Maintenance Portal Research
BACKGROUND
The product team launched a portal for renters to submit maintenance requests online. However, usage was low, so they wanted to understand why and identify opportunities to increase adoption.
- My Role
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- As the principal investigator for this project, I led all aspects of study design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination.
- Stakeholders
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- My stakeholders were folks from UX Design, Product Management, and Engineering.
- I consistently engaged stakeholders by proactively soliciting and integrating their feedback at every stage of the research process.
- Additionally, during data collection and analysis, I hold frequent mini share-outs with stakeholders to keep them informed and aligned.
- The Problem
- I started by conducting stakeholder interviews to understand and align with stakeholders on the problem space.
- Through these discussions, I discovered that no research was conducted prior to building the portal.
- As a result, we had little insight into users’ workflows for handling maintenance issues and how well the portal met their needs.
- I started by conducting stakeholder interviews to understand and align with stakeholders on the problem space.
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- Additionally, the team discovered that usability was a key issue in the user feedback submitted through the portal. Specifically, users reported difficulty navigating the portal and completing their tasks.
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- I speculated that our low adoption rates were likely driven by two factors: (1) a disconnect between the solution and user needs, and (2) significant usability challenges that hinder task completion.
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- Thus, to increase adoption, the research needed to focus on aligning the product with user needs and enhancing its usability.
- Research Questions
- How do users currently resolve maintenance issues?
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- What tools and resources do they use alongside or instead of the portal?
- What unmet needs do they experience?
- What tools and resources do they use alongside or instead of the portal?
- What usability challenges impact the maintenance request portal’s ease of use on mobile and desktop/laptop?
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- Timeline
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- 3 weeks
METHODS
- I designed a hybrid research study that combined interviews and usability testing.
- This was how I structured the study:
- First, I interviewed renters about their maintenance reporting process. Then, I asked them to complete a series of usability tasks on the portal.
- Here’s why I chose these methods:
- Interviews
- Great for understanding the “why”.
- We needed insights into the maintenance reporting process and unmet user needs to better align the product with user needs and expectations, and this method provided a quick way to gather these insights.
- Usability Testing
- Essential for uncovering usability challenges and pain points that hinder task completion.
- Interviews
- Sample interview questions:
- When was the last time you encountered a maintenance issue as a renter?
- How did you report it to your property manager?
- Is this your usual method for reporting maintenance issues?
- Did you use any tools besides the portal to report the issue? If so, which ones?
- Besides your property manager, did you contact anyone else about the maintenance issue? If so, who and why?
- Did you face challenges when reporting that maintenance issue? If so, could you describe your experience?
- Usability tasks
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- Task 1: Submit a maintenance request for a kitchen flooding issue
- “When you woke up this morning, you saw this in your kitchen [see the image below]. You know you need to report this to your property manager so it doesn't get worse. Please show me how you would do this in the portal.”
- Task 1: Submit a maintenance request for a kitchen flooding issue
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- Task 2: Check the status of a maintenance request
- Task 3: Update a maintenance request
- Task 4: Cancel a maintenance request
Since the maintenance submission form is dynamic (i.e., it changes questions based on the issue being reported), it was crucial to test multiple maintenance scenarios to ensure that the form could handle different situations effectively. Thus, in addition to the four main tasks, I also tested three variations of Task 1:
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- Task 5: Submit a maintenance request for a damaged roof
- Task 6: Submit a maintenance request for a cracked sink
- Task 7: Submit a maintenance request for a broken window
- Platforms
- Participants were randomly assigned to test these tasks on either a laptop or a mobile device.
- Usability Metrics
- The following metrics were recorded for each task:
- Task Success: How effectively did users complete the task?
- Time on Task: How long did users take to complete each task?
- SEQ: Measures how difficult users found the task.
- The following metrics were recorded for each task:
- Participants
- I recruited 12 renters living in apartments managed by companies using AppFolio to participate in the study.
- Seven participants completed the usability test on a laptop, while five used their mobile device.
- Analysis
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- Thematic analysis
- Deliverables
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- A brief summary of each interview and usability session (part of the mini share-out)
- Deck with findings and recommendations
KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
- The lack of portal use mainly stemmed from renters being unsure if their property managers actively monitored the portal.
- Recommendation: Consider ways to indicate when maintenance requests have been reviewed to reassure renters that their submissions are being seen.
- Some renters opted to report maintenance issues outside the portal due to the inability to CC roommates or family members.
- Recommendation: Consider ways to ensure that all necessary parties in a household are informed and can stay updated on request status without relying on external communication methods.
- Many renters struggled to complete maintenance requests because the form asked for information they did not understand or did not know where to find.
- Recommendation: Make the maintenance request form more user-friendly by eliminating unnecessary technical details/questions, and adding support features like tooltips.
RESEARCH IMPACTS
- Six months after the recommended changes were implemented, portal usage among renters increased by 18%.
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A later usability study retest showed a 20% improvement in task success rate and a 15% reduction in time on task.
Last updated: Feb. 2025