About BI Group
BI Group, one of the world’s largest residential developers, gets 75 % of its website traffic from mobile devices. Yet the apartment search filters on mobile were cluttered, hard to find, and slow to use—causing users to abandon their search before finding a property.
Problem
The mobile filter panel was buried under excessive whitespace and unclear buttons. Users couldn’t quickly apply the filters that mattered most, and key CTAs like Map View were often missed.
Business goal: simplify the filtering experience to boost conversions on mobile.
Timeline: 6 weeks.
Research & Insights
Competitive Analysis
So our strategy to become an e-com in the non-real estate market we looked at e-com too.
UX Audit
Analyzing the current state of the site revealed critical issues:
- Inefficient use of space: excessive white areas
- Visibility issues: filter and map buttons are not easily visible on mobile devices
- Poor navigation: users can't quickly find the filtering tools they need
UX Research
Methodology: Qualitative research with real users in a sales office.
- Participants: 8 respondents
- Method: Card sorting to prioritize filters
- Devices: Mobile devices
- Respondents' gifts: $20 certificate to Meloman(bookstore)
Top-ranked filters:
1 – City 2 – Price 3 – Number of rooms
These three covered 87 % of all use cases.
The insight was clear: most users needed only a few key filters upfront. The rest could live one tap deeper.
Design Approach
Applying the Pareto Principle (80/20) and Hick’s Law, I designed a mobile-first flow that surfaces just the top three filters as quick “chips,” with deeper options hidden under a single Filters button.
Design moves
- Quick-filter chips for City, Price, Rooms
- Simplified header with visible “Map” button and icon
- Progressive disclosure for advanced filters
Validation before developer handoff
I ran a split test with 12 participants using real mobile devices.
Task: Find a 2-bedroom apartment in Astana under 30 million KZT.
- With the old design, only 2 of 6 users succeeded unaided.
- With the new design, 5 of 6 succeeded unaided.
- 10 of 12 preferred the new version.
User feedback led to one more tweak: replacing the unclear “pin” icon with a labeled Map button.
Final design
Results
June 2025 metrics:
- 261 944 sessions
- 118 216 unique users
- 54.43 % conversion rate via quick filters
- 5.7 interactions per user — showing active, repeated use
The streamlined design turned friction into flow: fewer options, faster action, and measurable growth in conversions.
Impact & Reflection
Simplifying the interface around user priorities lifted both usability and revenue. The experiment confirmed that on mobile, clarity beats completeness.
Next iteration: staged A/B releases and event tagging to isolate which micro-changes drive the biggest gains.