Zumper Internship 2022

Role

Product Design Intern

Team

Two visual designers, copywriter, & lifecycle marketing manager

Tools

Figma, Pen and paper

Timeline

9 weeks

I worked as a Kleiner Perkins Design Fellow and Product Design intern at Zumper, where I spearheaded the redesign of their renter email experience.

Table of contents

Context and research
Problem statement and goals
Phase 1: Welcome email redesign
Phase 2: Short-term rental product introduction email
Next steps & Lessons learned

Context and research

Zumper

Zumper is a rental platform that aims to be a one-stop-shop for every type of renter. Now well-situated within long term listings, Zumper is looking to expand its inventory to the short-term and vacation listing space so that it can support any renter’s lifestyle and timeline.

Email reengagement

Renters mentioned that email is a primary entry point for Zumper users. Unfortunately, according to a survey sent out to the users, Zumper’s email experience is not serving its renters.

Journey mapping

Renter journey map

There is a lot of room for improvement, but Zumper lacked documentation on the current email journey or even the renter journey as a whole. So, I took Zumper’s previous user research and created a renter journey map, which enabled me to contextualize the email flow.

During the email reengagement stage, renters are inundated with tasks that can cause them to feel excited and overwhelmed. It’s crucial to give them ample, accurate, and relevant information about the listings.

email reengagement study

To bring clarity to Zumper’s email journey, I conducted a deep dive into Zumper’s email flow while comparing it to five other companies in adjacent industries. I teased out Zumper’s reoccurring email types and grouped them into four categories (Welcome, Reminders, Product Introductions, and Action based) while taking note of what I was thinking, feeling, and doing at each stage. Zumper often sends out these emails one right after the other, bombarding the renter with information when they are already overwhelmed.

Problem

Zumper's email experience is not serving its users.

The current experience is overwhelming, lacks brand consistency, and not personalized to the individual renter.

Goal

Simplify, standardize, and personalize Zumper’s email experience to help renters find their new home

To prioritize the most wide-reaching and pressing emails, I focused on designing the welcome email and creating the short-term rentals product launch email.

Phase 1: Redesign welcome email

Current email

Goals

Educate the user about Zumper's value proposition
Establish Zumper's brand
Guide them through Zumper's products

Context

According to the renter journey map, at this point, the renter is trying to understand the differences between several online rental platforms. They are likely feeling overwhelmed.

Design approaches

Most users are already familiar with how to navigate a rental website.

It would be more helpful to highlight why Zumper stands out from other rental platforms, especially since renters are probably hopping between rental platforms.

Zumper is aiming to be the silver bullet for renting by having an expansive inventory and a personalized search rental concierge called For you.

Final design

Phase 2: Create short-term rental product introduction email

Users

There are two types of short-term renters:

Situational stays, who are forced to stay in a short-term due to unforeseen circumstances
Lifestyle stays, who are essentially long vacation renters (ex. digital nomad)

Goal

Create a new product launch email for the launch of our short-term rental listings; this will go out to all existing email subscribers

Design approaches

Final designs

Next steps

A/B Testing

The redesigned short-term email was recently released. The design team will be A/B testing our new emails against the older versions to measure their performance success. Using this data, we can continue to tweak our designs to serve the users’ needs.

Per my recommendations, Zumper will test the effect of changing the frequency and cadence of Zumper emails to the renters.

Improving email listing recommendations

By learning the needs and preferences of the users, Zumper’s recommendations have the potential to become more personalized and helpful. Zumper should look into ways to differentiate between users - long term vs short-term renters, higher intent vs lower intent users.

Lessons learned

Leadership

While I knew that a start-up environment would push me to take on various roles and work rapidly, I didn’t expect to be leading a project in a previously unexplored area. I learned when and how to involve others in the design process, hosting regular syncs with the two visual designers and a copy writer with whom I worked closely. With limited existing research, I also learned how to be resourceful and operate within ambiguity. My confidence in my ability to lead and make informed decisions grew immensely.

Zooming in and out

This project had a huge scope, and I was challenged to design the granularities of specific emails while strategically thinking about how they fit into the email reengagement ecosystem and the larger renter experience.

The product side of things

As a rapidly growing start-up, many of Zumper’s success metrics were driven by growth numbers and conversion rates. I had to constantly keep both user needs and business needs in mind.

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