Enhancing the B2B Customer Area: From MVP to a scalable and user-centric experience
As smart home technology expanded across Europe, a leading real estate company set out to elevate the connected living experience for residents. Their vision was to offer a unified mobile platform that could control a wide variety of in-home smart devices — from lighting and heating to security and automation.
As the Product Designer, I was responsible for rethinking the mobile experience to ensure users could easily manage dozens of devices, set up personalized routines, and interact intuitively with their environment.
As part of its digital strategy, the company set out to expand its mobile app into a centralized hub for managing a growing ecosystem of smart home devices — including lighting, heating, shutters etc.
However, as more devices were added, the experience became increasingly fragmented. While technically functional, the app struggled to gain traction among residents.
Key issues observed:
Inconsistent device interactions
Analysis of customer feedbacks to support team indicated that over 65% of customers reported issues related to control patterns across smart devices.Low app engagement
Analytics showed that only 28% of residents used the app weekly, with a high reliance on physical switches or native manufacturer apps.Underused advanced features
Despite their value, features like scene creation and automated scenarios were used by less than 10% of active users.
As the Product Designer on this project, I was responsible for reshaping the end-to-end mobile experience — from defining user needs to delivering developer-ready prototypes.
I collaborated closely with the Product Owner, Engineering team, and external stakeholders (IoT partners) to ensure that the app design could support a growing ecosystem of smart home devices while remaining intuitive and scalable.
Since the design team was small, I led a full-stack UX process from discovery to delivery:
Facilitated workshops to map user journeys, uncover friction points, and prioritize the key user flows
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Designed high-fidelity prototypes for user testing to support multi-device control
Adjustments & UI Mockups
Iterated final mockups and refined UI components for consistency and visual clarity
Our primary users were residents of new-generation smart apartments, typically between 25 and 55 years old, with varying levels of tech familiarity. They expected the app to make everyday tasks : like adjusting lighting, heating, or opening shutters — more convenient, not more complex.
Through analysis of customer support feedback and app store reviews, we uncovered key friction points in the user experience:
Many users struggled with inconsistent layouts and unclear navigation, especially when switching between different device controls.
Confusion over device states created doubt and discouraged regular app usage.
Features like automation and scene creation were underused, often because users didn’t know they existed or found them hard to set up.
Some users abandoned the app entirely after a frustrating first attempt, highlighting the need for better onboarding and early success moments.
To address low adoption and reduce user friction, I focused on redesigning the app around three high-impact user flows that reflect everyday smart home interactions. Each flow was rooted in real user insights and tested iteratively to improve clarity, ease of use, and discoverability:
Multi device control : A unified, intuitive control system across different devices with clear feedback and consistent interaction patterns
Onboarding & Device Pairing: A guided, motion-supported setup to build early success and reduce drop-off
Scene Creation Flow: Step-by-step personalization tools that simplified automation and empowered non-technical users
Multi device control
For each smart device type, I designed a consistent, unified layout to make navigation intuitive and reduce user confusion, including:
Clear visual feedback for device states (e.g., on/off, temperature, position)
Standardized component patterns to reduce cognitive switching across devices
Onboarding Flow
To reduce drop-off during onboarding, we designed a guided setup experience using motion design and step-by-step feedback to help users easily pair their smart devices.
Contextual help was integrated (e.g., “Where is my QR code?”) to reduce confusion and support users of all technical levels.
Scene Creation Flow
I designed a progressive, step-by-step flow for creating scenes, breaking complex logic into approachable actions.
This flow helped increase the discoverability and usability of high-value features that were previously underused.
Following the redesign and rollout of the updated smart home app, early analytics and user feedback showed signs of improvement in adoption and feature engagement.
Improved engagement rate
We observed that WAU increased by ~9% within the first 3 months after launch
Increased features adoption
Usage of scene creation and automation features grew from <10% to around 15% within the first few release cycles
Device control less confusing
A 8% drop in support requests related to device control inconsistencies was observed by the customer care team
Due to tight timelines and a fast-paced delivery environment, we were unable to conduct usability testing before launch. While we observed early improvements in adoption, I believe that integrating even lightweight user testing could have surfaced key usability issues earlier — especially around scene setup and onboarding.
This project taught me to advocate more strongly for rapid usability testing loops — even within tight sprints — to validate assumptions early and strengthen adoption outcomes.
