Understanding the Home Buyer's Mortgage Experience
I was the lead researcher on a project aimed at understanding the customer journey of obtaining a mortgage.
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Background
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In January 2018, I became the new, dedicated researcher for a real estate listing company's mortgage team, which the team did not previously have.
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The team was at different points in the product development cycle, though no discovery or foundational research had been ever completed on the Home Buyer’s mortgage experience.
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I decided that a baseline understanding of the user experience was necessary, to help inform all current and future product development.
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Objective
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To understand the mortgage experience, including pain points, of First-Time and Repeat Home Buyers
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Methodology & Participant Criteria
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15 1x1 interviews; 60 minutes each
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Consumers who were looking to purchase a home and were in the process of getting a mortgage, but have not yet obtained a mortgage or put in an offer on a home
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5 First-Time Home Buyers (FTHB) with 2 Have Been Pre-Approved
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10 Repeat Buyers with 6 Have Been Pre-Approved
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Considerations
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Wanted to speak to Home Buyers from across the country
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Remote interviews allowed me that flexibility while also allowing me to keep costs down, and easily include internal stakeholders to listen in
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Wanted to speak with Home Buyers individually to be able ask in-depth questions about their own experiences
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Fieldwork & Analysis
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I took notes during interviews
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I transcribed notes to electronic format to aid in analysis and pattern detection
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I created a grid of respondents to keep track of all attributes
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I included recorded audio clips of interviews to illustrate findings
Deliverables (Selected Slides)
Recommendations
As part of the research, I was able to make immediate recommendations regarding the mortgage experience on the real estate company's website, listed below:
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1. Improve the usefulness of two current products by adding in additional features that participants wanted
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2. Test different value propositions for one product to better match Home Buyers’ needs, which were uncovered in the course of the research
3. Revisit the entire experience the aforementioned product because there is a mismatch in what consumers want and what the company is currently offering them
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4. Better connect the home shopping experience and the mortgage experience to help home buyers solve for a particular problem mentioned in the research