Comparison Tables in Property Search

With the increase of e-commerce-businesses the internet has become, more and more, a key place for decision making. For example, when users want to buy a product or make use of a service online they often face a huge amount of information that they have to consider. Good comparison tables, especially in property search, can help to reduce cognitive bias involved when making decisions.

Challenges of Cognitive Bias

Researches like Colin MacArthur found out that the so-called cognitive bias can influence the decision making process, as Adam Kiryk cites in his article about bias and user research.

Bias can be defined as set of mental shortcuts, helping people to make sense of the world and to take actions in everyday life. Referring to Buster Benson’s cognitive bias categorization, Benson identifies four major challenges when making decisions:

1. People are facing an information overload which is handled by skimming and filtering information,
2. People are trying to construct meaning which they make suitable to their existing mental models,
3. People are forced to act under time pressure which makes them jump to conclusions,
4. And people are only remembering the most useful and important information.

One important aspect that influences the decision making, according to Alicia Salvino, is the recency effect. This memory affecting bias makes users better remember things that came last in a sequence, i.e. giving greater weight to the most recent experiences. Especially when searching for products or services online, users are faced with a lot of different choices and thus difficulties with cognitive bias.

Comparison Tables Designed for Usability

In his article “A P2P Real Estate Crowdfunding Comparison Guide” Jack Reidy presents the website Fundraise which offers a good comparison tool for investors.

In order to reduce the cognitive bias and simplify decision making, comparison tables can be a great tool in providing users with the most relevant information; helping them to choose the best product or service for their needs. So called comparison sites help users to screen, filter and compare products based on their price, features and other criteria.

Designing such comparison sites from a user research perspective requires to consider some key points, says Kate Meyer in her article of the Nielsen Norman Group:

1. Tables should be simple and should narrow down to the amount of comparable options (5 items are recommended) in order to reduce the complexity of the information. They should provide users with the ability to select items for comparison.
2. The attribute information should be as precise and clear as possible. Clear terms and wording should be chosen and explanations should be provided.
3. Design and content should be easily scannable for differences, similarities, and keywords.
4. The provided information should be credible.

Comparison tables which take the previous aspects into account can be found often for consumption products but are rare in the property market. Only in the Real Estate Crowdfunding Investment Market there are some helpful websites, like Jack Reidy presents and compares in his article.

The website Terra Caribbean offers comparison tables to simplify the search process and help customers, as the feature of AirBourne states.

Comparison Tables in Property Search

It can be a challenging task to find an apartment, house or commercial unit online as users are often facing a lot of information.

In property search, there are a series of attributes that play a role in decision making. Aspects like the position of the property (e.g. geographical orientation, location), the quality of the building (e.g. maintenance, renovations), access to amenities (e.g. public transport connection), neighborhood (e.g. social diffusion) or the layout of the property as well as the price range are influencing the value of a property and thus the decision making process.

Good comparisons sites with comprehensive, clear and matching results can help with the search. Therefore, it is essential to provide real estate search websites with tools that help to narrow down the many features and alternatives to a manageable amount of figures for the user. Filters help to reduce the results and allow the user to compare the attributes of his choice at a glance. Also, it is necessary to provide column information charts that show quick and easy comparisons between features and characteristics to reduce interaction costs and cognitive load.

In the Freemium product on archilyse.com users can upload floorplans and get side by side comparisons with detailed analysis.

Archilyse will soon be launching a website that enables users to compare properties. Leveraging a unique API, users can easily upload floor plans that are then converted into 3D-Models and analysed by an array of sophisticated algorithms — resulting in a wide range of objective quality metrics. The analysis displays general information about the property as well as numerous attributes. One of the main features will be the ability for users to tailor the comparison tables to their own specific needs.

A free version under archilyse.com will be online soon.

Do you have any tips for good comparison sites for architecture, leave a comment!

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