Product design at UGOL: Revolutionising renovation

Introduction

UGOL Smart Renovation is an innovative service that revolutionizes the home renovation process. By leveraging advanced technologies and streamlined processes, UGOL aims to provide affordable and convenient design solutions for users. As an assistant product manager and the product designer at UGOL, my role was to analyze existing processes, find problems, transform them into user-friendly solutions, create robust interfaces, maintain backlog with agile, implement features and measure the impact to increase revenue and key product metrics. This case study focuses on my involvement after a pivot from a 3D editor to an AI-driven design solution.

Influence

UGOL is known as truly the most innovative proptech product in Russia and gained top media attention:

• RosBusinessConsulting: The Most Quoted Russian Internet Media (Medialogia Rating)Топ-5 новых сервисов для рантье | Рыночный расклад на РБК+Эксперты выяснили, какие полезные сервисы для рантье есть на рынке, и как они помогают повысить доход и сэкономить время.spb.plus.rbc.ru
• Komsomolskaya Pravda: 6th Most Quoted Russian Newspaper (Medialogia Rating)5 ошибок в ремонте квартирыДосадные промахи оборачиваются разочарованием, дополнительными расходами и часто становятся причиной очередного ремонта.kp.ru
• Fontanka: 11th Most Quoted Russian Internet Media, 1st in St Petersburg (Medialogia Rating)Ремонт в квартире: как заставить бригаду работать хорошо?Если ремонт превращается в мучение — значит, вы просто не умеете его готовить.fontanka.ru

As well as well-known hipster media like Bumaga (translation) and Lifehacker (translation) and CIAN (translation) - the most known real estate classified.

Products

UGOL.Configurator

This tool is designed for quick calculation of the cost of repair based on selected options. The user only needs to select their apartment and specify the options. The tool generates a complete estimate of the renovation: a list of all work and materials with the necessary volumes and costs.

UGOL.RMS

Renovation Management System connects the customer, designers, repair workers, and technical supervision into a single information space. With the system, you can remotely control the renovation process. Online access to documentation and photo reports.

UGOL.CAD

AI-powered computer-aided design system automates the creation of project documentation for UGOL employees: 3D-tours, drawings, diagrams, and estimates. Neural network learns how designers combine items and where do they place them inside the room to speed up and save money on design process.

Stakeholders

Problems that UGOL solves:

The UGOL Smart Renovation product addresses several key problems related to home renovation:

1. Design projects are too much expensive, which usually leads to a result where client is not satisfied how the renovation result looks.
2. Manual creation of estimates take a lot of engineer’s time, thus it’s expensive.
3. High cost of Design Services: Traditional design services can be too expensive and time-consuming for many homeowners. UGOL offers an affordable alternative by providing AI-generated design project previews based on user preferences and apartment plan. This allows users to visualize their future space realistically and make informed decisions about materials, furniture, and decorations. Additionally, the platform generates a shopping list of materials and furniture and accurate price estimates, making it easier for users to plan their renovation budget and do a DIY renovation.

By addressing these problems, UGOL Smart Renovation empowers homeowners to confidently undertake home renovations without the need for extensive expertise, while also ensuring transparency, quality, and cost-effectiveness.

Design Process

In this project I’ve used data-driven approach following the plan on the scheme below. Notable thing about this project is understandably low conversion and that only 2% of users who completed the whole funnel are coming again. Flat is expensive thing and not many people have multiple flats that need renovation. Turnkey renovation is relatively expensive thing too and people need it once in 5-15 years. This is a thing people take a lot of time to consider to do and who to proceed with. At the same time we had a relatively small dev team and renovation crew to test our product during it’s development. Account Manager in this project was a key role during our development stages, who helped to lead the customer thru early versions of our tools and was giving us important feedback about customer thoughts, desires and fears on every stage of our funnel.

Initially, the user is getting matched with Account Manager, who calls by phone and converts the customer to the interactive briefing and getting a first iteration of the design project and then calls him after finish of every stage or after not having any actions in our product for certain amount of days. This approach let us to identify stages of the discussion, design and renovation processes that are to be automated to spend less employees time, would be more demonstrative and understandable with using a web interface comparing to in-office meetings and phone calls.

On all next stages the design project was pretty common. Features were prioritized using RICE score, process diagrams were built where needed, as well as information architecture diagrams, user flow diagrams, static and dynamic UX and UI prototypes and their testing on team members, customers, friends and family members, where applicable. After finish of each feature development I conducted design compliance audit to ensure everything looks and works as intended and then we gave the future to our users, look at it’s usage using Yandex Webvisor and collected feedback thru Account Manager to understand, how we can improve it.

Research and Discovery

To gain insights into the problem space and inform the development of UGOL Smart Renovation, I employed several research methods and techniques. Here is an overview of the research methods used in addition to information received thru Account Manager:

