Home Buying
Journey

My ROLe
  • User Researcher & Designer
  • Research - Conducted user interview to define our users persona, decision-making journeys & product opportunities
  • Design - Persona, User Journey
CONtext
PURpose
In the UAE, mortgage brokerage services are not as common as in other mature market in the world. As a mortgage consultancy, Mortgage Finder would like to know more about home buyers - who they are and their decision-making process for getting a mortgage, if our services fulfil their needs and find out more opportunities for the business.
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By providing the findings from this research, we would like to open a conversation in the organisation to form the strategy by taking into users into consideration in the future development.
Objectives
  1. Define user personas, journeys
  2. Suggest changes of the product based on the findings
  3. Embed user-centred design into the organisation
Approach
Semi-structured user interview with 6 buyers
Research Summary
We identified two personas through our research. 
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They shared similar journeys & motivation of getting a mortgage but with different mindset & behaviours during the process.
Research Plan
Recruitment Criteria
  1. Buyers seeking mortgage information in the UAE (Renter converted/ Experienced buyer)
  2. Users with personal experience applying mortgage in/outside the UAE less than 3/6 months ago
  3. Customers & non-customers with personal experience using mortgage finder services
Interview questions
I predefined their user journey before the interview to help me to construct the questions.
Background

Was this the first time you bought a property?

When was the last time you applied for the mortgage?

Trigger

When did you start thinking about buying a property?

What triggered you to have the idea of buying a property in the UAE?

Explore

How did you make the decision of the mortgage product?

What kind of services products did you expect from Mortgage Finder before?

Apply

How would you describe your experience?

What would you do differently next time?

Fulfil

What helped you to finalise the mortgage product?

What was the communication process like?

KEY FIndings
Four key elements affecting people’s propensity to become our customers

People who are experts with less resources
‍have a higher propensity to become our customers

Propensity to convert
PErsonas & Journeys
“Professional Expertise”
— Meet Angus

Angus had bought a flat in London 15 years ago and got a mortgage from his bank. He moved to Dubai 7 years ago.
As the buyer's market is going down, he realises that it makes more sense to buy a property with mortgage rather than paying rent with the same amount every month. 
However, he doesn’t want to go through the whole mortgage searching process again especially he has no one who can share their experience with him. He would rather hire a professional broker to do all the legwork for him.

ATTITUDE TOWARDS Mortgage Finder

People who are experts trust us as an authority in getting the best mortgage

“I think MF is the authority in the industry” - P5 (expert)

Experts believe that Mortgage Finder provides independent and unbiased advice

"Bureaucracy exists in the UAE, you need someone who can get you through hassles” - P3 (expert)

Download Angus's home buy journey here
“The practical hard-working novice”  
— Meet WALLI

Waali has spent most of his life in the UAE. He likes the apartment he’s staying for 3 years now. He would like to buy this property to get rid of the uncertainties of living here. 
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As a first time buyer, he would like to conduct all the research by himself including talking to banks, agents, landlord to make sure everything is under his control. He also tries to reach out some friends who had experience in Dubai.

ATTITUDE TOWARDS Mortgage Finder

Novices are extremely price sensitive, they don’t understand what does Mortgage Finder mean to getting a mortgage

“I think MF is one of the options just like the bank” - P4 (novice)
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“They had a team do everything, but I can do the same thing as well.” - P6 (novice)

Novices believe that the banks provide more flexibility than MF

“The bank would be able to customise my offer. I have a good relationship with my bank- P4 (novice)

Novices are over-confident and like to take control of their search

"I managed to negotiate the rate, get a good person from HSBC, helping the process.” - P1 (novice)“

“I would do deeper research if I knew there’s fixed, variable rates and islamic products to research. But I think I got a good deal” - P6 (novice)

Download Waali's home buy journey here
Opportunities
What does it mean to us
Finding 01

Novices do not understand what a broker can do for them

Suggestion 01

Educate consumers on the value that a broker can bring

  • Why you should use a consultancy service
  • What are you paying for
  • What we will help you with
  • Things you need to know before getting mortgage from a bank
Finding 02

Experts trust authorities, but Novices trust themselves

Suggestion 02

Give our consumer confidence

  • Social proof - customer reviews, no. of customers
  • We only work with international/ big banks - bank logos

Give our consumer control - Visualise process & keep them informed with their preferred channels

Be transparent and helpful - Reveal just enough information step-by-step

Finding 03

Experts & Novices suffer from the painful documentation process because the bank works silo and most of the relationship managers are not very professional

Suggestion 03

Get rid of real hassles - How might we help customers with the most painful documentation process?

  • Pre-collect & double check their documents
  • Reflect what would be the bottleneck from other customer’s experience
  • A comprehensive checklist before you talking to the bank
Next project

Pivoting through User Research

mengchlin@gmail.com
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