How Do You Convince Rural Property Owners to Share Their Addresses Online When Safety Is Their #1 Concern?
Project Overview Role: Lead Product Designer & Product Owner
Timeline: 3 months (Jun – Aug 2025)
Platform: Full-stack web application Impact: Enabled 250+ property outreach with privacy as key differentiator
Executive Summary SaffaBook is a community-focused accommodation platform connecting travelers with rural African properties while supporting town beautification and community upliftment initiatives. As part of our mission, 50% of all profits are donated to local upliftment causes — from infrastructure improvements to education and safety programs.
During early market research with over 250 rural accommodation providers, I discovered a critical barrier to platform adoption: hosts were deeply concerned about exposing their private home addresses to the public internet, especially given Africa’s diverse and often challenging safety landscape. This case study explores how privacy-first design thinking transformed that trust barrier into a competitive advantage.
The Challenge "I love the idea of supporting our community through tourism, but I can't put my home address on the internet. We're 40 minutes from the nearest town—if something happens, we're on our own."
This quote from a potential host in the Eastern Cape crystallized our core challenge. Rural African property owners face a unique paradox:
Isolation creates vulnerability: Many properties are remote with limited security infrastructure
Community need drives motivation: Hosts genuinely wanted to support rural tourism and town beautification
Existing platforms ignore privacy: Competitors display full addresses or precise map pins publicly
Trust deficit impacts adoption: Without privacy protection, hosts simply won't list their properties
Project Constraints
Solo full-stack build with limited resources
Competing against platforms with 35,000+ listings
Building trust before platform launch
Research & Discovery
Competitive Analysis: The Privacy Gap I conducted UX audits of Africa’s leading accommodation platforms (LekkeSlaap, SA-Venues, AfriStay) and found:
Public address display before booking
No privacy controls or granular visibility settings
Booking-first model ignored — addresses were treated as public by default
Host Interviews: Understanding the Fear Through 15+ conversations with rural accommodation owners, I uncovered:
Safety concerns: "What if someone scouts my property with bad intentions?"
Privacy violations: "This is my family's home, not just a business"
Control anxiety: "Once I put it online, I can't take it back"
Trust requirements: "How do I know who's seeing my address?"
User Journey Mapping I mapped the host onboarding journey and found the address field was our conversion killer:
Discovery: Host learns about platform (trust = 0%)
Initial interest: Likes community mission (trust = 20%)
Address request: Platform asks for private home address (trust = -50%)
Abandonment: Host closes browser tab
Design Strategy
Privacy-First Principles
Minimal Disclosure — Collect only what's necessary, when it's necessary
Transparent Communication — Make address handling crystal clear
User Control — Hosts should know exactly who sees their information and when
The Solution: Booking-Gated Address Sharing
Layer 1: Public Property Listings (No Address)
Show region and town only
No map pins or coordinates
Use photos and descriptions for discovery
Layer 2: Onboarding Privacy Messaging
Clear explanation at address input field
Visual privacy icon
Specific language: "Only shared with confirmed guests after booking"
Layer 3: Post-Booking Address Release
Address sent via email to confirm guest
Host notified of disclosure
Address tied to transaction, not publicly searchable
Key Design Decisions
Decision 1: When to Ask for Address Chose onboarding phase with strong privacy messaging to build trust early and complete profiles faster.
Decision 2: Privacy Message Placement Placed messaging directly above address field in a light yellow box with a lock icon — reduced anxiety and improved conversion.
Decision 3: Language Specificity Final message: "Your exact address is kept private and secure. It will only be shared with guests after they have confirmed a booking with you. It is never shown publicly on our platform."
Implementation & Validation
Technical Architecture
Separate address field from public data
API excludes address from public endpoints
Email automation delivers address post-booking
Admin controls prevent accidental exposure
Validation Through Outreach
Led with privacy protection in recruitment emails
Value proposition: "Unlike other platforms, we never expose your address publicly"
Privacy-first design became a conversation starter
Results & Impact
250+ Properties Contacted (August 2025)
0 Privacy Concerns Raised
100% Address Protection Coverage
5% Commission (vs 15–30% competitors)
Quantitative Outcomes
Zero privacy objections during technical review
Database design validated by security audit
100% address delivery success rate
Scalable architecture without redesign
Qualitative Impact
Competitive differentiation: Privacy-first became brand identity
Trust building: Opened doors in outreach
Host confidence: Enabled peer recommendations
Ethical foundation: Respect for host autonomy
Business Value
Created sustainable competitive moat
Enabled outreach at scale
Built infrastructure that respects privacy by default
Aligned brand values with community-first mission
Embedded social impact: 50% of profits reinvested in upliftment initiatives
Lessons Learned
Privacy Is a Feature, Not a Checkbox Reframing privacy from defensive to offensive changed the onboarding experience and built trust.
Specificity Builds Trust Clear commitments like "only shared with confirmed guests" outperform vague promises.
Context-Sensitive Communication Timing matters — privacy messaging worked because it appeared when users felt vulnerable.
Design for the Marginal User Thoughtful, safety-conscious hosts are the backbone of quality listings. Designing for them elevated the platform.
What’s Next
Host dashboard: Shows which guests accessed address info
Privacy controls: Additional restrictions for hosts
Geographic accuracy settings: Precision level control
Guest verification: Address sharing tied to identity
Privacy-first design remains central to our mission: connecting travelers with rural Africa while protecting the hosts who make it possible — and reinvesting in the communities that make it beautiful.
Featured property in Drakensberg region