Learning platform design for real estate investing with Kopa
Intro
Kopa is a fractional real estate investment platform that aims to make property ownership possible for everyone. In pursuit of increasing the level of financial accessibly, Kopa has an education pillar where aspiring wealth-builders can learn more about real estate investing.
My Role
I was the lead UX designer who planned, conducted, and synthesized research to define the design and features of the education platform. I worked with two other designers, a product manager, and the CEO.
Impact
I materialized the MVP 0-1 and defined the technical infrastructure in which this would exist through a holistic understanding of user objectives in learning about real estate investing.
1.5x
user retention within the first quarter of launch
THE PROBLEM
Investing is confusing, but necessary to build and maintain wealth. Users have short attention spans for new and dense topics . Kopa experiences a high drop-off rate due to these pain points.
THE OPPORTUNITY
How might we align user learning objectives with interactions on the Kopa education platform so that users feel engaged and empowered?
USER INTERVIEWS: WHO IS OUR TARGET USER?
I've identified WATERs (Work And Retire Early) as the target user after sifting through hours of interviews and focus groups.
Unlike FIRES, whose needs are already satisfied, WATERs need to feel more empowered.
Waters are about gaining financial security early while continuing to work. they are interested in quick, easy, and minimal learning for their personal gain.
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Unlike their counterparts, Fires, they will not consume as much information as they can from as many sources possible.
USER INTERVIEWS: JOURNERY MAPPING
Kopa can help address the pain point of cognitive overload when trying to learn about investing.
USER INTERVIEWS: PAIN POINT ZOOM-IN
Users look outside of proptech platforms to learn about the topic, so we're looking where they're looking
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Education tech platforms can range from passive to active learning, depending on the users' aims and context​​
Evaluation of the top 5 EdTech platforms and the types of interaction they use for learning. Mediums of similar engagement levels can be interchanged according to use context and user’s mood​​.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Users either learn for immediate application of freshly obtained information to achieve a short term task, or they learn to store information to feel more confident with their decisions in the long term​.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Users seek efficient learning tailored to their goals, skimming for key information, engaging actively when exploring, and benefiting from context-based environments.
Preferred interaction depends on users' motivations
If they're looking learn to immediately completing a goal or a task, they want something quick and more passive, e.g. a video or text they can skim
If they're looking to learn to build confidence or explore their options, they don't mind more active interactions, e.g. quizzes
Users will only pick out what they need
Users don't like doing double work
They will skim a video or text to extract the information they need or to determine whether or not they know the content
They will often look at everything before they dive into some things that they want to explore more
Contextual learning is key
Users are able to perform tasks in platforms best when they've learned in a similar setting
It's less cognitive work for them to figure out how to transfer learned knowledge or skills from one place to another if the learning platform and the investment platform look the same
FLOW
Tying together the marketplace and the education pillars was about thinking about getting the user to the information that they need
IDEATION: DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Wireframes rooted in the themes of smart, transparent, and flexible based on passive and active learning.
DESIGN
Places the user where they want to be and also deliver information in the way that they want in that very moment.
INTERACTION
Active knowledge testing embodies everything a user would normally do segmented into one trustworthy source
I also designed a passive learning version after determining the industry standard
INTERACTION
It is interactive and contextual, in that it mimicks what their screen would look like if they were learning on their own.
Results
This MVP went on to be integrated with the marketplace platform. Users were able to understand investing more while experimenting and testing their learnings in a safe environment.
Impact
1.5x retention within the first quarter of launch as users felt more empowered to continue building their wealth on the platform.
Thank you for reading
