Project Overview
How might we create a unified digital experience that feels inherently local while supporting Corcoran's global expansion?
Corcoran's rapid franchisee expansion had created a fractured digital experience where new markets and agents were virtually invisible. I led the UX strategy and design to transform their site into a personalized, location-aware platform that showcases local expertise at global scale.
Role: UX Designer & Strategist | Team: 3 people (1 Visual Designer, 1 UX Designer, 1 PM) Timeline: 7 months (2020) | Platform: Responsive Web
The Challenge
Context
Corcoran, the iconic New York luxury real estate brand, had shifted from direct acquisitions to a franchisee model to fuel rapid expansion. While this brought new markets under the Corcoran umbrella, their digital experience remained fractured and NYC-centric, failing to represent or support their growing network of franchise partners.
User Problems
Through stakeholder interviews and site audits, we identified critical user experience gaps:
Potential Buyers/Sellers:
Site defaulted to NYC/Florida listings regardless of user location
Had to manually select regions repeatedly, creating repetitive, unresponsive experience
Couldn't easily find local agents or offices in their area
Lacked context about neighborhoods and markets outside core regions
Franchise Agents:
Were difficult to find or completely missing from main site
Had to rely on separate, unbranded websites that lacked Corcoran's comprehensive features
Couldn't showcase their local expertise through the main brand platform
Lost potential leads to core NYC agents due to poor discoverability
Franchise Offices:
Little to no representation on main Corcoran site
Couldn't leverage Corcoran's brand strength for local marketing
Lacked tools to demonstrate regional market knowledge
Constraints
Had to maintain Corcoran's luxury brand positioning across all markets
Needed to work with existing content management system
Required support for multiple languages, currencies, and regional preferences
Had to balance corporate oversight with franchise autonomy
Research & Insights
Discovery
Stakeholder Interviews: Conducted sessions with both corporate leadership and franchise partners to understand conflicting needs and pain points
Competitive Analysis: Audited real estate sites both within luxury segment and broader market to identify successful localization patterns
Site Audit: Comprehensive review of existing Corcoran.com to identify structural and content gaps
Strategic Workshops: Facilitated sessions to align stakeholders on vision for unified-yet-local experience
Key Insights
Local is Everything: In real estate, users need hyper-local expertise and market knowledge
Personalization Reduces Friction: Manual region selection created barrier to engagement
Content Hierarchy Matters: Franchise markets were treated as secondary despite being core to growth strategy
Agent Credibility: Users needed to assess local agent expertise before making contact
Global Expectations: International users expected currency, language, and cultural customization
The Solution
Personalized Homepage Strategy
Problem: Site felt generic and NYC-centric to users in other markets
Solution: Modular, contextual homepage using customer data to serve relevant content. Used location data and search history to surface relevant listings and agents, created dynamic content modules that could showcase different regions, and prioritized local agents and offices for users in franchise markets
Navigation & Information Architecture
Problem: Regional content and franchise locations were buried or missing
Solution: Location-aware navigation that elevated local content. Featured location selector prominently without being intrusive, created clear pathways to regional content and local agents, and balanced global brand consistency with local market needs.
Content Strategy & New Page Types
Problem: Users lacked context about markets outside NYC/Florida
Solution: Created comprehensive neighborhood guides positioning Corcoran as local experts, redesigned integrated blog ("Inhabit") with location-specific content organization, and implemented tagging system for regional discovery.
Internationalization Strategy
Problem: Global expansion required multi-language, multi-currency support
Solution: Flexible localization system with language, currency, and font customization that maintained brand integrity across cultures. Created scalable framework for adding new international markets.
Impact
Results
Eliminated repetitive region selection through smart personalization
Significantly improved discoverability of franchise agents and offices
Created seamless experience between global brand and local expertise
Corporate leadership praised unified brand experience across markets
Enabled franchise partners to leverage main site for marketing and lead generation
Established scalable system for continued international expansion
Reflection
What Worked Well: Stakeholder interviews revealed critical gaps between corporate and franchise needs. Modular homepage and template system created scalable solution that successfully personalized experience without overwhelming users.
What I’d Do Differently: Would have advocated for more direct user research with actual home buyers/sellers and pushed for A/B testing of different personalization approaches.