Hello Neighbour drives a 140% increase in rental offers by becoming product led 

Think about the process of finding a new place to live and all that goes with it. Words like “smooth,” “easy,” or “stress-free” are probably the last ones you’d associate with the experience. Instead, property rentals too often come with poor service, clunky and confusing documentation, hectic timelines, and a host of other headaches.

Hello Neighbour knows it doesn’t have to be this way. The company is on a mission to change the property rentals and management market for the better via its easy-to-use platform. “The industry is ripe for digital transformation”, explained Claire Wallis, Head of Product at Hello Neighbour. The team knew that taking a product-led, digital-first approach was the key to setting new standards for efficient service and value for both landlords and tenants—and that leveraging Pendo was key to building the right digital experience.

“We’re demonstrating how to deliver high levels of efficiency, whilst actively supporting both landlords and tenants, and driving real bottom-line value. The future is data-driven, and by integrating technology like Pendo’s, we’re leading the charge,” Wallis said. 

Investing in the business (and the user experience) by embracing product-led principles

Hello Neighbour became product led by leveraging Pendo’s platform in the service of four core aims:

1. Understanding user journeys

The Hello Neighbour team wanted to build a strong data foundation to help inform and optimise the user journey on its platform.  Its aim was to be continuously learning about what tenants and landlords need, and how they’re using the app. 

Pendo Analytics ensured they could start collecting and analysing user data immediately. Armed with these insights, they were able to make informed decisions that influence every aspect of the in-app experience: to drive up property viewings; increase offers; and reduce the time between when someone begins the exploration process and when they sign a lease.

“We track users through the book-a-viewing journey and can immediately spot where they are dropping out, with any friction points in the process. This means we can act quickly to improve the flow,” Wallis said of one such example.

2. Measuring engagement and satisfaction

In a competitive industry, providing value and keeping landlords and tenants engaged with the platform are vital to Hello Neighbour’s success. They needed to diligently track how users were engaging with their tools to keep driving improvements to the experience.

With Pendo’s Product Engagement Score (PES) composite metric, Hello Neighbour can access a singular view of user interaction covering adoption, stickiness, and growth. “Through PES we can see how engagement changes over time”, said Wallis. “If we introduce a new feature and the PES increases, we know we’re on the right track. If it drops off, we can then turn to other features in Pendo to understand why, and experiment with new guides or changes to the software to encourage users to return and maximise the value they get from our product.”

3. Getting feedback from users themselves about what they love, and what could be better

Never happy to rest on its laurels, Hello Neighbour has a culture of continuous improvement. That’s why they place a premium on quickly identifying areas of user dissatisfaction and suggestions for improvement. 

Using feedback, they can understand the voice of the customer, and analyse feedback and sentiment to make high-impact product roadmap decisions. “With Pendo we can easily gain the deep insights we would otherwise only get from user interviews and focus groups – which are time-consuming and highly manual. This means we can act with agility and prioritise our efforts in the right places for maximum impact”, explained Wallis.

4. Helping users discover the right features

Fundamental to Hello Neighbour’s success as an end-to-end platform is ensuring landlords and tenants can find and easily use the right tools and features at every stage of the letting process — from searching for properties through to move-in and rent payment.

Pendo In-App Guides help Hello Neighbour deliver intuitive and personalised user experiences. These target users from the moment they log-in with walkthroughs, customised icons delivering vital context on complex terminology or requirements, and guidance toward the most impactful features to accelerate time-to-lease.

“Every user journey is unique and complex. They need to get the most out of the features we offer, and we must ensure every step is taken to adhere to legislative requirements”, said Wallis. “Pendo allows us to operate at scale and cost-effectively communicate new features to tens of thousands of users at the exact point they need support, while delivering highly personalised experiences through flexible guidance.”

Driving incredible results

Pendo has become an important part of Hello Neighbour’s product motions. They have achieved a 150% increase in applicants booking a property viewing, and an over 140% increase in applicants putting in rental offers, since the features were first introduced. 

A key driver for these increases was Hello Neighbour’s ability to increase engagement and reduce drop-off via Pendo. “We increased completion rates to the ‘make an offer’ flow by 8 percentage points in less than six months”, said Wallis. “Likewise, we’ve had great success with guided walkthroughs, with 66% of users who start the ‘make an offer’ guide submitting an offer.”

The journey to an even better user experience 

As Hello Neighbour continues improving its platform offerings and experience, it has an eye on growing user satisfaction even more. It now plans to leverage Pendo even further for feedback management, now encompassing Net Promoter Score (NPS). “Driving more use of our technology and increasing customer satisfaction will only help grow our business, so Pendo NPS will be vital for us,” said Wallis.

The team is also experimenting with new ways to optimise the offer negotiation process. They can already see from Pendo Analytics that the feature to complete the process is easily discoverable, but the paths through it need optimization. Pendo will let them experiment with this core event in the letting journey, so that the offer is presented in the right way, at the right time, to achieve the best outcome for both tenant and landlord.

“Pendo is and will continue to be a key partner for us, supporting our business and creating the types of efficiencies and experiences that are integral to continued success”, concludes Wallis.