Portal Research
Overview
This document is internal reference material — it records the customer research that informed the design of the Merchant Protocol Customer Portal. It is not a customer-facing feature. Product managers, designers, and engineers should consult this document when making portal feature decisions to ensure they stay grounded in validated user needs.
Research Methodology
Customer research for the portal was conducted through:
- Interviews — 24 in-depth interviews with homeowners who use contractor services (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, pest control)
- Shadowing — Observed 8 contractor office workflows to understand how customer communication happens today
- Survey — 312 respondents; homeowners who had hired a contractor in the past 12 months
- Competitive Analysis — Reviewed portal experiences from ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro, and direct contractor websites
Persona Profiles
Persona 1: "The Busy Professional"
- Age: 34–50, dual-income household
- Key Pain: Hates calling the office; wants to manage service relationships like they manage Amazon orders — self-serve, trackable, documented
- Jobs to Be Done: Know when the tech is arriving. Pay the invoice from my phone. Have a record of what was done and what it cost.
- Quote: "I just want to know if I need to be home or not."
Persona 2: "The Property Manager"
- Age: 35–55, manages 5–50 rental units
- Key Pain: Tracking service history across multiple properties; getting invoices in a format that works for accounting
- Jobs to Be Done: See all jobs across all properties. Download invoices as PDFs. Approve estimates without a back-and-forth phone call.
- Quote: "I'm dealing with six different contractors and none of them have their act together."
Persona 3: "The Retiree Homeowner"
- Age: 60+, single-family home, long-term contractor relationship
- Key Pain: Confusion about what was done and why; trust concerns about pricing
- Jobs to Be Done: See what the tech wrote about my job. Know when they're coming. Have someone to message if I have a question.
- Quote: "I just want to know it's taken care of."
Key Pain Points (Validated)
| Pain Point | Frequency | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| "I don't know when they're coming" | 89% | High |
| "I can't find my old invoices" | 67% | Medium |
| "I had to call to get an update" | 78% | High |
| "I didn't understand what I signed" | 45% | High |
| "I sent a text and never heard back" | 71% | High |
CRUD Reference
| Object | Create | Read | Update | Delete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Document | — | ✅ | — | — |
| Persona Profile | — | ✅ | — | — |
| Pain Point Registry | — | ✅ | — | — |
| Feature Decision Log | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — |
Notes
This document should be updated when new research is conducted or when significant portal usage data reveals gaps between assumed and actual user behavior. Feature decisions that contradict the persona research should be explicitly documented here with a rationale. This doc is not visible to customers — it lives in the internal documentation section of the CRM Scope site.