Enhancing the Homebuying Journey
Nov 2022 - March 2024
Taylor Morrison allows future homeowners to find and reserve their future homes online. My role was to revamp the company’s website based on understanding users’ needs and behaviors, in order to enhance the homebuying journey. My designs improved the functionality and brought a cleaner look to Taylor Morrison's website.
Website
Objectives
  • Redesign community landing page templates (70% of website)
  • Understand users’ homebuying perceptions and behaviors
  • Identify and prioritize key content for homebuyers
  • Enhance navigation of nested pages under the  community landing pages
Team
  • My role: Lead User Researcher and UX Designer
  • Worked alongside Senior Designer and another UX Designer
  • Worked cross-functionally with Sales Representatives, Product Team, and the Creative Team
  • Developed designs with IT Team
Before vs. After
Discover
How do users interact with Taylor Morrison’s Website?
Methodology
6-week study to measure users perceptions of homebuilding websites and behaviors when shopping for a home online. Study participants were recruited internally and via usertesing.com (where tests were also conducted).
  • Phase 1: Interview group of internal stakeholders (8 Sales Representatives)
  • Phase 2: Conduct usability tests on Taylor Morrison’s website with 5 users
  • Phase 3: Conduct usability tests on competitor websites (2 tests with 5 users each)
Key Findings
  • 90% of Users struggled to find images
  • 40% of Users didn’t like leaving the page for new information
  • Other homebuilder websites had a higher task success rate
  • 70% of Sales Reps have assisted users in finding information on website
  • Important to business to gather leads via website
User Insights
Hidden images
Hard to find images, a vital element in the home-buying decision process
Unfamiliar page layout
Disliked leaving the page to find new information, unlike how information is laid out on Zillow
Confusing labels
Difficulty navigating between pages due to not understanding labels
Overwhelming overview
Information about the community felt overwhelming and was visually unappealing
define
Who is the user and what needs to prioritized?
Personas
Eddie
It is very important for me to see images so I can have a visual understanding of the home layout and neighborhood.
Nicole
I would like to know the specs of the community and amenities immediately, so I can quickly evaluate.
Design Priorities
Clarity
How might we prioritize information that is important to the user when making a decision in the home buying process?
Captivation
How might we make the community pages more engaging for the user?
Connectivity
How might we make it more accessible for a user to reach out to Taylor Morrison?
Ideate and prototype
Improving the navigation and enhancing the user interface
Assess the Sitemap
2 weeks spent analyzing the sitemap and proposing a new sitemap to stakeholders. My goal was to improve the navigation by:
  • Consolidating pages
  • Removing dead ends
  • Prioritizing relevant information
  • Implementing clear labeling
  • Enabling easy backtracking
Redesign Page Templates
Several months went to:
  • Redesigning the page templates
  • Assessing templates with the Creative Team and Product Team
  • Evaluating designs through usability testing
I moved the nested gallery to be at the forefront of the page, highlighted crucial information for the user underneath the gallery, and defined clear labeling on the sub-navigation.
Task Flow
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Took a mobile-first approach due to a majority of users viewing these pages on a mobile device
EVALUATE AND BUILD
How do these designs compare to the initial user testing?
Increased Task Success Rate
Measured the users’ task success rate and found an 80% increase with the new designs. Overall, users liked majority of information being on one page and felt the labeling was clear when they needed to leave the page for other information.
Improved User Perception
Images of the communities and houses stood out to the users and improved their attitudes towards exploring the pages. Majority of the users, said the website was visually pleasing which made it easier for them to view the content.
Like what you see?
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Design and Development by Josie Robinson
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