NailedIt: Comprehensive competitive analysis helped identify our USP

NailedIt is an online portfolio website for tradespeople. The idea came about when a plumber, Derek Jassmann, recognized an unfilled niche in how tradespeople connect with residential clients. This project was more UX focused and we provided our files in mid-fidelity as our client already had a visual designer. For the purpose of my portfolio, I’ve built out the final files in high-fidelity.

BUSINESS GOALS:

• Help tradespeople break into the digital market

• Create a community for tradespeople to connect with home owners

• Digitize word of mouth

• Find a unique selling point in a saturated market

RESEARCH

The trades industry is fed on word of mouth, but how can a tradesperson access a larger client network outside of their family & friends? The next step would be to move into the digital network. 75% of small businesses gained new customers through social media

HOW WE FOUND OUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT

When we looked at the competitive landscape, there were a lot more competitors than we originally thought. We were concerned with the saturation in the market — was there space for NailedIt?

While the process for a homeowner searching for a tradesperson was pretty standard across the board. The process of creating a portfolio as a tradesperson was a whole different story. Armed with a fake interior design company, we set out to compare the user flow and process of creating a free portfolio page on our main competitor sites. We focused on comparing free with free as our clients wanted to make the platform free to use.

• HOUZZ was pretty straight forward but its focus was on providing inspirational eye-candy for homeowners.

• TrustedPros asked for a lot of information before you could even sign up. You were forced to complete a portfolio because couldn’t even save your process in the middle of setup. It made us feel as if we had to be digital markets to use this site. A lot of people would have left the site

• Homestars was easy to use and had a large user base; however, it wouldn’t let you post photos unless you paid $200 month for a premium account!

  
  

We found our unique selling point through this in-depth competitive user flow analysis. NailedIt would focus on creating a simple sign up process that was fun, interactive yet simple for our primary persona — our tradesperson, Matt Young.

PLANNING

PRIMARY PERSONA — MATT YOUNG

MATT’S STORY: Matt comes home from a particularly frustrating day where his client was being overly demanding. Because he works for a company, he can’t help but receive the jobs he’s given. He feels like he’s finally ready to break out with his own company. Although he’s comfortable with social media and email, he isn’t used to advertising online but would like to improve his online presence. He’s open to learn and create an account if the site is beneficial to him. But he wishes there was a better way to be matched with clients he actually enjoys working with. Just then he gets a message on Facebook. His friend Mady Mim-Pang tells him about how she’s featured on this new portfolio site for trades professionals, NailedIt!

MATT’S GOALS: Get work, expand his client and peer network, easy portfolio creation and showcase his work

SECONDARY PERSONA — BONNIE BROWN

Although we didn’t focus on our secondary persona for our MVP, we included her in our project deliverables for further development.

BONNIE’S STORY: Bonnie and her family just moved and bought an older house in the Suburbs. Unfortunately, the house doesn’t fully suit her family’s needs. The kids need a safe playing area indoors due to the constant rain. She owns a small business and needs an office space so she can work from home. Her husband suggests they just do it themselves, but she still has nightmares about the last time he tried to “renovate”. Price is a concern for them but this work has to be done. She’s going to be working from home during the renovations, so she needs to find a trustworthy contractor that she’s comfortable with. Because they just moved, she has no one to ask for referrals or advice. She’s browsing Facebook and comes across an ad for NailedIt!

TESTING

USABILITY TESTING THROUGH A PASS RATE FORM

We conducted a Pass/Satisfactory/Fail form to test our prototype. We focused our testing on users of varying tech literacy as well as those working in the trades industry. From the pass rate form, we were able to identify key areas that needed to be addressed. From those, we ran A/B testing which showed us how a single misplaced button can break a design and cause people to drop off.

In our attempts to simplify the process, by giving them too many choices, we actually complicated it. Psychologically, after investing a certain amount of time, people want to know how much they’ve accomplished. Once we changed the original “SAVE & PREVIEW” button to continue and show the progression through a progress bar with live preview, the success rate went increased from 0% to 90%.

DESIGN

EASY TO USE & APPROACHABLE

The homepage helps set expectations for the tradesperson on how easy the process is, it’s as easy as 1–2–3. This aligns with Matt’s frustration where he won’t sign up for an account if he doesn’t see the benefits right away. We wanted the tone of voice to be friendly but never condescending. Almost like we were an older more experienced contractor with a wealth of knowledge in how to attract new clients. And with a tongue in cheek personality, having lots of fun playing with the Nailed It brand.

SOCIAL PROOFING

In order to build trust and digitize word of mouth we decided to link reviews with specific project to validate their work. We also incorporated generic messages for end users to send to clients to take the pressure off our primary user who may not really know what to write. In our interviews and surveys, we found our personas were heavy Facebook users that they didn’t like to create new accounts. We integrate social media into the signup process. From a business standpoint, we wanted social proof validation and data for marketing. Having Facebook and social media integration made it easy to add photos and share projects across our user’s social media platforms. People are more likely to post their work on Facebook, especially if they get a new phone, or photos aren’t uploaded to computer yet.

GAMIFICATION

Utilizing gamification and delightful design, we lead the end user through their account creation with the use of fun interactive elements like an animated progressive bar with a hammer “nailing it”. To avoid confusion during the portfolio build we used progressive disclosure and rewards for each stage of the process. Each section connects to the last to create the profile as a whole.

GALLERY