Yulom, an online property listing service in Nigeria is looking to make a strategic move into the real estate market, offering unique value propositions against incumbents. Yulom engaged my services to help them understand the pain points in the market, identify viable opportunities, and collaborate with the business to ideate and deliver a winning solution.
For this case study, I will be using the STAR (Situation, Tasks, Action, Results) framework. See explanation here
According to the U.N projections, Nigeria’s population will be 401 million by 2050, and will surpass the United States. Property in Nigeria (and by extension Africa) has to be managed in an efficient, and data driven way such that our cities and towns are able to fulfill their role as drivers of sustainable development.
To understand the motivations why Yulom was making this strategic shifts, I spoke to 4 key stakeholders within Yulom, conducting a 45mins 1:1 stakeholder interview with each stakeholder. Yulom’s Go-to-Market-Strategy was driven and informed by;
Using contextual enquires and surveys with renters, buyers and property managers; benchmarking their experience with existing incumbents, some of the key insights were:
After synthesizing key insights from the user interviews to understand the problems, expectations and goals, I summarized the users we will be solving for into 3; Renter, Buyer and Property Manager. I also highlighted their key goals, existing frustrations and expectations.
The key objective was to identify opportunities that;
Using the “How might we” (HMW) technique, we drafted 4 key HMWs covering the user persona’s we identified earlier; renters, buyers and property managers.
Using the “Opportunities Scoring” framework, 25 users were asked to score some of the ideas (features) we identified during ideation. Ranking each feature from 1 to 10, this framework evaluates the importance and satisfaction of each feature allowing us to identify features that users consider essential but are dissatisfied with. Two key questions were asked;
Using the formula “Importance + (Importance - Satisfaction) = Opportunity”. The features with the highest importance and lowest satisfaction indicates where business opportunity lies.
Using the value-complexity matrix and collaborating with the wider-product team, we considered factors like business value, user experience, learning curve and adaption, implementation complexity and market-readiness.
We successfully identified ideas (features) that were “easy wins”, ideas that can serve as “strategic initiatives” and require long-term planning or rely on the success of the easy wins. We also identified ideas that are easy in complexity as well as low in value. This ideas were tagged as “close watch”, allowing the team to revisit if there is a justifiable demand. Ideas with low-value and very complex were deprioritized.
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To enable the business measure impact and ROI of the project, I aligned with the product team and other stakeholders to identify what are the expected KPIs and set up performance data collection pipelines to continuously track data and subsequently measure success against set metrics. We had to define and create custom metrics to account for unique events in the customer journeys. Some of the KPIs agreed upon to measure success includes;
With a user-friendly interface, managers have the convenience of effortlessly creating and adding new listings. They can easily set the viewing type (video, 3D, or physical), determine the price, and choose from various pay-out options.
Managers have the ability to efficiently oversee and handle tour requests from renters who are interested in the listings. They can easily review and approve tour requests, manage availability, and handle viewing bookings with ease.
Upon completion of property viewings and physical tours, managers have the capability to streamline and effectively handle all letting applications from a centralized platform. They can easily share essential documents including tenancy agreements, rent guides, and more. Additionally, managers can conveniently manage tenancy agreements, send payment links, and confirm tenancy for each property listed, all from a central location.
Managers have a seamless experience in handling all payments associated with their properties. They can effortlessly track payment due dates as well as identify any overdue payments. By simply clicking on a property, managers can access valuable insights into its performance, including inflow of funds, views, and requests. This information serves as a valuable tool in making informed decisions about selling the property or pursuing funding opportunities.
Managers have a comprehensive suite of tools at their disposal to effectively oversee and maintain their properties. They can effortlessly manage and track all the essential elements of property management. This includes accessing information on recent payments, monitoring pending tasks, tracking active subscriptions, reviewing performance overviews, and obtaining an overview of all their property listings. With these features, managers can efficiently stay on top of their property management responsibilities.
Renters have a user-friendly interface that allows them to conveniently search, filter, and sort through listings based on their preferences. They can easily access comprehensive details about properties, along with various options to explore them such as viewing pictures, taking 3D tours, or booking physical tours. Additionally, renters have the ability to view ratings of each agent who has listed the property, providing them with valuable insights as they make their housing decisions.
Renters are provided with a dedicated dashboard that offers them a centralized platform to efficiently manage their house search, applications, and lease agreements. Within this dashboard, they have the capability to rate and review their agents, ensuring transparency and accountability in the rental process. Additionally, renters can conveniently manage their service subscriptions and easily access rent support, all from one convenient location. This comprehensive dashboard empowers renters to have greater control and organization throughout their renting experience.
