Transforming Product Usage: A New Rental Application Case Study

RentIT is a rental application designed to offer a flexible, economical alternative to ownership, connecting renters with owners to promote sustainability and financial savings.

The Problem

Traditional ownership models no longer align with modern consumers’ need for flexibility and variety. Purchasing products is expensive and locks individuals into long-term commitments, making it difficult to adapt to changing needs. While rental services exist, they often lack variety, leaving consumers with limited options. At the same time, many people own products they rarely use, resulting in wasted resources and inefficiencies. This disconnect between consumption habits and evolving lifestyle demands highlights the need for a more dynamic and accessible solution.

Discover

Primary Research

To deeply understand user needs, pain points, and the business opportunity, I conducted a multi-step research process. First, I launched a survey to gather quantitative insights on consumer behavior and preferences. Then, I followed up with in-depth interviews to explore individual experiences and challenges in greater detail. Finally, I mapped the user journey to visualize key friction points and opportunities for improvement.

User Research

To gain insights into consumer behavior and decision-making, I surveyed 57 individuals who have both rented and purchased at least one product. This helped identify key trends, preferences, and pain points related to ownership and rental experiences.

To gain deeper insights, I conducted one-on-one interviews with four individuals aged 20–55, all of whom were either employed or students living away from home. These participants provided diverse perspectives on their rental and purchasing decisions.

The interviews focused on:

• Financial considerations of buying versus renting products
• Willingness to adopt change in consumption habits
• Decision-making process for replacing owned products
• Perceived ideal solutions to improve flexibility and access
• Underutilized products sitting idle at home
• Interest in renting out products as a source of side income
• Comfort level with sharing personal items with strangers

Insights

Define

User Journey and Persona

To guide the ideation process, I created a user journey map to visualize the steps users take when deciding between renting and purchasing a product. This helped uncover their pain points, motivations, and emotional states throughout the process.

Additionally, I developed a fictional persona to better understand user needs and behaviors. This persona served as a reference point, helping me empathize with potential users and gain deeper insights into their decision-making process. By analyzing these findings, I was able to identify key features that would enhance the application’s usability and value..

Secondary Research

WHAT IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

To validate my hypothesis, I conducted secondary research to explore existing solutions in the rental space. I analyzed two platforms that offer renting experiences to users, examining their features, user experience, and limitations. This helped identify gaps in the market and opportunities for improvement.

My Solution

Based on the insights gathered from my research, I carefully identified key features that would address user needs while ensuring business viability.

The solution: A rental application that allows users to access everything they need without the commitment of ownership. Renting items creates the potential for change, as users can return products and replace them with new ones as their needs evolve. This approach makes the experience more convenient, economical, and adaptable, offering a flexible alternative to traditional ownership.

Business Opportunity

Site Map

This is the basic Information Architecture of the application. Based on the insights from research, I laid out a clear site map that defines the structure and organization of the app to illustrate the first-time experience a user will have with the application, focusing on how they interact with its main features. The flow guides users through essential steps, from browsing available products to renting items, ensuring an intuitive and engaging experience from start to finish.

Develop

Sketches and Wireframes

Deliver

Usability Testing

After developing a clickable prototype, the next step was to conduct usability testing. Users were given specific tasks to complete within the app, and their interactions were observed to assess the app’s effectiveness and ease of use.

Participants: 5 males and 4 females
Age Range: 20–55
Selection Criteria: Participants who had previously purchased or rented at least one product online.

The main objective of the testing was to evaluate the learnability of the app for new users. The focus was on identifying usability challenges, understanding the overall usefulness of the app, and observing how users navigated through essential tasks. These insights helped highlight areas for improvement and refine the user experience.

After analyzing the usability test results, I incorporated the most common and important feedback to improve the app, addressing key issues and refining the user experience.

Key Findings & Next Steps

Since RentIT has not even reached the early development stage, it is difficult to quantitatively measure design success. However, I continuously iterated on the design and proactively gathered feedback, leveraging my time in college for quick user testing.

If I were to revisit the project, I would refine the interface further, conduct A/B testing, and use technology probes to assess the impact of my design system. This data would provide valuable insights to make improvements.

Key Learnings:

• Research drives design: I learned that research is crucial to concept development and that user insights are foundational to the design process.
• Empathy is essential: Interviewing a diverse set of users helped me empathize with different user groups and understand their needs within a limited timeframe.
• Designing for a broad audience: While the platform encourages users to rent rather than buy, and offers owners an opportunity to earn from unused items, I realized the importance of considering users who may not be tech-savvy, especially older users.
• Balancing aesthetics and functionality: The project taught me the challenge of balancing visual style with functionality. Clear communication of data is essential, particularly in an app that handles rentals for varying timeframes.

Next Steps:
Moving forward, I would prioritize testing and refining the user interface based on real user data to ensure usability across different demographics.