Lost and FoundCharting a path for Angie’s List in a changing digital economy

How can we help Angie’s List shift from a transaction-based business model to one focused on the end-to-end experience of Customers and Service Providers?

How can this offering be convenient to use, yet ensure it embodies a sense of trust among Customers?

How can these goals be met while growing the e-commerce business by 25%, the Service Provider participation by 30%, and do so within 18 months?

The Project Brief

3

Customer target:Millennials and Gen-X, avid technology users

Service Provider target:Digitally-savvy

To capture the millennial audience, Angie’s List must re-evaluate its value proposition and re-articulate it to service providers and customers.

- Instead of focusing on serving as a marketer of service providers to customers, reimagine your business as an intermediary to connect the right customers with the right service providers to create valued and potentially long-term relationships, not just transactional exchanges

- For Customers, the value proposition must be more than just providing reviews and deals; it must also help make their lives easier (convenient and quick to use), be personalized to their individual use cases, and instill a sense of quality and trust

- For Service Providers, the value proposition must include creating tools that not only help them work with Angie’s List but also help them better run their business

Our Key Findings...

4

But How Will We Make Money?Revenue model: Change from Service Provider on-site advertising + deals-based model to:

- Charging Service Providers a percent of sale for leads

- Additional fee per service for free users

- Drive increased purchases through designing a proactive experience- Instead of relying solely on the consumer to take the steps to purchase one-off transactions, create touch

points where Angie’s List reaches out to Customers to make their lives easier and encourage repeat business (e.g., by leveraging sensors and mobile technology)

- Additional fee for payment and scheduling capabilities for Service Providers

- Explore opportunities to capitalize on/sell user data

5

How Will We Measure Success?Service Providers:

Increase Service Provider participation by 30% in the next 18 months.

● Increased # of Service Providers applying to be featured on Angie’s List

● Increased # of sales per Service Provider

● Increased # of long-term partnerships between Customers and Service Partners

● Early partnerships between Service Partners to create longer-term service engagements for Customers

6

Customers:

Grow the e-commerce business by 25% through an enhanced user experience that includes more personalized offerings, options for curation, and transparency in how data/recommendations are served to the user. An optimized experience will drive changes to the following KPIs:

● Increased # of Customers

● Increased time spent on the site/app

● Increased # of purchases per Customer

7

“I would love to do it. I remodeled my in-law’s house in India and it was a lot of fun but I just don’t have time to do it now. Just finding an interior designer feels like a huge undertaking.”

- Shirali, 30’s Consultant

What we found

● Disconnect between Angie’s List/Service Providers and Customers

● Both sides value efficiency but have different information needs

● Users have fluid expectations of products/services because ofnew interactions

● Home Care is becoming a hobby

● Users view finding a SP as work

● Opportunities across each stage of the journey to enhance the experience and grow the business

Looking Closer at the Situation

How We Got Here

Structured interviews

Group 1: Customers● Interviews in-person & via phone

Demographics● Working professional couple (40s) living in Schaumburg● Working professional couple (30s) living in Schaumburg● Graduate student (30s) living in Evanston● Working professional (30s) living in Chicago● Working professional (30s) living in Chicago

Recruitment● Based on the short turnaround timeframe for the project,

participants were identified through a “friends and family” recruitment approach

Understanding Users

9

“If I’m at home on the sofa, I’m on Houzz on my iPad. But I don’t do anything with that stuff.”

- Sherry, 30’s, Student

Group 2: Service Providers● Interviews via phone

Demographics● Owner of a painting company in Rochester, NY● Marketing Manager/Vendor Manager at an air

Conditioning and electrical company in Austin, TX● Owner of a roofing company in Minneapolis, MN

Recruitment● Participants were selected based on a list of Angie’s List

Service Provider Advisory Committee members

Structured interviews

Group 1: Customers● Interviews in-person & via phone

Demographics● Working professional couple (40s) living in Schaumburg● Working professional couple (30s) living in Schaumburg● Graduate student (30s) living in Evanston● Working professional (30s) living in Chicago● Working professional (30s) living in Chicago

