Optimise Shared Ownership landing page

Optimise Scheme participation and boost customer satisfaction

Problem statement

Despite having a dedicated page explaining the Shared Ownership scheme, prospective homebuyers continue to face challenges in understanding this housing option. The current content on the page fails to effectively communicate the scheme's key concepts, processes and benefits.

Main objective

To optimise the scheme participation journey, targeting a 10% increase in conversion rate while increasing active scheme membership within 6 months.

User research

Method 1: Interviews

I initiated our research by conducting interviews with members of our sales team. During these discussions, I asked questions designed to understand their perspectives on the page, particularly focusing on whether it provides sufficient information for first-time buyers or those interested in Shared Ownership.

Drawing from their experience working with our competitors, they shared valuable insights. While they noted that our competitors' websites may not be as visually appealing as ours, these sites offer more comprehensive information about the Shared Ownership scheme. Based on this feedback, I plan to examine these competitor websites to identify potential improvements for our content.

Method 2: Competitive analysis

I've conducted a review of our competitors' Shared Ownership pages, and I noticed they generally provide more comprehensive information than what we currently offer at Persona Homes.

In my analysis, I found their content structure to be quite thorough. They effectively explain the fundamentals of the scheme, including detailed descriptions of:

* What Shared Ownership entails

* Who is eligible to apply

* How the process works

* Available properties under the scheme

Several competitors go a step further by outlining the specific rights and responsibilities of Shared Ownership participants. They also articulate the benefits of purchasing a property through this scheme, which I believe adds significant value for potential buyers. As part of my review, I performed a basic heuristic evaluation of these competitor pages, scoring them based on their SEO performance and UX elements.

Method 3: Affinity Mapping

I reviewed our interviews and competitive analysis data, and I've taken the initiative to organise all the feedback into distinct topic groups. This categorisation helped me clearly identify what needs to be improved and what information we should refine and add on the page.

Method 4: Content sorting

During my research process, I combined insights from both competitive analysis and affinity mapping to develop an initial low-fidelity content structure. I organised this by creating blocks that represented different content topics. To validate this initial concept, I conducted individual testing sessions with members of the sales team, specifically focusing on whether this layout addressed their concerns about the lack of information regarding the Shared Ownership scheme.

Through productive discussions with the sales team, I refined the arrangement of content based on their feedback about which elements should receive more or less prominence on the page. Their input was invaluable in helping me prioritise the information hierarchy to better serve our users' needs.

Key findings

* 80% of the sales team expressed dissatisfaction with our Shared Ownership page. Their main concern was that it provided limited value to our customers due to insufficient information about the scheme.

* 80% of the sales team consistently provide Shared Ownership leaflets to customers during their showroom visits, suggesting we rely more on physical materials than our digital presence.

Design and testing

Initial concepts

I chose to create low-fidelity wireframes in Sketch to explore our initial concepts. My primary focus was to prioritise the page's content structure before incorporating any visual elements. Creating these low-fidelity designs was quite efficient, allowing us to move quickly into testing. Through these wireframes, I can evaluate how well the page layout works, specifically checking whether users can easily scan and digest the content. This approach helps ensure we're building on a solid foundation before moving into higher-fidelity designs.

Key design decisions

* Use a mobile first approach

* Lessen white space on page and add structure to content

* Change primary action of the page

Usability testing

I took the initiative to schedule one-on-one testing sessions with our sales team members. During each session, I walked them through my proposed page layout concept. One of my key questions to them was whether they felt the page structure aligned with our customers' thought process when considering this purchase scheme. I made sure to encourage each participant to share their thoughts out loud as they explored the page.

By having them vocalise their thinking and decision-making in real-time, I gained valuable insights into their mental process and could better identify what worked well and what needed improvement. To ensure thorough documentation, I conducted and recorded all sessions via Microsoft Teams. This allowed me to go back and carefully analyse each interaction to further refine our design and enhance the overall user experience.

Results and iterations

During the individual testing sessions with the sales team, we identified several amendments we needed to make, primarily concerning how we prioritise and position content on the page. We were able to implement these changes during the session itself quickly.

The sales team responded quite positively to the changes. They were particularly enthusiastic about the added information, and how it was displayed — a significant improvement over the current page, which they felt had excessive white space between content areas.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Key features and benefits

* A primary action for our users to view homes with Shared Ownership

* Ability to see the eligibility criteria and the benefits of this scheme

Next steps

Future enhancement

I've handed off the approved designs to the technical team, complete with user stories and acceptance criteria. After implementation, I'll need to schedule another round of usability testing with our sales team. This will help us confirm that they're satisfied with the page functionality and that all interactions meet their needs.

I'll also ensure we set up proper analytics tracking on the page, which will allow me to conduct a thorough post-launch evaluation and inform any future iterations.