Your home is one of your biggest financial investments and it doesn't come with instructions.
The idea driving the project was to simplify home maintenance for homeowners, who typically spend 1-4% of their home's value every year on avoidable maintenance expenses. With convenience & accessibility at the forefront, the Upkept app was designed to provide a comprehensive solution to help homeowners maintain the specific items and systems in their home through custom instances and automation. The app was built to remove the hassles of home maintenance, keep homeowners organized, and guide them through the process of caring for their home, inside and out.
The overarching goals that were set out to achieve with Upkept were to minimize avoidable maintenance expenses, prolong the life of appliances, and support the sustainability of home items. With 65.5% of Americans owning a home and the median price of a single-family home having more than doubled in the last 10 years, the prospect of minimizing additional home costs is more relevant than ever. Additionally, home appliances contribute to more than 60% of all e-waste, and Upkept provides an accessible product to help homeowners minimize their carbon footprint.
Further to the above, Consumer Reports partnered with BlueLabel (an industry-leading app design & development agency) to create a mobile app based on user validation that’s easy to use and available on the App Store and Google Play to help thousands of homeowners nationwide as quickly as possible.
Bringing Upkept to life was a collaborative effort between BlueLabel and Consumer Reports. The process started with a Design Sprint to address key questions about the app and its features. After testing a prototype, the BlueLabel team refined the UI/UX based on user feedback and moved on to the development of the mobile apps.
The execution of the project involved creating the logic for all the different elements to form a cohesive user journey. The app was designed to be easy to use, with most home items taking only minutes to add and some only a few seconds. As soon as an item was added, the maintenance plan, upkeep schedule, and reminders were created automatically. The app was made available for download on the App Store and Google Play, making it accessible to millions of homeowners nationwide. The key features of Upkept include custom instances and automation for maintaining specific items and systems in a home. The app removes the hassle of home maintenance, keeps homeowners organized, and minimizes avoidable maintenance expenses while prolonging the life of appliances and supporting sustainability. The app is free for the first 30 days and only $4.99 per month thereafter, making it an affordable option for homeowners.
One of the biggest challenges the team faced was ensuring the app was user-friendly and accessible to homeowners of all ages and tech-savviness. To overcome this challenge, the team worked closely with Consumer Reports to conduct a design sprint and gather feedback from a diverse collection of users during the testing phase. This allowed the team to make necessary adjustments to the UI/UX to ensure that the app was easy to use and provided a seamless, valuable experience for all homeowners.
Another challenge was marketing the app to a wide audience of homeowners and making their lives easier as quickly as possible. To overcome this challenge, the app was primarily marketed the app through social media channels like Instagram, where the product has already collected more than 18,000 followers as of February 2023. The app has also received coverage in notable press outlets like Fast Company which has helped to increase its visibility and reach.
A unique aspect of Upkept is that it is the only all-in-one app for maintaining specific items and systems in a home. Unlike other home maintenance apps, Upkept is designed to provide customized instances and automation, ensuring that homeowners receive the right information and guidance for the specific items and systems in their homes. Additionally, Upkept is backed by Consumer Reports, a trusted non-profit source for unbiased information and resources for over 85 years. This collaboration adds credibility and trust to the app, making it a valuable resource for homeowners.
In conclusion, the team faced a variety of challenges along the way, including ensuring the app was user-friendly, accessible, and valuable to a wide audience. Unique aspects of Upkept include its all-in-one, personalized approach to home maintenance and its association with Consumer Reports, making it a must-have resource for homeowners nationwide.
Objective #1: Minimize avoidable maintenance expenses
Result: The Upkept app was designed to help homeowners maintain their homes through custom instances and automation, resulting in reducing avoidable maintenance expenses which typically amount to 1-4% of a home's value every year.
Objective #2: Prolong the life of appliances
Result: By using Upkept, homeowners can stay organized and guided through the process of maintaining their appliances, resulting in a prolonged lifespan of these items.
Objective #3: Support the sustainability of home items
Result: The app also provides a tangible solution to help homeowners minimize their carbon footprint by reducing their e-waste contributions, which typically average 50 pounds per person per year and of which only 15% is recyclable.
Why it's considered a success:
With 65.5% of Americans owning a home, and the median price of a single-family home having more than doubled in the last 10 years, the need for a solution to minimize additional home costs is more relevant than ever. The Upkept app is considered a success because it addresses this need by offering a personalized solution to simplify home maintenance and minimize expenses, prolong the life of appliances, and support the sustainability of home items. The app's ease of use, accessibility on the App Store and Google Play, and partnership with Consumer Reports, a trusted non-profit organization for over 85 years, all contribute to its success.
Since its launch, over 200K homeowners nationwide already use Upkept and the app continues to acquire new satisfied users every month.
