Intelligent virtual home repair & diagnosis
Collaborating with a top-notch team, I successfully created an industry-first virtual home diagnosis and repair service through research, teamwork, and design.
When
2019 - 2020
What
B2C Marketplace Web App
Why
Drive Revenue & Growth
Role
Principal Designer
The MVP of our product included scheduling, property management, subscriptions, and live video diagnostics using Twilio.
Key Takeaways
- Crafted a home services marketplace web app, which included live video diagnosis, real-time quoting, appointment management and more.
- Researched the home services industry through qualitative interviews with stakeholders and field technicians, as well as heatmaps and usability tests.
- Aligned the team around a shared vision and guided the engineering team through the finer details using my development background.
Challenge
Providing homeowners with virtual diagnosis and in-home repairs from coast-to-coast
Many home service calls end in a simple flick of a switch, a $250 bill — and an unhappy homeowner. In the biz, they call these "nuisance calls" or for the rest of us, "unprofitable calls" — losing the industry millions every year.
At HomeX, we set out to change that with live video diagnosis, media-rich AI generated DIY solutions, and 24/7 in-home expert service. By tech-enabling field technicians, we cut down on these calls which allowed us to focus on more profitable opportunities.
Goals
- Making account authorization a breeze to encourage adoption
- Effortless online appointment creation, management and reminders
- Simple automatic invoice payment and management
- Effortless online appointment creation, management and reminders
- Manage and transfer your service history for multiple properties
Research
Deep-diving into the current customer-technician dynamic
Growing up in a home services family business meant I was no stranger to the industry. However, as a new homeowner, I had a lot to learn about the frustrations that come along with maintaining one.
Since it was a brand new product our first mission was to evaluate the industry, talk to existing customers, and define a minimal loveable product that reaches both business and user goals.
Goals
- Evaluate the current capabilities and limitations of various on-demand home services platforms (e.g., Thumbtack, TaskRabbit, Handyman)
- Pinpoint opportunities by studying reviews from existing customers, then taking those findings into discovery sessions
- Identify what does and doesn't work in the customer-technician relationship by interviewing executives, customers, and field technicians
- Analyze both internal and external data, including quantitative analytics, to gain insight into our target personas
- Determine and prioritize the most valuable features, alongside product — by balancing goals, user needs, and ROI
We ran a series of lean usability tests on the appointment scheduling system to iron out any friction points in the user's journey.
Existing heatmapping data gave us some qualitative insights into what content and information our users find most useful.
Planning
Establishing a vision and aligning with engineering
To align the team during the initial product story refinement, I created user flows and wireframes. After consulting with stakeholders, I advanced to high-fidelity design while the engineers simultaneously began working on the bones of the application.
Utilizing detailed user flows allowed us to plan far into the future and align around a single source of truth.
Wireframing the core of the product allowed the engineering team to get a good enough picture that they could move unblocked.
Showing the step by step wireframes of the Magic Link authentication was critical for getting the team onboard.
Results
Delivering the first platform dedicated to giving virtual repair diagnosis and quoting
Utilizing the Volt Design System, which I also designed, we built a versatile home management system. We enabled our users to virtually diagnose issues, get real-time quotes, attempt affordable DIY solutions, and request an appointment with one of our expert technicians.
Upon delivering development ready high-fidelity concepts and interactive prototypes — I worked alongside development to unblock them, answer questions, and even help guide them through some more advanced CSS implementation.
We continued this cycle of collaborative discovery, measurement and iteration through my tenure at HomeX.
Contributed to and led the creation of our video chat diagnosis feature which nurtured the customer-technician experience
Having a simple way to manage appointments and pay invoices was a core component to gaining the homeowners trust.
Showing the step by step wireframes of the Magic Link authentication was critical for getting the team onboard.
Standout Moments
Delighting users through slick appointment scheduling
The sleek and user-friendly scheduling widget makes it a breeze for new and existing users to schedule appointments, thanks to its captivating and delightful motion design.
Standout Moments
Accelerating growth with a Lego-block mentality
Being agile with a modular system let us solve problems lightning fast — growing to over 1,200,000 organic impressions in under 4 months.
Created an atomic design system — breaking down the product into its smallest functional units for efficient and modular design.
I led design on the DIY Content Ecosystem which exploded our growth with over 1,200,000 organic impressions.
Working alongside a well-respected branding firm, I helped guide the creation of the brand and illustration library to match our vision.
Due to confidentiality, certain aspects of this project cannot be made public. To learn more about my process, a portfolio presentation can be scheduled.
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