Helping a product team boost buyer confidence by user experience research: A UX research case study

Business Issue

Buying a home is a big decision, especially for first-time buyers. A residential homeownership education platform partnered with a major mortgage lender to provide a digital educational experience for first-time home buyers. The client wanted to boost the confidence of prospective buyers by providing a helpful educational course in home buying. They already had a prototype but were unsure about whether it would genuinely deliver.

User experience research was needed to understand:

• How easy or difficult was it to use the course?
• Which areas of the experience were beneficial to the first-time buyer? What areas fell short?
• Was the product trustworthy and seen as an unbiased source of information?
• How did the product compare to other resources for first-time buyers?
• Will users be more informed and feel confident after using it?

What We Did

A dozen one-on-one UX research interviews were conducted via web conferencing among potential users. Participants completed tasks using the mobile app prototype and were asked a series of up-front and closing questions about their experiences using the product.

The UX research revealed areas where the product fell short of expectations. In order to give the product team a road map for addressing UX issues, we classified them as ‘minor,’ ‘moderate,’ or ‘severe.’ To further aid in prioritizing usability problems, each was classified as a problem specific to Information Architecture, Language, or Interaction Design. Additionally, in partnership with research stakeholders, each usability problem was assigned a rating to determine the problem’s impact on the business.

Result

User experience research was key to product optimization. Approximately 50 usability problems were identified within the prototype, along with two bugs. By separating issues by severity, the product team could prioritize their efforts and take on the next steps in optimization. The information architecture and interaction design framework used in the original prototype was overhauled and replaced by an improved approach, which was then successfully validated in the second round of usability testing.

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