8. Natural Fit for Personalization
One (long) search
– Sometimes very long (see: San Francisco market)
– Often multiple sessions
– Lots to interact with on Trulia
20. Trulia Suggests v2.0
More integration into the natural home buying process
More models, not just preference prediction
More visual
More entertaining
We were familiar with this work, which focuses on preference prediction, and without time constraints.
User’s are easily distracted
The interface decisions are at least as important as the algorithm decisions. Particularly early on. We didn’t want to be biased by our current FE (FE tech has developed rapidly) so we build a separate prototype using the latest tech and then found ways to carry elements back.
Hide because people often do repeat searches, like as the positive preference, and follow as a stronger like in which updates are sent
We originally planned to bootstrap the system using only behavior. But users are easily distracted. While we continue to build better models of user real estate search behavior, we decided just to ask users.
Recommendations themselves are displayed in a visual interface. Cards instead of lists. Inline photos. Bits of animation.
Lists are central to home buying. Already on IPad. Coming soon to rentals, mobile.