Virtual Bid

Future Design Proposals

 
 

 Client:

Virtual Bid seeks to improve the process of project bidding for both small business contractors as well as homeowners. It allows home project contractors to bid on project work remotely without having to travel to a potential customer’s home. Today, the process for bidding home projects includes providing wide-range estimates for projects (based on averages), requesting homeowners to complete complex online forms for a more accurate estimate, or performing an on-site visit in order to scope a project and price it accordingly. Virtual Bid solves the problems within the bidding space and makes the process flow while also saving time and money for both contractors and homeowners.

Mission:

My mission is to evaluate the current state of the virtual bid app and then provide Virtual Bid’s team with a plan for future implementations that would lead to more jobs for contractors and less of a headache for homeowners when searching for a contractor.

Plan:

Interview the founder of Virtual Bid, Robin. Conduct a comparative analysis of Virtual Bid and its competitors. Perform a cognitive walkthrough for both the homeowner and contractor sides. Create personas that represent both main user groups. Journey Map their current experience from the discovery of Virtual Bid all the way through to the completion of the job. Design high-fidelity wireframes that will expand Virtual Bid’s reach within the contracting community and bridge the gaps between homeowners and contractors. And finally, present these design concepts to the stakeholders at Virtual Bid.

My Role:

UX Researcher, UX Designer

 

Methods:

Team:

Myself

 

Tools:

  • Pen and paper

  • Zoom

  • Google Sheets

  • Keynote

  • Figma

 

Proposing future implementations for the expansion of Virtual Bid based off research and design.

Virtual Bid goals:

  • Minimize time spent bidding for jobs on the contractor side.

  • Provide a safer environment for both the contractor and the homeowner while also saving them time.

  • Offer quick solutions to the bidding process.

Virtual Bid Users:

  • Homeowners looking for contractors to complete jobs.

  • Contractors looking for more leads on jobs.

Initial Steps

Stakeholder Interview, and Competitive Audit

Stakeholder Interview:

During the stakeholder Interview, Robin (the CEO) mentioned many things. A few that stuck out were:

  • Virtual Bid has a high number of downloads but also high attrition rates.

  • She wishes to “hone in on the local market”.

  • Wants users to understand the value behind Virtual Bid.

Competitive Audit

This step helped determine what other bidding sites and competitors within the space are doing. Some of main takeaways:

  • None of the sites offer live video services.

  • Several had functioning marketplaces.

  • Integration of business tools is a big attractor for contractors.

 

Screenshot of the competitive audit

Usability Testing and User Interviews

After the stakeholder interview and competitive audit, I set up several interviews with contractors. These interviews gave me insight into what contractors would be looking for when they conduct remote bids. All of the contractors loved the concept of Virtual Bid. However, once inside the actual app, a lot of the excitement dissipated due to unclear steps for them to start reaching out to clients.

I conducted usability testing of the Virtual Bid App with 4 contractors and 2 homeowners. These usability tests highlighted pain points and opportunity areas within the Virtual Bid app. Some of the main takeaways from the usability testing were:

  • User 2 (Contractor): “The virtual bid concept is an amazing idea.”

  • User 3 (Contractor): “App is not set up for a crew. As a contractor, I would like to be able to view jobs without having to schedule a call.”

  • User 4 (Homeowner): “I don’t understand why the contractor needs to be present for the video.”

 User Persona and Journey Maps

Personas

I created a persona for each user group. Dean is a contractor who is tired of wasting time and resources while going to bid on jobs. Lisa is a homeowner who is looking for a DJ for an event that she planned. These personas helped me in the next step, Journey Mapping.

User Journey Maps

Lisa’s Journey Map (Homeowner)

I created a journey map for both personas. The journey maps represent what the homeowner (Lisa) and the contractor (Dean) currently experience while interacting with the virtual bid app. The steps go from first hearing about Virtual Bid, all the way to the completion to the job.

Frustrations from the homeowner side:

  • Live video call only allows for one contractor call at a time.

  • Once the call is over, there is no confirmation or suggested follow-up structure.

  • Several readability and accessibility issues. (text, review accessibility, flow)

Frustrations from the contractor side:

  • Reaching out to homeowners is almost impossible.

  • Cannot read any reviews that are posted by homeowners.

  • Only able to talk to one homeowner at a time.

High-Fidelity Wireframes

With the research complete, I set out to make several improvements for Virtual Bid moving forward. I came up with the idea of creating a lead generator on the contractor side as well as a homeowner marketplace. The lead generator would allow for contractors to view all the jobs in their set work radius. From there, they can mark notes at specific times if there are still unanswered questions regarding the job space. They can also save the video for reference. This addition would minimize schedule interruption so the contractor can view videos at their leisure. The homeowner marketplace would create more bids from contractors for the homeowner. I created several prompts for the homeowner before creating the video. These prompts would change depending on the type of job. The original Virtual Bid concept of having a live video with a contractor is still an option, but these add-ons would create more avenues for the contractor to bid on more jobs and for the homeowner to have more bids, more control for each user group.

Some of the wireframes I created for expanding Virtual Bid’s reach.

Future Proposal Presentation

I created a presentation for Virtual Bid and presented my future ideas to them. This presentation included all of the preliminary research as well as the new designs and future steps for the Virtual Bid team. I presented in front of a group of my peers as well as some of the stakeholders of Virtual Bid. View the full presentation below!

Slides from my presentation.

Clickable Prototype

Creating a version of the app that included the expanded upon design concepts was an important piece of the puzzle. This prototype gives Virtual Bid ideas for what the future designs could look like. There are several clickable screens that lead to various prompts and confirmation messages on both the homeowner and contractor side. Screens added:

Conclusion

Virtual Bid has a ton of potential within the contracting space. The designs that I made for Virtual Bid will will give them an idea of what the app could look like in the future. These designs are the result of meaningful research, thorough interviews, and user feedback and they would greatly benefit Virtual Bid.

Special thanks to Virtual Bid for this opportunity!