out how users navigate throughout the site. Because of this, we decided the usability testing portion would be unmoderated. Each interview would take about 60 minutes. We wanted to learn:
1
where pain points or friction exist
2
what brings the most value to the user
3
who users are
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What are their goals?
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What is their process of investing in short term rentals?
Recruiting Users
We defined the difference between a new and existing user, I created a screener survey and analyzed the results. We incentivized those who has passed the screener survey to speak with us.
Shifting objectives due to recruitment
We had originally hoped to compare the flows of new and existing users. However, this wasn't possible because of who we spoke to and time constraints.
Creating a Script
I created a script that had three parts, which corresponded to our research objectives.
Research Objectives
Who are users?
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Pain points
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What is valued
Script
Background
Questions about the user to uncover who the user is and their motivations in investing in short term property.
Usability Test
An unmoderated usability test where users walked us through how they use AllTheRooms.
Conclusion: + and -
Questions about what the users valued most about AllTheRooms and what they thought could be improved.
Interviewing Users
I interviewed one user and the other three users were divided between my two teammates. We all recorded and reviewed each other’s interviews.
Me asking questions during user testing.
Define and Empathize
3 Kinds of Analysis
Identify Use Cases
Summarize who the users are and develop personas.
1
2
User Flow Analysis
Determined the user flows and identified:
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jobs in which the users employed AllTheRooms
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and which personas executed which jobs.
3
Analyze Each Step of Flow
Determine what users value most and where pain points exist by analyzing each step of the flow.
Pain Points
Cognitive Overload
AllTheRooms offers a multitude of metrics. Ultimately, there is too much information, likely contributing to cognitive overload and making it difficult for users to navigate.
Hard to Find
The timespan and downloadable data were hard to find. Some users were manually typing information onto a spreadsheet because they didn't know they could download data.
Users valued most
Data
This was the most important part of the dashboard for investors.
Metrics
Average Daily Rate, Occupancy and Revenue were the most important metrics.
Downloadable Data
The users who could find where to download data had complex spreadsheets to conduct analysis.
Conclusion
Results
Based off of our team's findings and recommendations, AllTheRooms redesigned the Historical Data section and moved it above the fold. Below is the updated dashboard as result of this study.
Lessons Learned
User Recruitment
User recruitment proved to be more difficult than expected. It turns out that a small pop-up on the platform was more successful in recruiting users than emails to users asking for volunteers. If possible, I would run the pop-up for a full week or two and schedule at about 7 users to account for users who didn't show. I would start recruiting users before the script was finalized to allow for more time for recruitment.
Using Analytics to Confirm Results
User interviews should primarily be used to answer why users do what they do and how they feel when using the product. Analytics can be used to triangulate with user testing confirm or reject results more factual data such how the user navigates the platform.
Actions Speak Louder
Many articles and books suggest that the concluding questions of a usability test should be to ask the user what they liked best or what they would change about the product they just tested. This is how I crafted the protocol. However, when answering these questions, some users directly contradicted what they had previously shown me or commented on while using the product. In these instances, I trust the users actions or comments while using the product instead of their concluding remarks.
Final Summary
For your viewing pleasure, here are the insights learned from the usability study and and the revision of the historical data card.
Results of Study
Improved for Usability
