You’re building a software product from scratch and your team has about a thousand ideas for new and exciting features. How do you determine which features will make it for the first release, which belong in future releases and which features simply won’t make the roadmap?
Immoscoop is one of the leading online real-estate platforms in Belgium. You might have guessed it: they are rebuilding their platform … from scratch! Amongst the many features sported by the platform there is a single crucial one: showcasing houses that are relevant to a specific user. However, this seemingly “simple” feature raised an equally simple but crucial design question:
How do people specify their housing criteria?
The Immoscoop team identified two groups of search filters (i.e. basic and advanced) that enable users to specify their criteria. Before developing all sixteen of these filters they decided to build a prototype of the platform’s search functionality and test it with users to determine which filters were essential, optional or redundant.
Beyond Clickable Prototyping
To test how people search for houses on the platform it was crucial to test using a high-fidelity prototype. This prototype would not merely mock searching behavior but enable users to actually search for houses in a minimal database. This search would be based on their real-life preferences.
Starting from a Figma design, Immoscoop decided to use weave.ly to turn the design into a functional web app. You can try out the app and check out its original design in Figma below.
Validating at Scale
In collaboration with Buffl we enlisted 100 people that are currently looking to buy or rent a new house. These people were tasked to find their ideal house using the Immoscoop prototype. The data analytics embedded in weave.ly enabled Immoscoop to track how users navigated the prototype and which filters were most used.
These analytics enabled Immoscoop gain insights and reduce the list of filters needed for an initial launch of their platform from sixteen to three. This saved their development team (5 FTEs) 2 weeks’ worth of development!
Also want to run user tests using a functional prototype of your Figma design?
Weave.ly is a no-code prototyping and user research platform. It enables you to turn existing Figma designs into fully functional prototypes that automatically collect the usability data you need to support your user research and innovation efforts. Wondering how to use weave.ly in your next project? Try it out for yourself or have a chat with us.