MCGRATH
Delivering an optimized, inspiring, and data-driven experience for real estate customers, talent, and partners.
Overview:McGrath engaged us to optimise and redesign their real estate website, with the goal of identifying which existing content and features should be retained while benchmarking against local and global competitors. Our focus was to uncover best practices and feature opportunities that could inform both an MVP launch and a scalable future-state experience.
Task:Deliver an MVP and future-state website design that integrates market-leading features, tailored to serve a broad set of users—including buyers, sellers, vendors, agents, property managers, and investors.
Problem:Once a market leader in Australian real estate, McGrath sought to reclaim its position by strengthening its perception among key audiences: customers (buyers, sellers, and owners), talent, and investors. A key priority was to elevate the agent experience—empowering them with better tools and visibility to increase competitiveness in a saturated market.
Website
Sector:
Real Estate
Role: Strategy, Competitor & Comparative Analysis & Synthesis Ideation, Low-fidelity Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, QA Mapping & Testing
Time: 12 Weeks
Webiste:
https://www.mcgrath.com.au/
Problem Statement
Real estate customers, talent, and partners need tailored information to achieve their goals—but in an oversaturated market, success depends on delivering transparency, inspiration, and seamless access to help users confidently begin their journey.
Real estate customers, talent, and partners need tailored information to achieve their goals—but in an oversaturated market, success depends on delivering transparency, inspiration, and seamless access to help users confidently begin their journey.
Research: Comp Analysis
We conducted a competitive analysis of the Australian and American real estate markets to identify opportunities for McGrath's MVP and future-state designs. The discovery phase focused on creating a meaningful experience for customers, talent, and partners.
Personas: A Greater Audience in Mind
Leveraging synthesised data collected by McGrath over the years, along with insights from multiple internal workshops, we identified and segmented their diverse user types based on distinct needs and desires. This allowed us to shape our ideation and strategy moving forward.
How Might We
How might we deliver a transparent, elevated, and inspiring experience for real estate customers, talent, and partners—so they feel confident that McGrath is the right choice for their needs, now and into the future?
How might we deliver a transparent, elevated, and inspiring experience for real estate customers, talent, and partners—so they feel confident that McGrath is the right choice for their needs, now and into the future?
Ideation: Meaningful Pathways
Our ideation centered on the core needs of each user group, with personas guiding the optimisation of features and pathways to drive engagement and inspiration. Each solution was then mapped back to its respective user to ensure it aligned with our reframed brief—delivering an elevated and meaningful experience for McGrath’s audiences.
MVP to Future State: Phase Rollout
Given our timeline constraints, we defined an MVP that addressed immediate priorities while laying the groundwork for future developments post-launch.
Customer &
Agent Hub
Create enhanced discovery, property, and agent pages, along with dedicated hubs for rural and project real estate. Additionally, develop specialized hubs for investors, talent, and partners to strengthen brand identity and reinforce market leadership.
But why?
McGrath's content approach was fragmented, relying on articles for inspiration-driven action. By simplifying user pathways to dedicated hubs with elevated profiling, we created a foundational product structure that aligned with McGrath's business goals, while delivering streamlined user flows to boost engagement and retention.
Digitised
Share Card
Introduce a map-based discovery feature with Airbnb-style filters to better align customer needs with agent goals, allowing properties to be showcased as bespoke, unique, and exciting.
But why?
Agents continually seek ways to reposition their properties to attract the right buyers, renters, or owners. By offering an elevated discovery experience for customers and greater control over property profiling, McGrath would position itself as a progressive, forward-thinking brand—attracting new and emerging talent.
Bespoke
Elavation
Introduce case studies on suburbs, postcodes, and regions to offer customers deeper insights into neighborhoods and areas. This would also provide agents with an additional tool to highlight and promote the localities surrounding the properties they manage.
But why?
By offering detailed data on suburbs, postcodes, and regions, customers could better 'feel' a place before committing to buy or rent. This would also highlight market opportunities and growth potential for investors. For agents, it serves as a resource to support claims about growth areas and cultural suitability.
*Much of this data already exists within McGrath, with some areas requiring bespoke development.
Final Product
Our final product delivered a refined, user-centric IA with tailored pathways for each of McGrath’s key audiences. The MVP focused on modular components to maximise CMS flexibility, enabling McGrath’s internal teams to adapt and evolve the platform post-launch.