My Product Review on Zenly

During the UX Labs meetup we had an opportunity to learn and apply a Heuristic Evaluation on Zenly a startup in NYC aimed to simplify the painstaking process of looking for apartments in the city.

What is Heuristic evaluation you say? By definition a heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface (UI) design. To simplify this concept it’s to identify workflows within the product and capture connections and/or disconnections of the user experience.

Some of the key elements of a heuristic evaluation are the following:

- Explore: Think of a number of use cases for the product and walkthrough each one with as a potential user and attempt to derive some key observations.

- Record your observation: Document what struck you a good, bad or indifferent as these discoveries help build a case for recommendations and/or feedback for the product.

- Turn observations into actionable insights: Once the observations have been gathered

For my evaluation I approached the product as a new user searching for apartments. For each workflow gap I highlighted provided a recommendation:

1.) Home page request for email before apartment browsing?

Recommendation: As a first time user, give users an opportunity to explore the product and request for an email when they elect to book an appointment with a realtor.

2.) Verified by Zenly vs. Avail Now?

Recommendation: As a first time user, Verified by Zenly and Avail Now isn’t quite clear given the fact the main value proposition of the product is providing a venting process for all properties. Essentially you can consolidate both options and simplify the experience by showing only available properties.

3.) Avg. rent vs. listing ?

Recommendation: As a long time resident in NYC the first criteria apartment seekers inquire about is PRICE. Providing the average rent as a filter isn’t very helpful to seekers as more expensive properties can overshadow an affordable listing and force the user to look in other areas in the city. Provide a sliding scale that will allow the user to view low to high cost properties to give a more holistic view of apartment listing.

Overall this product is attempting to solve a real problem in NYC and I’m very excited on the future as the Zenly team continue to iterate over the user experience.

Originally published at techintuitions.tumblr.com on 3 August 2014