A study case about the use of coworking spaces for the community
A study from September 2018 shows that, for those last 30 months, the intended areas for coworking in São Paulo city had grown 348%. In Rio de Janeiro the growth was 342%. In São Paulo, the total area occupied by shared offices at that time was already 112.000m².
Shared offices, or coworkings, are one of the biggest trend businesses right now, either by it’s cost redduction comparing to a traditional model of a rented office, available infraestructure or it’s appealing locations, with easy access for clients and employees.
But what if all theses fully equipped spaces dedicated to paid offices, meeting rooms and living areas, could find another use that is not only for companies or small entrepreneurs?
Goals:
- Study the viability of a service that connects existing coworking spaces with people looking for these kind of enviroments for personal activities;
- Mapping what's relevant for the user within this service;
- Understand in which formats this service can be offered;
- Deliver value for the stakeholders;
Research:
First thing, I used the CSD Matrix to write down my personal knowledge about the project’s subject in a visual way, as well as assume what I didn’t know or wasn’t sure, so I could better organize the next steps.
To statistically validate my hypotheses, I opted to conduct a quantitative research through a form, to gather as many answers as possible. To reach more people, the form was shared online via whatsapp groups, Linkedin, UX groups.
I was able to reach 35 people and gather their answers, which became the following charts:
(for a quantitative research to be valid, the numbers of gathered answers have to be much higher, but since this is a practice case, I could work with smaller numbers)
After gathering users feedback with the research, I used Job Stories to empathize with users and delivery more tangible scenarios to explore the situations, motivations and desired outcomes of these users.
When I look for a place to meet my friends I want to have more appealing options than just a coffee shop or a restaurant, so we can spend hours chatting without having to constantly order something.
When I have to study, I want to go somewhere that’s easy to access, is quiet and has coffee and food available, so I can eat withou leaving or losing my focus.
When I have to go out to read or work on my freelance jobs, I want to find somewhere that can be easily accessed and have a good infrastructure so I can have everything I need for the day in one place.
Based on the feedback analysis, it was possible to define some users' key issues when considering use service that offers coworking spaces for personal activities:
1 — It has to have easy access: places where it's easy to get to, and it's easier to enter;
2 — It has to have a good infrastructure: Besides tables, chairs and water available, having attached coffee shops, snack bars or restaurants is also wanted;
3 — It has to be free: in most cities, the public and private offer of spaces where you can use for personal activities for free is big, so users can't see the point of paying for this service.
Solution:
For "sharing services" users, as shown on the made research, one of the main points when interacting with a product that leads to a service consumption is less friction. In order for people to want to use a product such as renting a coworking space for personal activities, it has to be easy and quick to achieve their goal, which is using the space.
Coworking spaces, on the other hand, tend to have an extensive and sometimes complicated process of member registering, due to, among other reasons, security issues. This can be a big deal-breaker for the user who has to make a decision between a free and public space where they can just get to and enjoy, and a closed private space that's really complicated to get in.
With these facts in mind, and based on the research and benchmarks made, I was able to come up with a user flow proposition, where there's minimal friction between the fist contact with the product, and the actual use of the offered service, solving one of the main issues for the potential users.
The proposed flow intentionally shows the steps to "find a place on the map" and "reserve a spot" before login/register steps. This way, we can offer value and meet the expectations of the user before asking for their info, reducing friction and churn on this funnel.
Prototype
After narrowing down the user's flow UI on paper, I reassured all the elements for completing the tasks REGISTER, LOGIN and SCHEDULE were present so the prototype was ready to gain a hi-fi mockup.
Hi-fidelity mockup
It's important to recap that another important key point for the users when considering such a service, that is:
— Users don't want to pay for it.
(not when you have an offer of so many other public and private spaces where you can access and use for free)
It's clear that, in order to be appealing and have adhesion with the potential customer, the product and service has to be free. So how do we deliver value to the companies (coworking offices) that offer their spaces to be available to the product's users?
Coworking companies make money in two ways:
1 — Renting their spaces and infrastructure (desks, meeting rooms) for other companies to work in;
2 — Working with partnerships (companies that sells office supplies, all kinds of services, logistics, events etc) and using their users' database as leads for selling this partnerships (and earn comission);
So for these companies to see value on a service that is free to the user, the user has to give something other than money, that the companies can see as a profitable asset. And that is:
— Their data
Gathered on the user's register flow, that can be molded to collect active and passive data from users that had accessed the application through a valid login at least once.
For these companies, the product could be a dashboard, where registered admin users can operate the space availability to the users, manage and cancel made schedules, download reports and more, with a clean and intuitive interface.
Prototype
Hi-fidelity mockup
Outcome
Even with the quick growth and adherence of coworking companies around the world, it's estimated that only 43% of the business is profitable yet. But it's also proven that the more these companies get creative and offer more services to the market, the more these numbers tend to grow.
On the other hand, people that lives in big cities, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, are already used to "sharing services" like bikes, cars, residential and commercial properties etc. Therefore, even when they're not working, they look for a place with the same characteristics of a coworking office to meet their needs when doing personal activities. Since these places already exists, it's not only possible, but it's relatively simple to offer them to this public while delivering value for both companies and users.
Next steps
Once the product is released and already in use by the public, there're features that can be implemented to increase the growth of it's use and information database, such as:
- Invite a Friend feature, using word of mouth to allow promoters of the product to share it with their network, increasing installations numbers;
- Benefits, offered from the registered companies' partners to product users, like discounts in schools and courses, "free coffee" for frequent users, Uber discounts to the coworking locations etc;
- Events Calendar, to inform users of events on the locations near them.
The tools used on this case were Google Forms, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, paper and pen.
Thank you for reading! :)
If you have questions about this case, feel free to contact me:
marianob.bruna@gmail.com
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