My Simple Life

Best Technology Award Winner

Announced winner of the technology category at the 2022 Insider North West Residential Property Awards, the ‘My Simple Life’ Mobile App was praised by judges for having depth, functionality and the customer at its heart.

The app has been celebrated for showcasing exemplary customer service and going above and beyond what an automated service could deliver.

Discover how we created a unique resident portal that helped communities stay connected…

Web Design

Experience

Development

Hosting

Client

Simple Life Homes is a Sigma Capital Group brand. As providers of new, good quality, well-located and brand new rental homes, they build communities and bring them to life. Simplicity, ease, and peace of mind are the hallmarks of Simple Life. Sigma needed something to encompass the brand for their residents, keep them connected to the company and their neighbourhood, and help them throughout their tenancy.

Brief

After exploring and trying a few resident portals, Sigma Capital decided they needed a unique mobile app for Simple Life Homes that worked on iOS and Android. As well as making the lives of residents easier, the app needed to look good and be easy to use. Sigma needed an intuitive and flexible system that would allow for growth while keeping with its business and resident requirements.

Approach

Our discovery sessions with stakeholders helped us determine the core purpose of the app and how it aligned with their goals and future requirements. To identify market viability, we also conducted user and competitive research.

Our team came away from the sessions with a clear vision of how the app should be positioned with the most beneficial and meaningful features, along with considerations for future scaling. We compiled this information in a comprehensive Product Requirements Document, defining the goals and objectives of the project.

Specification and User Experience

Next, we produced a clear and consistent technical specifications document to ensure that the app worked as expected and met Sigma's expectations and business goals. This meant we could create a profile of the app that included all technical details and provide a blueprint for initial and future development.

The next step was to identify user personas and touchpoints on the user journey. We then identified areas for improvement and created wireframes and mockups, so we could design the app experience and build the admin system.

Mobile app

For the app to be as easy as possible, it was designed with both iOS and Android in mind. User Interface (UI) components were designed with a user-friendly journey in mind, and our team developed a brand-conscious style library. As a result, prototyping, designing, and passing designs on to our development team became simpler.

Third-party integration was a big part of our agile development process. Our sprint-based approach allowed us to prioritise, test continuously, and improve functionality as we progressed. By using a single code base, all aspects of the app were built seamlessly.

Admin system

With a custom admin system, we used our technical expertise to offer administrators a user-friendly, intuitive interface to handle things like creating and editing users, adding content and offers, and monitoring and adding to the forums - all of which would work seamlessly with the mobile app.

Delivery

Simple Life Homes now have their own 'My Simple Life' mobile app that allows residents to access all the information they need on their home, as well as how-to videos, user manuals, maintenance reports, an open forum for their development, plus discounts and offers, and the ability to view their balance and make payments.

We can’t wait to see where the app takes the brand next!