Recruitment● Based on the short turnaround timeframe for the project,

participants were identified through a “friends and family” recruitment approach

Understanding Users

10

Group 2: Service Providers● Interviews via phone

Demographics● Owner of a painting company in Rochester, NY● Marketing Manager/Vendor Manager at an air

Conditioning and electrical company in Austin, TX● Owner of a roofing company in Minneapolis, MN

Recruitment● Participants were selected based on a list of Angie’s List

Service Provider Advisory Committee members

Structured interviews

Group 1: Customers● Interviews in-person & via phone

Demographics● Working professional couple (40s) living in Schaumburg● Working professional couple (30s) living in Schaumburg● Graduate student (30s) living in Evanston● Working professional (30s) living in Chicago● Working professional (30s) living in Chicago

Recruitment● Based on the short turnaround timeframe for the project,

participants were identified through a “friends and family” recruitment approach

Understanding Users

Rationale● Structured interviews were the method of choice; they allowed us to collect detailed information in a

limited time frame and provided an opportunity to “go deeper” on topics than would be possible with more hands-off approaches (e.g., surveys)

11

The Journey

Users Have Different NeedsExplore designing unique experiences by persona

● Quality vs. Price● Single service vs. Project● Lost vs. Know what needs to be done● Urgency

○ High urgency - frustrated, etc.○ Low urgency - inspired, etc.

Journey MapCustomer

14

Journey MapService Provider

15

Our Concepts

Cost-Value Relationships Matrix

In order to judge the strength of our concepts, we ranked them using the modified cost-value relationship matrix to the right. The perceived cost of implementation is on the Y-axis and perceived value is on the X-axis, and the ideas were divided between those primarily providing value to customers and those benefitting service providers.

After the sorting, we combined several ideas and selected four concepts pursue further, as discussed in the following pages. (Two of these concept groups were related to customer needs and two of which were related to SP needs.)

Larger versions of this matrix can be found in the Appendix.

Defining the Solutions

17

Insights: Users are hungry for engaging with content. Users do not know what they need for their home until they really need it. Users are often clueless on what to ask about with a contractor. Users need a deeper connection with contractors

Description:Create a curation platform similar to Houzz and Pinterest but with a deeper connection to a user’s specific home. Encourage users to browse, save and share, and collect information about not only users’ taste but also their home, and belongings Angie's List might help with.

Benefit:Free user data and insight into not only what the user wants but also what the user needs. Ability to engage user in the time before, inspiring additional work and helping them prepare for the future.

Concept 1:

Curation & Learning Platform

18

Description:How might we bring what Angie’s List offers out of the web and into users’ lives? From retail locations where customers can scan embedded products to find service providers, to devices in the home or car that encourage people to more effectively manage their spaces and utilities, Angie’s List can leverage the benefits of sensor technology available today.

Insights:Sensor-rich connected devices are become increasingly prevalent, and digitally-savvy customers expect more from their products/services. From making purchases by tapping a phone, to backing up files to automated cloud storage, to on-demand content, millennials/Gen Xers live in a world where seamless delivery “now” is no longer exceptional.

Benefit:Angie’s List would exist as more than just an internet-based offering. Users would be connected to trusted information on a proactive basis -- in essence, moving from a descriptive to a prescriptive data model. Over time, user feedback and trends could sculpt what is provided to users, and when.

Concept 2:

Partnerships & Sensors

19

Description:Provide tools and services that make it easier for Service Providers to effectively market themselves to customers (related to AirBNB’s approach to providing hosts with professional photography help)

Insights:SPs are not necessarily doing an effective job of marketing their prior work examples (poor or unclear imagery)It is important to users to be able to see the quality of an SP’s work before hiring them for large projects

Benefit:SPs who can more effectively show their work to potential users could see an increase in business; customers would be more able to judge the quality of SPs’ work and feel more in control; higher-quality SPs would rise to the top, strengthening the platform as a whole

Concept 3:

SP Content Creation & Collection

20

Description:Create a dashboard for SPs to analyze and alter their profile, coupons and ad goals.

