Agave Apartments Redesign

The Agave apartment website has several usability issues that impact users' affinity towards choosing Agave as their home. The goal is to uncover these issues to improve user engagement with the site and provide a smoother experience to rent apartments.
Timeline: 4 months
Year: 2023
Role: UX/UI Designer

Conducting heuristic evaluation

I evaluated Agave's website using Nielsons' 10 heuristics. Each issue has been rated using the Dumas and Redish severity scale which has 4 levels

  • Level 1  - Prevents the user from completing a task
  • Level 2 - Creates significant delay and frustration
  • Level 3 - Has a minor effect on usability
  • Level 4 - Subtle with least effect
OBSERVATIONS

18 issues were uncovered with Level 2 issues being the most observed (8 issues).

Fig 1: Distribution severity levels of issues
For detailed analysis see Heurtistic Evaluation

User Survey

To get input from users of the site, a survey was conducted with 20 participants. The survey questions included personal information and user’s expectations and needs from a rental apartment website.

17/20 users
are ASU graduate students
18/20 users
earn less than $ 14,000 annually
17/20 users 
are originally from India

User's Frustrations‍

  • Lack of important information regarding price, utilities and amenities on the site
  • Fluctuating rent prices
  • Tedious process of comparing prices and unit availability between apartments
  • Late replies from apartment owners

User's Needs

  • Vicinity to ASU
  • Rent and utility pricing
  • Details about amenities
  • Nearby bus stops and stores
Fig 2: Survey data for user's priorities
For detailed survey analysis see User Research Survey Results

Accessibility Audit

Using the WAVE Evaluation Tool plugin, 22 issues were discovered which were categorized into - Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust issues.

Fig 3(b): Severity level of 18 issues
Fig 3(a): Distribution of accessibility type
Fig 3(b): Severity level of 18 issues
For detailed analysis see Accessibility Audit Document

User Personas

Using data retrieved from user research survey and heuristic evaluation three user personas were identified. They are created with respect to 3 major user needs

  • 1. Users looking for rental with a tight budget
    2. Users who want to quickly find a rental unit and 
    3. Users who are looking majorly for amenities
PRICE CONSCIOUS SUNNY

1. As a price-conscious international student, I want to compare prices and units so that I can find an affordable unit

    Acceptance Criteria

  • Must be able to compare the prices of different units side-by-side.
  • Total price of each unit, including rent, utilities, and other fees must be clear
  • Have filters for number of bedrooms, rent and rent durations
  • Alerts for price fluctuations so users can rent at the lowest price
  • Should be able to enable and disable these alerts

2. As a price-conscious international student, I want to know details about the students in the community  as I would like to meet new students.

Acceptance Criteria

  • Details about amenities for students such as free printer and scanner access should be given on the website
  • Location and timings for the same should be provided
  • Users should be able to read reviews from other international students about their experiences
HASSLE FREE ANI

1. As an hassle free student, I want to stay close to ASU and Orbit bus stops so I can travel to ASU quickly on free buses

Acceptance Criteria

  • Users must be able to see a list of Orbit bus stops and flag zones in the area
  • Highlighted information about distance and time taken to travel between ASU Tempe campus and Agave must be available
  • The above information via different modes of transportation like walking, car, scooter and bus also must be available

2. As a hassle free student, I want to quickly see images of the apartment so I have an idea of look and feel of apartment and unit without visiting in person

Acceptance Criteria

  • Images should be categorized as unit, apartment, and amenities
  • Images for 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units should be available
  • Images should look authentic and not have stock photos

3. As a hassle-free student, I want to be able to search for units easily to make the process less time consuming

    Acceptance Criteria

  • Users should be able to save searches and filters while looking for floorplans so they can reapply filters quickly
  • Users should be notified when new units matching their criteria are available
  • Must be able to contact landlords directly from the application
  • Must be able to see answers to commonly asked questions to reduce waiting for response time from management
AMENITIES LOVER KAPLESH

1. As an amenities lover, I want to see information regarding sizing and in-house amenities so that I can compare and select the best unit

Acceptance Criteria

  • Provide information about each unit sizing and in-house appliances like dishwasher and oven
  • Price differences due to unit sizing must be clearly mentioned
  • Details about common laundry rooms, number of laundry units, laundry card, hours of operation and cost of laundry should be transparent
  • Details about parcel and mailboxes should be mentioned

