A market place where consumers can shop for all fixed price (Gig economny) tasks on HomeAdvisor
The challenge was to bring a new business model into the fold, fixed price services, without cannibalizing our main source of revenue. Traditionally, homeowners’ access the HomeAdvisor platform to submit a service request free of charge. This request is sent out to 3 or 4 pros in the form of a lead, which is then monetized by HomeAdvisor. Will homeowners be open to purchasing fixed price services on HomeAdvisor?
In the testing lab, most users were open to the fixed price business model. For those who were interested, the commonly repeated talking point was around testing the waters on a smaller task before investing in medium-to-high consideration tasks.
Gathering qualitative feedback to validate the needs of the user, the pain points, and desirability of the new business model .
The research phase began with a competitive analysis of other Gig Economy tasks. The Gig Economy sites that were analyzed (Handy, Takl, Thumbtack & Task Rabbit ) were all similar in theme and content, so it was essential to understand any differences in user experience when purchasing a cleaning service. Analyzing, then synthesizing the data helped me understand the ideal approach that HomeAdvisor should work towards when allowing users to book and manage a project on either the app or desktop & mobile web.
With the requirements defined, I was able to establish a clear ux flow for web, mobile web and app. The analysis led me to conclude the following:
With the preliminary research complete, I took the findings to help bring clarity to some of the requirements. Once complete, I then proceeded to sketch out concepts. I enjoy this particular step in the design process because it allows me to work through complex journeys & experiences by putting down ideas rapidly, document questions & experiences I need to get feedback on, and drive a baseline experience from the user’s vantage point in order to user test.
The images below (sketching to mid-fi designs) visualizes me working through the complexities of an online market place: how to organize the content & data, what is the least amount of information needed in order for users to purchase, what needs to be above the fold, the flow of the page, etc.
The goal of the test was to gather feedback on the variable differences between the two concepts in order to properly provide the optimal experience for our user base. Such differences as: card browse journey vs Netflix carousel journey, location of the “how it works” and “why book with HomeAdvisor modules,” visibility of pricing, & project imagery vs icon layout.
The images below are the final two designs that were approved by product to be tested. I worked with our in-house researcher to gather qualitative feedback on the variable differences in order to provide the best possible MVP approach for our user base.
Bringing together business goals and proper UX strategy through an iterative approach resulted in an ideal fixed price market place based on our users' needs and desires.
