This document summarizes the process of redesigning the Immoweb mobile app's search functionality based on user testing. Initially, search results were displayed under the "Search" tab, but testing showed the search criteria were difficult to find for new users. An onboarding process was added to select criteria first but still caused confusion. Ultimately, displaying the criteria on its own page and adding a clear homepage solved the usability issues.

1. First discovery
of the Immoweb app
How to deconstruct
an undesirable mental model?
Reading 5me: 4 '

2. This document tells the concrete case
of an improvement of a graphical interface of Immoweb
thanks to user tes5ng.
Before being effec5ve in terms of business results,
ergonomics is first and foremost a learning of human behavior,
oCen surprising and source of crea5vity.
Good reading.
Diego
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 2
Forewords

3. INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of digital, designers are faced
with a difficult choice: what to display under the
'Search' tab? Should the search criteria or the
results of this same search be displayed?
On a computer screen, it is s5ll possible to display
both. But on that of a smartphone, cohabita5on
becomes almost impossible.
As oCen, there is no ready-made answer: you
have to arbitrate according to the behavior of the
user and the business objec5ve to achieve.
The dilemma of the 'Search' tab
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 3

4. CONCEPTION
For the new Immoweb IOS / Android na5ve applica5on, the project team
decides to display the search results under the 'Search' tab.
In contrast to a Google, research on Immoweb is indeed rela5vely stable. On
Google, a visitor can go from vaca5on search, to that of a vacuum cleaner, to
finish on a Linkedin profile. On the other hand, it is more difficult to imagine a
user of Immoweb looking for a house in Hainaut, then an apartment at the
sea, ending with a piece of land in Limburg.
We therefore assume that our user will prefer to find the results of his latest
search updated each 5me he visits or navigates through the applica5on,
rather than revisi5ng the criteria and relaunching the search.
What trade off for Immoweb?
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 4

5. REALITY CHECK 1
However, linking the results to the 'Search' tab has a significant flaw: when
the applica5on is first discovered, the search criteria are difficult to reach. A
visitor has to click on the tab 'Search' in the 'tab-bar', then on the word
'Criteria' (here 'filters') at the top of the search results. On top of that, the
criteria selec5on is set by defaults to 'For sale'. And the op5on 'To rent' is not
that visible.
The first user tests largely confirms our apprehensions: we lose a third of
users before the criteria, then the remaining half on the tab 'For sale'. Only a
third of users are doing easily.
Poorly reachable search criterias
Home page Search results Search criterias
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 5

6. CONCEPTION
The search criteria must therefore be much more
reachable during the first visit.
We quickly discard the op5on to display these
criteria on the first page for reasons related to
emo5ons and mental load: a list of criteria is a first
somewhat arid contact with the applica5on. And
likewise for the shortcut op5on on the home page:
this behavior is largely in the minority. And displaying
2 tabs 'results' and 'search' in the menus is not
recommended: it is most likely to avoid passing from
one tab to the other while doing a task on a page
We then develop an ‘onboarding process' in which
the user can already select the op5on 'For sale / To
rent' in order to bypass the homepage and the
search results.
Fluidify the first visit: solu5on #1
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 6

7. REALITY CHECK 2 & 3
The following 2 test-user sessions seem to work well for the onboarding
pages: users get through without any problem.
However, an insignificant, but repe55ve, behavior is gradually ahrac5ng
ahen5on in a peripheral verifica5on scenario: when asked to return to the
home page, some users click on the 'Home' tab, while they already are on the
homepage.
Then one last behavior completes to put us the chip-in-the-ear: a testers is
surprised to find the op5ons 'To sell / To rent' in the criteria, since this op5on
is already in what he calls the home page.
The conclusion is clear: with the onboarding, we have perpetuated a mental
model already present in users’ mind: the pre-selec5on of op5ons 'For sale /
To rent' before the other criteria in a separate page like on the .be.
Observa5ons and conclusions of user tests
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 7

8. CONCEPTION
Following the tests, we have to reconcile two pijalls: bypassing the home
page and the search results. And avoid that the user understands the first
page of the onboarding as a home page.
1. We keep an onboarding approach during the first
visit to bypass the homepage and search results.
2. But we defuse the 'homepage' effect:
a) The format of the page onboarding slice
with the rest of the app:
the background is blue and the text is white.
b) The 'For sale / For rent' op5ons are only visible
in the search criteria.
c) Instead, the onboarding page displays a shortcut
'Start a search' that leads to the criteria.
d) The page also includes access to the login.
Fluidify the first visit: solu5on #2
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 8
Onboarding page

9. REALITY CHECK 4
The test results bring a good news: the page of onboarding is no longer taken
for the homepage.
But it is short-lived: the new design does not evacuate the mental model
generated by the use of the website. Users are a bit taken aback when they
discover the mobile homepage for the first 5me. They expect to find the first
page of the applica5on they have discovered: the search criteria page! Some
have also pressed the 'Home' tab of the tab barre.
However, this is a lesser evil: the page of the onboarding is visible only once.
Impossible for the user to find it back. The search criteria page, on the other
hand, always remains available.
Observa5ons and conclusions of user tests
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10. REALITY CHECK 4
This is where the second good news comes
in: the moment of surprise passed, users
change their mind and accept the
homepage as such, thanks to the presence
of the 5tle ‘Bienvenue'.
Results of the last test confirm this
conclusion: users draw the right
homepage.
Observa5ons and conclusions of user tests
Diego de Wau5er - 12/2017 10

11. LIMITS
The tests are carried out with the help of around 15 testers. They come from
a recruitment made via a form on the Immoweb website. The selec5on is
based on their declara5on of exper5se in terms of use of the web and their
smartphone.
At this scale, user tests have no scien5fic claim. They remain however very
significant: the behavior is indeed less subject to the bias inferred by the
tests than opinions. And small-scale trends are likely to occur on a larger
scale with a small margin of error.
Above all, they are a powerful help for problem detec5on and decision
making. When the project team is aligned with the observa5ons made
during the tests and their cogni5ve bases induced during the analysis, the
tests become ac5onable.
Test condi5ons
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