Scroll
Business impact
RentSpree has other revenue streams, including agent subscriptions and landlord services. But applications carry most of the transactions and most of the revenue. Improving completion here has a direct effect on the business.
The redesign focused on helping more applicants finish and improving the information agents receive. It also created a path from the first application payment to deposits and rent after approval.
The problem
A rental application rarely happens in one sitting. Applicants stop to find documents, confirm details, or come back later. The old flow didn't tell them how much was left or where they should resume.
Applicants sometimes discovered a typo or outdated information only after their credit or background reports came back. By then the reports had already been run, with no clear opportunity to correct the source information.
Applicants couldn't tell when their application and reports had been sent to the agent. The experience looked finished while important review and confirmation steps still remained.
Arc one
Reducing the number of steps helped, but the bigger change was giving the application a visible structure. The overview shows everything that remains, keeps completed work visible, and lets applicants edit finished sections without retracing the flow.
It also gives people a clear place to return. That matters for something usually completed over several sittings.
Moment one
Moment two
Conditional questions open inline, keeping the application at four predictable steps. Additional adults receive their own application, while the optional under-18 count is used only for household size. This helps keep family status separate from screening.
Arc two
This came from support. Applicants were contacting us after submission because something in their credit or background report was wrong. Often, the source was information they had entered themselves: a misspelled legal name, an old address, or a transposed digit.
The flow never gave them a clear moment to check everything.
Once the mistake appeared in a report, the report had already been pulled. Field validation wouldn't catch every error, so applicants needed a full review before anything was sent to the bureau.
Arc three
An earlier version put payment first. More people paid, but completion barely moved and refund requests climbed. We had shifted the drop-off without fixing it. Many applicants thought paying meant they were finished.
That changed the hypothesis. In 3.0, applicants review the full application before paying, then see their reports before submitting. Each step makes the next commitment clear.
Hypothesis
If applicants see the full application before paying and their reports before submitting, they’ll understand what they’re buying and exactly when the application is sent.
3.0 launches as an A/B test. We’re watching total completion, completion after payment, and refund requests to see whether clearer expectations improve the full journey.
Using Claude Code and our design system, I built the application as a working prototype instead of a series of static screens. That let me focus on the UX, content, structure, and workflow while design, product, and engineering reviewed the complete experience together.
Clearer reports help agents and landlords screen with more confidence. Once someone is accepted, a saved payment method makes it easier to move into deposits and rent, beginning the landlord-tenant relationship.
