Project tags
Mobile Payment Improvements
Company
Homebase is a SaaS platform for residential and commercial properties to manage WiFi and its connected devices including access, security, and smart home technology.
Users
Residents of multifamily properties.
Challenge
Multifamily communities use Homebase to charge residents for payments like rent, WiFi, and utilities. The current user experience for handling payments is an MVP of what was intended to be improved upon down the road.
Role
The company’s sole end-to-end product designer working under the Chief Product Officer.
Goal
Identify problems in the payment process and find solutions across the platform to help increase successful payments and boost the customer’s net operating income (NOI).
Discovery
Project Kick-Off
At this point in the project, no solutions had been identified so there was a lot of Discovery necessary.
To begin the project, I led a discussion with the Chief Product Officer and the Customer Support Manager to assess some of the ongoing payment issues that the team has logged.
Through investigating our payment tagged support tickets, I found issues surrounding a lack of auto-pay utilization and a confusion around types of charges and fees.
User Persona
In order to focus on user needs, I utilized the user persona I created for Multifamily Residents. One key component is remembering that users are introduced to the Homebase platform during a busy, and often stressful time in a person’s life. In addition, residents might be brand new to the new payments to their residential community through a specific mobile app.
Payment User Flow Diagram
I then decided to map out the flow of interactions for both the resident and property manager in a user flow chart in order to identify areas for improvement.
Research findings
Using the user flow chart I created as well as support ticket data, I found 3 areas of opportunity for improvement that we could focus on.
- Promote auto-payment more during a new user’s onboarding or initial payment.
- Make sure residents know they are paying their community through Homebase and have access to the late payment fee policy.
- Revise notification text to clarify the what, when and why.
Design
Solution 1: Autopay Reminder
This solution tackles the issue head on by pinging users to setup auto-pay, if they didn’t already, 1 day after their first login. There is also a card on the WiFi plan screen to tie the service to the payment setup.
Autopay is a win-win for the residents to not have to remember to make monthly payments for flat fee services as well as for the properties to increase on-time payments.
Solution 2: Policy Details
I identified in the Discovery phase that residents were often unclear on their community’s late payment policies and fees. And for good reason because we didn’t explain it anywhere!
I designed a screen that clearly defines the late fees and suspension policies set up by the community prior to launching Homebase at the property through the platform.
I also used this task as an opportunity to explore an elevated UI.
Solution 3: Refining Notifications
During the audit of the payment process, I identified some potentially confusing notifications during late payments. I edited the writing to provide more clarity about the due date, payment process, services charged, and encouraged auto-payments.
Conclusion
Tracking KPIs
After the implementation of these solutions, we will keep an eye on these key performance indicators to measure the success of these efforts and assess if we need to find additional solutions, perhaps within the manager platform.
