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Product Design | 2022
My Role
Sr. Product Designer
Platform
Web application
Timeline
May 2022 - Present
Company
VTS
The Problem
About VTS
VTS is a Commercial Real Estate software for leasing and asset management. Our main users are Landlords, Tenants, Asset managers, and Landlords and Tenant brokers. Using data insights, VTS helps s users make strategic decisions and execute them across the asset lifecycle.
About This Initiative
Landlord brokers are one of the primary user roles at VTS, but they are currently underserved. Therefore, as a part of the product strategy and planning exercise, the Design and Product teams decided to run a study to identify gaps and opportunities that could enhance the Landlord broker's experience with the platform.
Who is a Landlord Broker
Landlords often hire a 3rd party broker or an internal leasing team to represent them. Landlord brokers are responsible for managing and developing Landlord relationships with global real state occupiers (tenants.)
Why do they matter?
The senior broker role is currently undervalued in our products.
Research
Goals
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Explore the Landlord broker's needs, activities, and pain points with VTS products.
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Identify what is blocking brokers from doing their job in VTS.
Interview Approach
45-min online in-depth interview sessions via Zoom
Discovery Questions
We asked about the customer roles and their activities in the leasing process.
VTS Usage
We asked clients about their key actions and pain points in VTS.
User Profiles
We interviewed 11 Landlord Rep power users, including External and Internal brokers, from Junior to Senior. The interviews covered Washington, New York, and London, Boston markets.
Jobs To Be Done and User Flow
We mapped user flow and captured steps, Jobs-to-be-done, and outcomes to better understand user behavior and gaps in the platform.
Key Findings
VTS Usage
What do Brokers use VTS for today:
Progress Tracking & Reporting
Participants stated that their main task on VTS is to update track deals and create reports for their landlord as this is the expectation of their client.
“I want to put as much information as I can on VTS, so when we give a leasing update to our clients, it looks like there are a lot of activities.”
"95% of what we use is for Leasing activity. Who are we touring with, whom do we have a proposal with, who do we have leasing with, etc."
Marketing
Participants also mentioned they use VTS to ensure their [space] availabilities are accurate on VTS Marketplace and accessible to tenant brokers and prospective tenants.
“The connection between [VTS] Marketplace and Deals is convenient for knowing my [space] availabilities.”
"We use VTS for leasing report and marketing track. We don’t use VTS analytics very much. "
Observations
We heard similar things from most users. Here are some of the themes:
Lack of awareness about some features
“I didn't know I could do LOI [Letter of Intent] in VTS. Show me how to do it”
“I only use VTS if my client asks me to. Otherwise I use spreadsheet to walk owners through updates and details."
"Some deals are difficult to enter terms in VTS. I’m not sure how to truly and accurately in VTS. It happens when you are extending the lease."
Brokers model the majority of their proposals outside of VTS
"We do basic terms in VTS. The proposals are mainly the basic economic terms and when you go to the leasing negotiation, that’s when the owner asks the analyst to punch numbers. They have their Performa for the numbers they need to hit."
"We use VTS for deal tracking for most of our buildings, but it depends on the owner if we model deals and log proposals in the app."
VTS usage for proposals is Landlord driven
"Once I get the proposal, I log them in VTS if the LL wants me to."
"Owners use different tools to redline and communicate proposals. I model my deals in VTS only if my clients asks me, because it takes time"
UX and UI issues
"The biggest pain for me when I met during the deals is calculating the Commission because I have to do that separately because there’s nothing to calculate that for me."
" VTS can improve in outlining the terms. Each broker uses a custom proposal and it’s the outline of what you currently have in VTS. Lease term, landlord, base rent, this and that."
"Adding Broker language would make it easier for us to use the proposal feature."
Lo-Fi Design Recommendations
After gathering user insights from research, we came up with four themes to solutionize around:
1. Awareness & Branding
Brokers view VTS as a Landlord product and are unaware of the value and experience targeted for them.
Impact
Landlord brokers use VTS when required by their Landlord
Recommendation
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Broker Insights Dashboard (Broker value proposition & Identity)
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Reinforce and Rebrand VTS through Marketing campaigns
In-App Awareness
A link to signing up for and getting in LOI (Letter of Intent) Onboarding Queue
This feature help increase the volume of users and scale LOI
2. Proposal Flow
Most of the time, Junior Landlord brokers need a much simpler way to model proposals.
Impact
Landlord brokers use VTS when required by their Landlord
Recommendation
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Create Easy Proposal form for both internal and external users
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Continued focus on robust Financial Modeling and filling gaps in key terms and calculations.
3. Communication
VTS is used as a Leasing Activity Tracking tool for most brokers. Proposal conversations and negotiating around deal modeling is happening outside of VTS.
Impact
Brokers end up using different tools to communicate with different landlords leaving them with duplicative work.
Recommendation
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Improve the Leasing Activity Report experience and turn it into a valuable source of truth for both the LL and the LL rep.
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Boost the LLR’s confidence when communicating with LL through:
- Customizable the report format
- Surfacing market and portfolio insight without leaving VTS
4. User Experience Barriers
Landlord brokers are on-the-go users always networking, touring, and meeting potential clients.
We need to meet them where they are and provide them with an easy and simple mobile solution.
Impact
Stale, untimely and inaccurate/incomplete data, low Data Contribution Score, low engagement and usage for VTS Lease, Lean back on manual processes.
Recommendation
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An integrated platform experience connecting the web and mobile app solutions for Tours, connecting the data between Lease and Market products.