Key Features
By implementing these key features, Somer enhances the real estate search experience, making the platform more user-friendly, efficient, and accessible for property seekers and owners:
Streamlined onboarding process with guided steps and helpful tips, ensuring users can quickly start browsing properties.
Advanced search filters that allow users to refine property listings based on location, budget, property type, and amenities.
Real-time property updates, ensuring users instantly see newly listed homes, apartments, and commercial spaces in their preferred locations.
Seamless property listing tools that make it easy for owners and agents to upload and manage their property listings with minimal effort.
Instant alerts for saved searches, notifying users when a property matching their criteria becomes available.
Enhanced communication features, enabling direct and hassle-free interactions between buyers, renters, and property owners.
Optimized user interface with clear navigation, well-structured categories, and accessible design for a smooth browsing experience.
With these improvements, Somer simplifies property discovery, helping users find their ideal homes and investment opportunities faster while ensuring a seamless experience for property owners and agents.
Users’ Priority Mapping
Somer is designed to make property searching fast, simple, and hassle-free. A quick onboarding process helps users start browsing instantly, while better search filters and real-time updates ensure they find the right property easily.
Property owners can list properties effortlessly, and users receive alerts for saved searches when new listings match their needs. With a clear layout and smooth navigation, Somer makes finding, listing, and connecting with property owners seamless for everyone.
Design Process
My approach involved conducting user research to understand how people in Iraq search for properties online, what challenges they face, and what features matter most to them. This included interviews, surveys, and competitor analysis to identify pain points like confusing navigation, lack of real-time updates, and difficulty in connecting with property owners.
Then, I moved into ideation and information architecture, mapping out the most intuitive way for users to search, filter, and list properties. I created user flows and wireframes, ensuring key actions like property discovery, saving searches, and contacting owners were seamless.
Above: Information Architecture (Showing layout of intended design))
After that, I built interactive prototypes, refining the design with high-fidelity UI elements that prioritized clarity, accessibility, and responsiveness across devices. I incorporated real-time updates, smarter search filters, and improved property listing tools.
Testing
Finally, I conducted usability testing with potential buyers, renters, and property owners, gathering feedback and iterating on the design to fix any friction points.
This process made Somer faster, easier, and more user-friendly:
Quick Onboarding – Instant access to property listings.
Smart Search & Filters – Find homes by location, price, and type.
Real-Time Updates – See new listings immediately.
Easy Property Listings – Owners can upload with ease.
Saved Search Alerts – Get notified of matching properties.
Metrics used to define and measure success
To define and measure Somer's success, the following key metrics were used:
User Engagement – Tracking active users, time spent on the platform, and interaction with property listings.
Search & Conversion Rate – Measuring how many users successfully find and inquire about properties.
Property Listing Growth – Monitoring the number of new properties added by owners and agents.
Outcome
The outcomes included a successful MVP launch, initially tested in Dubai before expanding to Iraq and RAK, allowing property owners to list in multiple locations.
We saw improvements in user experience and engagement, driven by user feedback that led to clearer section labels, new selection fields for commercial and residential listings, and an improved complex structure for properties.
These enhancements impacted overall product performance by increasing user engagement and making property searches and listings more intuitive, reinforcing Somer’s position as a top real estate platform.
Challenges Encountered
I faced limitations in testing with a larger number of tenants in Iraq and RAK but overcame it by validating assumptions through user feedback, leveraging insights from a similar product I developed in the Kingdom. I learned that alternative validation methods can still provide valuable insights, which I’ll apply to future projects by adopting a mix of remote testing and comparative analysis for efficient user research.
Another challenge was the need for Arabic localization, which wasn’t initially planned. I overcame this by integrating a plugin that streamlined the translation process and reduced development time. I learned the importance of planning for multilingual support early, which I’ll apply to future projects by including localization as a key requirement from the start.
