"From kick-off, Transpire quickly became part of the team. With a can-do attitude, they delivered impressive customer research and journey maps. This great work helped us gain insights and focus on some global opportunities."
The Challenge
PEXA is Australia’s leading online property exchange platform, which streamlines the process of lodging transfer documents and completing financial settlements. Thanks to a world-first digital platform, its network of legal and conveyancing firms helps over 20,000 families a week safely settle their homes.
Not only has PEXA proven the value of digitising traditional ways of business, it’s also given home buyers and sellers the opportunity to benefit from a safe, efficient and more certain property settlement experience. With this in mind, PEXA wanted to explore the possibility of rolling out a similar product to international markets.
In order to do this, PEXA needed to better understand the nuances of property exchange in other countries – with particular focus on how this would impact the profile and needs of the end consumer – home buyers and sellers.
In addition to researching the typical experience of the end consumer, Transpire also studied two further primary personas; existing property owners, and borrowers looking to refinance.
These findings were presented in in the form of customer journey maps and included augmenting PEXA’s own research of financial institutions for a much broader picture of the refinance process.
Our strategic approach sought to understand expectations of the end consumer and to help optimise the property settlement experience with PEXA’s digital platform.
"A customer journey map is a visual representation of the customer journey. It helps you tell the story of your end customers’ experiences, breaking down each task, the channel they are using (website/phone call/in person meeting), the actor (in this case a broker/lender/solicitor) and how they are feeling (stressed/elated/anxious)."
Solution
Understanding the customer journey from both a home buyer and seller’s perspective within an international context was top priority for PEXA. This meant asking questions such as:
- What is the typical experience of the home buyer?
- What is the typical experience of the home seller?
- Within these journeys, what are the most common happy/pain points, and how can PEXA convert these insights into opportunities?
Insights from our customer journey map would then provide sufficient data to not only inform the design of PEXA’s product offering but also enhance external stakeholder engagement.
The journey maps Transpire presented looked at how home buyers and sellers interact with existing lenders, new lenders, brokers, lawyers and conveyancers. This information helped PEXA better understand how it could provide added value and alleviate any issues that end consumers faced.
When it came to looking at refinancing journeys, our aim and approach was very similar to researching the home buying and selling experience – gain greater clarity and direction on key areas of focus by capturing the touchpoints of target audiences. This included existing homeowners and borrowers looking to refinance.
For the most accurate and authentic insights, our team took the time to consider the differences between the property market in Australia and other countries. This meant researching industry processes, adapting our terminology and asking for further detail where appropriate.
The outcome
PEXA was presented with comprehensive customer journey maps from numerous target personas. Each stage of the journey was accompanied by further detail such as tasks each individual needed to complete, an emotion map, channels used, and the potential opportunities that existed for PEXA.
Findings from our user research coupled with customer journey maps provided PEXA with indisputable insights and opportunities moving forward.
