Dear Landlord

Introduction

Screen shots of Dear Landlord on a laptop and mobile phone

Empowering renters to understand their legal rights, communicate effectively with their landlord, and take steps to avoid eviction.

Sector

Not-for-profit, Social Impact, Homelessness Prevention, Legal Tech

Challenge

Redesign Dear Landlord to support renters navigate COVID-19 laws, while creating a scalable solution that could live beyond the pandemic.

My Role

User Experience, Information Architecture, Prototyping, Interaction Design

Our Solution

Screenshot of one of the summary pages, showing how the page lists out the legal process, reiterates the answers the user gave and clear call to action of what to do next.

Personalised guidance

Helping users identify their situation and where they were inside the legal process increased user confidence and left no dead ends.

Those who take action inside Dear Landlord are supported through the process of generating a document that they can forward straight to their landlord, removing as much friction as possible.

How we got there

Rapid redesign

We had 8 weeks to update the tool in line with new rental laws. We spent 6 weeks digging into the data, iterating, prototyping and testing, and then a mad dash at the end to build, but we pulled it off.

Screenshot of the old version of Dear Landlord, showing lots of text, unclear action and possible dead end.

Our starting point

Data showed the tool was valuable but confusing to navigate, and had lots of content and legal jargon. Eligibility concerns, lack of confidence in the process, and anxiety about their situation were some other themes that emerged.

Mockup of the home page of an initial concept that was tested. With annotations pointing out how the information is structured to help users make an informed choice and how they can identify with a starting point.

Early prototypes

Rapidly iterating, we landed on a home page that focused on addressing key concerns that might prevent them from starting and providing a clear situation they could identify with. We tested and launched this solution to meet our 8-week deadline.

Post launch issues

After launch, data and feedback showed users were selecting an option on the first page but struggled to get through the next stage, where they needed to answer 1-3 questions about their situation. I returned to the drawing board to redesign this stage, make it easier, and prevent dead ends.

Notes used tp indicate the flow for the new situation helper

The ‘situation helper’

I worked with a subject matter expert to map out user-friendly entry points, corresponding legal outcomes and actions people could take.

Screen shot of one of the steps of the situation helper

Removed confusion

We tested a new solution and updated the tool with a new visual identity and process. Data and insights showed users were navigating the tool with confidence.

Outcomes and learnings

The outcomes from my time on Dear Landlord were huge; not only did we help 1,000s of vulnerable people, but we also built a framework that Justice Connect reused for another tool, helped secure more funding for other projects and were awarded the Good Design Award for Social Impact.

User feedback

  • “[Dear Landlord] made [my wellbeing] better because I was stressing so much about it with everything else on top of that. I had no one else here to ask for help so when I saw my options on dear landlord I decided to try it out and helped me create a payment plan that worked for me and my landlord and everything else just fell in to place. I am no longer stressing over my rent and other things. My rent was the biggest stress trigger for me but things are much better now.”
  • “Dear Landlord helped me create a payment plan that my landlord was able to agree with, and we are extremely happy with the outcome. We have stuck to the payment plan and haven’t missed a payment since”

Some data

  • 115% increase in usage in the first 6 months post-relaunch
  • 86% reported increased confidence and reduced stress
  • The average user was $2,500 behind on rent – indicating a high need

Industry recognition

“Great integration of all aspects from the identification of an area of opportunity/need, the iterative approach to design that allowed for testing and refinement with the target user, but doing all of this with an eye for what makes the delivery of the work scalable and more cost-effective at the same time. This strong human-centred design approach has resulted in a smart, accessible solution that meets renters’ needs. Terrific project.” – Good Design Awards Jury