Neon Wood : Launching an online booking platform for student housing units
Objective
To launch an online platform for promoting and booking student housing in Berlin.
Results
Improved conversions for online bookings of student housing units.
Background
I was responsible for UX writing and research, as well as adapting UX copy for Neon Wood’s booking platform. I also supported in designing the visual brand for the website.
In the winter of 2016, I was contracted by the Anglo-German real estate developer and operator Cresco Capital Group to create a brand voice and intuitive UX writing for both the website and the online booking platform supporting their new student housing brand, Neon Wood. The company was constructing new student housing in central Berlin, and needed both research on their target users, as well as someone able to collaborate with their marketing team to increase online apartment booking conversions by improving editorial content.
Problem
Locating housing in Berlin can be difficult and confusing for out-of-towners. This is especially the case for international students, who often are not proficient in German, are not familiar with the city, and are not always aware of the many legal requirements that surround most German housing contracts.
Concept
International students arriving in Berlin require a faster and more convenient way to locate and move into quality student housing that also aligns with their semester schedules. Neon Wood's ability to succeed in providing this depends on the effectiveness of its online presence and the Neon Wood website's ability to convert clicks and views into to finalized apartment bookings.
Understanding & Observing
Product research began by visiting Neon Wood's first Berlin location, which at the time was mostly under construction. Building plans were looked over and discussions were held with CEOs regarding the design and their larger vision for different rooms and spaces. Gaining a solid insight into the product and the property was vital to making a clearer value proposition to future customers.
Due to construction and due to the fact that no brand had yet been launched, a more creative approach to gathering user insights was necessary. This involved reviewing marketing research already done on university-age students, and what aspects of their identity they seek to satisfy through the activities they do, the products they use and the media they consume.
Additionally, it was important to understand the inconveniences that many foreign students faced when searching for an apartment the traditional way, instead of online. Many reported going to apartment viewings in central Berlin with 200 prospective renters. Many more reported stories of being three weeks into their studies and still not having located an apartment that permitted them to have a length of stay that correlated with their semester schedule. Students were overpaying and often paying for leases far longer than the time they would be in Berlin - that is, if they could get a lease at all.
It was quickly decided that any online platform would have to accommodate a student schedule in order to solve some of the major problems for foreign students, many of whom are only in Berlin for 1-2 semesters total. An early decision was made to allow students to reserve apartments online for the length of stay that suited their needs, rather than run around town in hopes of a 1-year lease that could be twice as long as their intended length of stay in Berlin.
User Personas
Of course, all of this convenience has a cost. Accomodating foreign students meant identifying a student demographic that was often middle to upper income, frequently spoke English, and searching for a rewarding social experience as much as a rewarding academic experience. These factors were kept in mind as we constructed our two key personas.
Our first persona was constructed around the students themselves - as they would be the ones living in Neon Wood apartments. Affinity mapping was done in collaboration with the Cresco Capital Group marketing and sales teams in order to define the key attributes of Berlin’s international students. Everything from semester schedules, to income levels, to most common countries of origin were applied to or student pesona.
Another user group also needed to be considered – parents. Students often have different priorities and interests than parents do and the Neon Wood brand needed to reflect these two very different sets of needs, especially because the likelihood is high that the parents will be fronting most of the bill for a student apartment. Workshops were held to define editorial guidelines that would allow for engaging enough language and content to motivate a student to live at Neon Wood while also being practical and reassuring enough to satisfy the goals and needs of parents.
Research showed students were often most concerned with unique things to do in the nearby neighborhood (for example: restaurants, concert venues) while parents were typically more concerned with more practical factors factors (for example: distance from the apartments to a student’s university, available onsite amenities, such as laundry). Affinity mapping was done to also find overlapping concerns, such as access to public transportation, apartment size, and the presence of a supportive and fun student community.
Competitive Analysis & Further Research
Time was also taken to observe the branding techniques of similar student housing concepts already on the Berlin Market. The community aspect of other popular spots for younger people, such as coworking spaces also contributed to planning for the brand. A discussion was held about which techniques from certain spaces and living concepts were effective and which were not. Themes, ideas and aspects of the student housing experience were mapped out and discussed with the Cresco marketing team. These were then matched up as closely as possible with the actual amenities that Neon Wood offers.
Key Insights & Actions Taken
You cannot exactly promise a student community that does not yet exist, and as a result, the choice was made to prioritize aspects of our building site as indicators of a strong student community before our students arrived. The promise of parlor games, a spacious community lobby, and the short distance to nearby university campuses were emphasized on the first iterations of the Neon Wood Website. We needed to demonstrate how we were encouraging community, much a like a coworking space does, in our location and our use of space onsite.
On our homepage, we needed to cultivate a brand that promised an ability to thrive within the safe structure of a supportive and diverse community. The duel desire for individual freedom and communal security needed to be addressed in order to produce emotionally honest online content that engaged both students and parents.
It was also critical to highlight the advantage of an online apartment reservation that the user could reserve for a specific, semester-driven span of time. User flows connecting the Neon Wood homepage to the apartment booking platform were put together to ensure that there were as few steps as possible between reserving an apartment and confirming a booking. The titles of call to action buttons were evaluated through A/B testing, and phrasing of different prompts during the online booking process were adjusted to maximize conversions.
Each step of the way, I drafted content that was reviewed by Cresco’s head of marketing and chief market research to confirm that our text was addressing important KPIs and that the brand voice was aligned with our personas and research findings.
Feedback & Marketing
Calls with prospective students and their parents informed not only our brand voice, but also the content and structure of other materials, ranging from neighborhood guides to the student lobby description on the Neon Wood website. We asked people what key information most impacted their decision to reserve an apartment (or not) and then applied their responses to how we described key information on the Neon Wood website, as well as what topics and terminology shaped our online campaigns.
The brand ultimately received a tone of voice that is welcoming, clear, and encouraging – but not pandering. A reassuring editorial style became an important way to assert the premium value of the apartments, as well as the student community.
Whether for website text, brand statements/slogans, apartment category descriptions, instructional prompts on Neon Wood's booking platform, reminder emails regarding rental contracts, welcome guides, checkout reminders, or early versions of the student newsletter, my responsibility was to write everything. This could only be done in a consistent manner by aligning all brand and web materials under the same editorial themes, where were directly impacted by the goals and needs of the students and parents we talked to, as well as further research from the Cresco marketing team. All content was also translated into German, where the phrasing was adapted to keep the brand voice consistent with the original English text.
The result was a visual brand and UI that was built around the core themes first written in our marketing and website text. The visual style needed to be playful and inclusive while still remaining intuitive and clear. The concept of a student community was considered when creating each page layout and every last piece of online text.
