Vrbo

Our team owned the Ranking Metrics feature intended to help property owners understand how their rental was performing against others in their market. The problem was users didn’t understand the metrics and therefore didn’t think the feature was useful or valuable to their business. The feature quickly lost users week by week, at a concerning rate.

We decided it was time to go back to the drawing board to rethink how Ranking Metrics could provide better, clearer guidance to property owners, helping them understand how their rental property was performing, and give them actionable insights on how to improve.

PLATFORM

Mobile
Web

TIMELINE

6 months

MY ROLE

Strategy
Research
Design Sprint Prototyping
UI/UX design

Back to the drawing board

As a first step, the team gathered in Seattle for a 3-day design sprint—including folks from Research, Data, Product, Engineering, Content, and Design. We began by looking at the current state of the feature, including data and user feedback. We reviewed competitive analysis of similar data-driven products across industries. We then spent time doing brainstorming and sketching activities. By the third day, we had aligned a vision, built a prototype, and tested it with an actual user—gaining early validation of the overall concept and direction.

Testing and iteration

Throughout the following few months, we would continue testing and iterating on our solution—this included utilizing our UX Research Lab to do usability testing, surveys for quantitative feedback, and a Client Advisory Board to get in-person qualitative feedback.

Outcome

Based on the positive feedback we received from testing, surveys, and talking directly with property owners about our concept, the team was confident in our solution and ready to build and launch the new Performance feature. Unfortunately, before doing so, the initiative got deprioritized and the team was reallocated to other projects.

RESULTS

68% of users liked the products             
70% of users said they would use the new feature on a weekly basis                
54% of users said the product would help them meet their performance goals