Overview
Last summer I had the opportunity to intern at Shogun Enterprises (DBA Hearth), a financial SaaS startup in San Francisco. The product I worked under, Hearth, is a sales tool contractors use to help find homeowners affordable monthly payment options for their home improvement projects such as kitchen remodeling, roof repair, or HVAC services.
My Role
Conducted research
Created prototypes
Worked with Product Manager on strategy
Problem: There is a low engagement with the product from contractors.
After completing over 70 phone call interviews with some of our devoted customers and inactive customers, I noticed that engagement was lacking. Most of our contractors were only able to get one or two homeowners financing through Hearth. Additionally I found that many of our contractors introduced financing infrequently unless asked for. In order to boost engagement, Hearth needed to be involved early on in the contractor’s sales process.
Goals
Some of the goals for this project were the following:
Get contractors to provide financing options to homeowners early on
Make Hearth the premiere sales tool for home improvement contractors
Drive contractors to close more loans using Hearth
Build a clear and trustworthy partnership with our customer
Initial Research
The first step was to reach out to contractors and learn how they were successfully using our product.
Here are some of the questions I asked:
Can you describe your process once you meet with a homeowner for their improvement project?
What other tools do you use during your sales process?
Do you currently use any CRMs?
How has your experience been with our product? Any places where you wish there was more functionality?
Do you always offer financing when you meet with a customer?
Here is what I learned:
Contractors used Excel sheets or pen and paper for invoice estimations.
Contractors do not know how to sell financing with Hearth.
Our successful contractors offer financing alongside their invoice
Solution
Because boosting engagement was key, I proposed a solution that would allow contractors to get onto Hearth early in their sales journey and propose intelligent financing options alongside it. This would keep our customers on our product from the start. I proposed to:
Build an internal invoicing tool that would store inventory and cost information
Supply financing options alongside cost estimate
Adding a bid functionality for clear tracking
In the contractor dashboard, I developed a track section that would allow contractors to add new homeowners and build bids for them.
In the track section, the contractors have a simple table to view the statuses of financing for their new customers and current customers.
The tracking table is a valuable asset to our product because it inserts Hearth more frequently in a contractor’s workflow. Rather than use Excel, this tool keeps homeowners’ progress in one place.
Building a bid invoice form
In the next stage of the experience, I developed the ability to build a new bid. The intent here is that a contractor would require Hearth from the beginning of their sales process with the homeowner.
I also looked closely at the Excel sheet documents contractors used to have an idea about the data they were collecting so I could better understand their needs. For example, by having a flexible start date.
As the contractor fills in the cost table, the cost estimate updates and potential financing terms are visible.
This is a very important addition to the design because it allows Hearth to market their financing options and not rely on the contractor to mention financing. It is right there bundled in the bid.
Generating Bid for Homeowner
Finally, I wanted to build functionality that would allow the contractor to have a physical bid document to send to their customer, but also to keep in their records.
This document generates the contractor’s logo giving them a sense of personalization and professionalism. I gave ability for the contractor to save and send the bid. At the bottom the homeowner and contractor can sign and agree but also explore possible financing options through Hearth’s technology under “See my rates.”
“See my rates” is important and fits our initial design goals listed early on because with this bid creation, Hearth is able to function as a true sales tool for our contractors, maintain prevalence throughout the process, and present financing options as part of the estimate.
User Testing
I spoke with a few contractors about this bid estimation tool. I listened closely and looked for places of confusion, places for improvement, and places of value.
Here are some notes from user testing:
Results
The users loved the bid estimation tool. They loved the idea that they could either up-sell their project with financing or preview potential payment options.
A user mentioned that he rarely took his computer to meet a homeowner. I had to consider a case for a mobile experience.
They mentioned that having a cost table list out specific costs could confuse the homeowner or lead to miscommunication. They liked bundling all costs into one final price.
Finally, another big concern was the development of the bid in PDF form. It did not seem clickable or editable. Designing a final view that is more user friendly was my next goal. It needed the functionality of being both editable and static.
Considering mobile users
In order to build a cohesive and friendly experience, I divided the form into three sections: Project, Customer, and Confirm. These actions give clear understanding into the functionality of each page.
As a team we discussed how we would refer to the bid estimation tool. We learned from customer research that our contractors considered themselves business and sales people and so creating an “invoicing” tool seemed appropriate and marketable.
I added overall the same functionality to each page but made the cost table optional so that contractors did not feel pressured to enter excess information.
Finally, I added a confirm stage to give clear indication that if there are any necessary edits, the contractor can go back. Once confirmed, an electronic version of the invoice would develop, with the logo of his or her business and clear financing terms listed for the homeowner.
The homeowner would receive a digital version that would allow them to check their financing rates on our website.
Learnings
How to ask insightful questions instead of guiding questions.
Learning how to balance product and business constraints with user needs.
How to prioritize when dealing with many requirements in a start up environment.
Understanding the difference between being proactive versus being reactive.
How to work cross-functionally with product, marketing, and engineering.
Areas of Improvement
Create an experience for iPad because it would allow for contractors to be more mobile.
Expanding tracking capabilities for contractors.
Scoping user experiences beyond bid estimation.
Closing Thoughts
This project was challenging however I really enjoyed building a product that will help boost engagement. Hopefully this tool will allow Hearth to be more integrated into our contractors’ sales precesses by bringing more value to their subscription.
This project helped me understand how to design with the user in mind from beginning to end. Successful design does not always have all the functionality you want to implement but rather the functionalities your users actually need. It was an amazing and fast paced experience with Shogun. I picked up a vast array of skills which as helped me become a well rounded designer.