This project is a case from QuintoAndar, the leading housing platform in Brazil and LATAM that facilitates long-term rentals entirely through digital means, allowing tenants to negotiate directly with property owners.

Think of it as an Airbnb, but for long-term rentals. You can read more about QuintoAndar in this Forbes article.

A bit of context

The VP of Design requested the initiative to assess the app's user experience and pinpoint key areas for design improvement. Working closely with my colleague Débora, we received direct guidance from the Head of Design and the VP to develop a comprehensive framework to quickly research, audit, and act on UX debts, elevating the quality of critical live experiences.

We focused on a specific user journey as the study case, using our insights to create tools that other designers could employ in multiple business contexts. This led to the creation of "UX Clinics," a design toolbox aimed at enhancing the user experience.

Problem Framing

The company's strategy focused on minimizing the 'Ticket Rate' and delivering a streamlined self-service user journey.

We selected the Contract Signature user flow (aka 'Closing') as the UX Clinics case because it had the highest Ticket Rate pre-contract and was a critical experience for customers and the business.

Research Question: Why customers are seeking human assistance (Support Tickets) to sign their rental contracts?

Research

To tackle this challenge, we gathered data from multiple sources:

(1) Analysis of CX tickets to uncover users pain points

(2) Shadowing sessions with users going through the Contract Signature journey

(3) Interviews with Ops Leaders to understand operational challenges

(4) Mystery shopping to map product + comms touchpoints

Contract flow map (product + comms)

During the research stage, we discovered that:

• Users could not sign the contract in-app and received their rental contracts through email from a third-party provider.

• Users could not edit their preferred start date in-app and often needed to open a Support Ticket to ask for help.

Renting a new home is a milestone and customers felt unsafe and anxious with the live product experience.

“How might we promote trust and enable customers to independently edit and sign the rental contract?”

Audit

After mapping, we created templates and invited senior/staff designers to collaborate in identifying and documenting UX debts considering the holistic user journey.

We categorized the assessments into three types:

• Nielsen Heuristic

• Content Evaluation

• Visual Assessment

We categorized UX debts according to severity and expected effort for resolution. Next, we developed a calculation method to derive an overall score.

In a data-driven environment, translating our research findings into comparable numbers helped us quickly communicate Design goals with Product Management and Engineering teams.

Action

Finally, we prioritized a select few UX debts to emphasize and raise awareness by generating visual concepts.

By disseminating the UX Clinics report, we impacted planning, leading to the assignment of a taskforce dedicated to resolving the mapped UX debts.

Following this initiative, our team received invitations from leaders interested in replicating this audit process in their business contexts.

Results

UX Clinics Program is a project deeply connected to strategic business metrics.

• Self-service product: Achieved a 62% YoY reduction in Ticket Rate, enabling users to sign their contracts autonomously and confidently.

• Happy customers: NPS is higher for customers who did not need to open Support Tickets.

• Efficient Support: by reducing the Ticket Rate in Contract Signature flow, Ops analysts can provide support to higher-priority journeys.

😎

Happy surprise of a meeting showcasing one of the UX Clinics templates

Time flies, and we continue to see designers using our UX Clinics templates in their own projects. It's always a wonderful surprise!

Thanks for reading!

Important note: this is a short version of the project. More data and details about the research and design process can be provided upon contact. Have a great day!