Insights:SPs want to know what their ROI is SPs feel like their Account Rep is a used car salesmanSPs want to see what users are doing in real time to learn about how they make decisions. SPs would like to be able to make changes to ads in real time.

Benefit:By showing SPs the value, it would build trust and engagement and allow for proactive sales opportunities

Letting SPs manipulate their ads in real time would keep them engaged with the brand and their users.

Concept 4:

SP Analytics & DIY Dashboard

21

Mapping the Concepts

For Customers

22

Partnerships & Sensors

Entice Enter Engage Exit Extend

SP Analytics & DIY Dashboard

SP Content Creation & Collection

Curation & Learning Platform

Stages of impact for the concepts

23

Partnerships & Sensors

Entice Enter Engage Exit Extend

SP Analytics & DIY Dashboard

SP Content Creation & Collection

Curation & Learning Platform

Stages of impact for the concepts

Mapping the Concepts

For Service Providers

Customers

- Prototype digital interaction of Customers sharing and creating content.

- Providing a few users with an existing smart home platform and study their results.

- Find millennial users and utilize mobile based research platform to learn about their experience throughout an AL interaction

Service Providers

- Create storyboards showing direct partnerships and how they will work.

- Select specific SP’s to prototype built out sites.

- Work with engineers to possibly create AL sensor.

- Track SP’s marketing habits in order to gain insight into additional tools needed.

Validating the Ideas

24

Thank you!

Appendix

Customer-related (continued)

- Can people writing reviews add a photo of work? More authentic/trustworthy- Doesn't want to deal with lot of contractors- Home Depot – scan item, say who installs it- Provide option for people to see what others paid for a similar service- Show me pictures of the work- Export calendar better

Service Provider-related

- What he paid for (search results) didn't happen right away- AirBnB type profile creation for SP's- Knowing more about clients helps SP- Can small businesses compete w/ big companies on AL? Search results are paid- Create dashboard with click-through rate- Space (or forum) for discussion to understand the problem, diagnosis

Customer-related

- Projects for the home are experience-led shopping moments- The relationships with providers matter- Does AL offer account rep for customers?- Are there already concierges? Model after LearnVest's site?- Add year house built for painting quotes- Can AL provide a teaching component? I'll come teach you how to do this better than YouTube in home- AL as a teacher for new homeowners (Turbotax style – e.g., I'm a new homeowner of a fixer upper so I need a recommender)- Provide assistance in finding contractors (what info do I need)- New homeowner manual - something my realtor provided when I bought the house and it was very useful- More tailored experience – when I search for ‘dog,’ human house stuff still pops up- Profile home

Collection of Ideas, Questions, and Concerns

27

General- Follow Amazon/Uber model to bring more info transparency to experience- API to Facebook like Urban Sitters- AL partner with realtors/home inspectors- Do renters use AL?

Cost/Value Matrix, Customers

28

Calendar feature to book services more directly

“What is my style” persona -- show me the kinds of bathrooms I want to see

Partner w/in-car sensors

Partner w/realtors & home inspectors

Community building on the site -- what intrinsic motivation can be brought to play

Include DIY component

Mini tutorials -- what questions do I need to ask a contractor Provide more

transparency to user of why they are being served certain info

IoT sensor-based tie-in with retailers (e.g., I can scan something @ Home Depot, it tells me who would install it

Concierge like LearnVest

AL as a teacher (how to set up my new home, what to maintain, etc.) -- like TurboTax

Deeper customer profile leads to insights

API to Facebook (‘show me contractors my friends have used)

Cost

Value

low

high

low high

IoT sensor-based recommendations @ home -- to save users time, hassle, money

Cost/Value Matrix, Service Providers

29

Cost

Value

low

high

low high

AL as a teacher -- how to advertise one’s business, diversify, partner with other SPs

AL messaging improvements

How much am I spending, marketing -- more broadly than just what I do on AL Collecting more content

in the moment

AirBNB-esque profile creation help for SPs -- send over a professional photographer for high-quality photo of work

Dashboard that shows analytics of click-through rates, etc.

Content creation tied to site

Social media help for SPs