A better user experience gives YH Homes a competitive advantage

The mission of YH Kodit Group is to provide a home for a good life. Nowadays, apartment searches are primarily conducted online, making the smoothness of the search process crucial.

The goal is clear user journeys

The WordPress platform previously used by YH Kodit was in need of an update, and some of the user pathways on the website had been found to be non-functional. YH Kodit also wanted more flexibility with their forms and search pages. Additionally, the property information and content updates were only refreshed once a day, leading to unnecessary applications and frustration.

Previously, the site attempted to cater to multiple applicant groups simultaneously, resulting in a confusing search pathway. During the revamp, a clear decision was made to focus primarily on searches for rental apartments and right-of-occupancy apartments. Since these are two completely different target groups, it was decided to separate and clarify the user pathways for these searches.

The result is a real-time, modern and user-friendly apartment search

The information on the apartmen pages needs to be up-to-date and the user experience seamless to ensure that applicants do not waste time applying for apartments that are no longer available. In the current solution, apartment information is updated in real-time. Instead of a solution based on data synchronization, a solution was chosen that queries information directly from YH Kodit’s own API.

YH Kodit also offers ARA-financed properties, which require strict adherence to specific application criteria.  This was addressed in the technical solution through complex data validation, which ensures that the incoming data is in the correct format and that applications not meeting the required conditions do not get through

Flexibility in property searches and applications has been achieved on the content management side. The layout and editing of application fields are easier on the new platform. Pagination in applications has also been eliminated, so the entire application is now on a single page, making it more dynamic.

Long-term collaboration brought efficiency

Due to the long-standing collaboration, the project went smoothly despite a few external challenges. Over the years, the accumulated background knowledge made it easy for our team to propose solutions that were optimal from YH Kodit’s perspective during both the planning and implementation phases.”

“The goals were achieved, and the key points were realized. By simplifying the customer journey, we managed to make the application process easier and clearer. The customer immediately knows what to do, without frustration. This streamlining was accomplished excellently,” summarizes Laurila.

The collaboration does not end here. Laurila summarizes: “Based on the experiences from the initial development phase, we will next focus on improving the apartment search even further. Additionally, there will be other minor changes, such as updates to current content and its presentation.”

Site Architecture:

• Both the frontend and backend of the service run in Google’s Serverless environment. This solution is cost-effective as it is billed based on usage. Hosting is done in a data center in Hamina powered by wind energy, which allows for a low carbon footprint for the website.
• The website is built statically with Next.js, and the apartment data comes from YH Kodit’s own API.
• The backend for users is powered by Node.js-based Strapi, which enables the client to effortlessly manage content, add images, articles and more.