2. As an amenities lover, I want to see information about common amenities so that I know if all amenities are available

Acceptance Criteria

  • Details about common laundry rooms, number of laundry units, laundry card, hours of operation and cost of laundry should be transparent and visible to the users
  • Details about parcel and mailboxes and their locations should be mentioned to the users

3. As an amenities lover, I want to know more about the neighborhood and stores nearby so that I am aware of the surroundings

    Acceptance Criteria

  • Information about stores like Safeway, Walmart and so on nearby along with distance from Agave must be available for users
  • Information about restaurants nearby like Starbucks, Potbelly sandwich along with distance from Agave must be visible on the website
  • Previous renter feedbacks which have information about management and amenities must be available

Usability Testing

The user personas and user stories uncovered the goals and needs of users. To understand how users currently perform these tasks, usability testing was conducted. 5 users were tested and all tests started with users signing a consent form.

PRE-TEST QUESTIONNAIRE
The questionnaire has a mix of demographics and functional questions which was given to understand which persona the user comes under. To access the detailed questionnaire see Pre Test questionnaire
TASKS

Users were given 2 tasks per scenario and the time taken to complete each task was recorded. There were a total of 4 scenarios and 8 tasks. Each scenario was based on user goals that were uncovered in the user personas

Scenario #1

When hunting for apartments, it is very important to know all the features of the house. In agave’s website you want to go through all the images of units and the different amenities available in each unit.

Task 1: Find if every unit has a in house microwave and dishwasher
Task 2: Find images of 3 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartment units
Scenario #2

You are looking for an apartment under a tight budget. Before deciding on any apartments you want to compare prices between different units to get the best deal

Task 1: Compare the prices and features of all 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartments.
Task 2: Find the cheapest 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment with a move-in date in the next month.
Scenario #3

While looking for a rental apartment, you want to live within a reasonable distance from public transportation and stores in-case of any emergencies. Outdoor amenities inside the apartment complex are some essentials that you look out before choosing an apartment 

Task 1: Find information regarding swimming pool, gym, laundry and mail box
Task 2: Find the closest bus stops and grocery stores near the apartment.
Scenario #4

You are an international student and want to constantly be in touch with the leasing office. You want to know more about the apartment surrounding but cannot visit in person and want to explore options of scheduling a virtual tour. You are also looking for means of communication with the leasing office irrespective of your location and time zone

Task 1: Schedule a tour for a studio apartment on some date next week with any convenient time and move-in              date. Use the following details for the task
             First Name: F
             Last Name: L
             Email ID: abc@gmail.com
             Phone Number: 1234567890
Task 2: Find phone number, Email and address of the leasing office to contact them for more information
POST-TEST QUESTIONNAIRE

The questionnaire has a mix of demographics and functional questions which was given to understand which persona the user comes under.

This was given to the users after the test to understand how they felt about certain features and process. To access the detailed questionnaire see Post Test questionnaire

Usability Testing Results

The meetings were recorded on Zoom. The time taken for users to finish each task was recorded. Issues were recorded and categorized into the following types.  

  • Blocker Issues - Participant gets stuck or gives up, only proceeds with help
  • Major Issues - Participant faces a significant delay or starts doing try-and-error
  • Minor Issues - Participant stops to think, but proceeds
  • Strong suggestion - A suggestion to fix something that is clearly annoying the participant
  • Suggestion - A suggestion that describes a possible enhancement of fix in the system, but with low importance to the participant
Fig 4: Distribution of usability issue type

Phrases, expressions, and think-aloud statements by the participants were recorded. Feedbacks from users during and after testing was noted

Oh, wait... I didn’t realise that this was a button
(Homepage)

This carousel is little tough to go through
(Images)

What do these icons mean?
(Maps)

Fig 5: Phrases and statements by the participants

Wireframes and Prototypes

From all the data collected, I redesigned the website. I started with the high-priority issues like visibility of buttons in the Homepage, lack of information architechture in amenities and layout.

LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMES

The following shows the before and after screens for the Homepage, Amenities, and Gallery.

PROTOTYPES

The homepage is redesigned by adding more images and a reviews section to improve the trust of users.

Amenities and Gallery pages information architecture has been redesigned for better readability. The images and information can be easily found in this

For detailed prototypes see Figma Prototype

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