1. Quiz and Surveys: I conducted a quiz and targeted surveys among individuals who were either currently undergoing a renovation or had recently done so. The objective was to understand their perceptions of renovation, whether they considered it simple or challenging, and to identify the major problems they encountered. This helped validate the complexity of DIY renovation and the lack of trust in contractors regarding quality and prices.
2. Customer Development: I held thorough interviews with people planning or having completed renovations, including both DIY and contractor-led projects, as well as industry professionals. These conversations offered significant insights into their worries, experiences, and the entire renovation process, covering topics such as design projects, estimates, timelines, contracts, implementing changes, blueprint needs, and the efforts required at each stage.
3. Competitive and SWOT Analysis: I extensively evaluated competitors and conducted a SWOT analysis to grasp their strengths, weaknesses, and problem-solving approaches. This aided in pinpointing opportunities for UGOL to distinguish itself and integrate comparable solutions into the product.
4. Market Research: I conducted market research to identify opportunities and validate the market for various renovation types, such as renovations for existing flats, new flats, houses, single rooms, or offices. This research helped determine the most profitable and feasible segments of audience for UGOL.
5. Internal Stakeholder Interviews: I interviewed key stakeholders within the company, including the CPO, Head of Renovation Department, Marketing Lead, and developers. This helped to form and understand product vision, technical capabilities and business goals, which helped to align the product strategy with the company's objectives.
6. User Persona Development: Using insights collected from interviews and surveys, I created user personas. These personas reflected various user groups, guiding the design and development process by prioritizing the needs of the end-users.
7. A/B Testing and Metrics Analysis: I conducted A/B testing to measure the effectiveness of different updates and features. Key metrics were defined and measured to evaluate the impact of the changes. Data-driven decisions were made based on the results of these tests.
8. Web Analytics: I implemented Yandex.Metrika and utilized its features such as measuring conversions, analyzing recorded user sessions, studying click heat-maps, and analyzing behavior of users who came from different sources and landing pages. This data helped identify bottlenecks in acquisition flow and areas for improving the product.

By employing these research methods, I gained valuable insights into customer needs, market opportunities, competitors and user behavior. These insights informed the development of UGOL and helped optimize the product to meet user expectations and address the identified problems effectively.

Notable features

Based on the research findings, I created solutions that we implemented and transformed sluggish processes into an interactive, fun and user-friendly experience.

Interactive Briefing Form

Users could access the UGOL website and complete an interactive briefing form. This form incorporated questions related to the user's preferred interior style, room specifications, lifestyle, family requirements, and uploaded floor plans with measurements.

• AI-Generated 3D Design Projects: Using the data from the interactive briefing form, an AI-powered system generated a realistic 3D design project preview. This preview showcased the renovated space, including flooring, walls, lighting, bathroom fixtures, furniture, and decorations, all based on the user's chosen style.

• Price Estimate and Shopping List: Alongside the design preview, users received a comprehensive shopping list that included all the necessary items for the renovation. The list also provided information about local stores where users could purchase the items and an accurate price estimate.

Iterative Editing Process

Users had the opportunity to make changes to the design project by collaborating with a real designer. They could select alternative materials and items from a rich gallery or provide external links to desired products. Three free iterations were included, with the option to purchase additional iterations if needed.

Blueprint generation

Most of necessary blueprints are generated automatically from a 3D-preview of a design project (Furniture plan, materials, measurements, etc.). Some are done by designer to keep in mind specifics of a place (lighting and electricity, plumbing, etc.).

Renovation supervision

UGOL provides a renovation supervision service. A certified professional, knowledgeable in ISO and GOST standards, visits your apartment twice a week to assess the ongoing work. They document the progress in a personal cabinet, including photos, job updates, and any encountered issues. If there are problems due to the renovation team's fault, the professional gathers evidence and ensures that the task is redone for free.

Renovation calendar

This feature shows customers current stage of their renovation. They can check what is already done, what would be done, how much time it would take to finish, how much time previous stages actually took, photo reports, supervision visits, payments, document signatures and current delay from expected time frames.

Online payments

All the payments are done remotely. Design projects and blueprints are paid using a card, renovations are paid with QR-code thru interbank wire.

Renovation goods aggregator

UGOL gets accurate pricing for needed items from partner suppliers in real time. This allows to get the most accurate estimate for renovation very fast.

Electronic documents management

Client only need to sign an agreement for electronic document management on the first meeting and then he can sign all the necessary documents online using a convenient interface.

Product Launch and Impact

After the launch of the AI-driven design solution, UGOL witnessed significant success, media publications and positive feedback from users. The affordable price point of $50 for a design project compared to traditional costs of $2000 attracted a large user base. Realistic 3D design previews and accurate shopping lists empowered users to make informed decisions and visualize their desired outcomes. Design project orders raised from 3-5 per month to 150+ in first month.

My design, product and marketing strategy helped the product to get enough renovation orders to fill all the employees in St.Petersburg with tasks, make product economy self-sufficient and allow developers to fine-tune the product and the whole team to work personally with each case without excess load.

As a result of market research in 2021 we entered the Moscow market with higher budgets per renovation and more busy and progressive people, who don’t have time to deal with renovation themselves.

As far as I know in 2022-2023 IKEA and other suppliers systematically quit Russian market for geopolitical reasons, so the team decided to temporarily pause offerings of 3D-projects on their website, because it’s not clear, when, where and what will be available.

Currently UGOL has enough clients to provide sustainable evolution and development of it’s features.

Lessons Learned and Personal Growth

Throughout this project, I gained valuable insights into the complexities of the home renovation industry and the importance of user-centered design. I learned to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, including developers, and to balance the needs of users, product goals, and business requirements. Additionally, I honed my product management skills by coordinating the product backlog and conducting user testing to validate solutions.

Conclusion

My contribution to UGOL Smart Renovation project as product manager and senior product designer played a pivotal role in transforming the home renovation experience. By leveraging AI technology, user-friendly interfaces, and efficient processes, UGOL successfully provided an accessible and cost-effective solution. The project achieved significant user adoption, improved user satisfaction, and showcased the potential for innovation in the home renovation industry.

Note: UI text has been translated for you to better understand the project.