Car Industry Service Design Case Study
Modernizing the automotive sales industry post pandemic.
Role
This group project was for a User Experience Certification course in which I acted as UX researcher, UX designer, and project manager.
Timeframe
Completed during an 11 week UX course.
Tools
Figma, Zoom, Trello, Mural, Google Slides, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.
Define The Challenge
How might we recontextualize and uplift the car buying experience to reflect new buyer behavior post pandemic?
Problem Statements
Dealerships
Dealerships need to adapt to a customer-centric sales model to emerge from their traditional strategies to survive in this competitive market.
Customers
Wary customers need a simplified buying process tailored to their needs because traditional sales models don’t appeal to future car buyers.
Empathize through Research
Desktop research
Our team launched our project through building empathy maps based on desktop research, a Non-participant online ethnography and assumption grids. We then tested those assumptions with in-depth interviews to empathize with customers and dealership employees.
Omnichannel experience
Customers seem to be doing the research online and are open to contactless options when buying a car. However, most customers want to complete at least some of the buying process in person.
Interest in contactless services when car buying
“I wouldn’t pay $25,000+ for something I’ve never seen or driven”
— Non-participant online ethnography respondent
Immediate, personalized service
48%
Immediate service
Dealers that responded in a hour or less were 48% more likely to close a car sale.
Source: cmswire.com
80%
Personalized service
80% indicated they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences.
Source: epsilon.com
In-depth interviews
Interviews were conducted with five recent car buyers and five dealership employees. Interviews were compiled in an affinity map before moving forward into synthesizing research.
6/10
Customers and dealership employees said the traditional car buying process takes too long at the dealership and is overwhelming for buyers.
4/5
Customers mentioned haggling, lack of price transparency, and confusing financing options as a pain points in the buying process.
4/5
Dealership employees mentioned concern over customers’ perception of car salesmen as dishonest or untrustworthy.
“Nothing that anyone wants is selling below MSRP right now. I kind of like it, honestly. I know the price, there's really no haggling, and I can walk out feeling like I didn't get screwed.”
— Non-participant online ethnography respondent
Synthesize research
Research was synthesized through the creation of a competitive analysis, personas, journey maps and systems maps to evaluate tablestakes and areas of opportunity.
Personas
Kimberly Jones, 36, Car Buyer
Goals:
To buy a good family car for a good deal
Find a car that can handle rural weather conditions and adventures
Easily accesible information and trustworthy service
Pain points:
Unnecessary trips to a far away dealership
Haggling over price
Inconsistent services between online and in person
Limited inventory and options available
Joe Johnson, 42, Car Salesman
Goals:
Meet sales quotas
Earn a good income
Help his clientele find the right car amid shortages
Maintain relationships with car buyers
Pain points:
Takes hours to close a deal
Customers' impressions of car dealers
Competing between dealerships
Quickly changing markets and inventory
Dealership system map
We created a system map of the dealership to better understand the current systems in place and the areas of opportunity.
Competitive analysis
Tablestakes
Ability to compare cars
Detailed descriptions of the cars features and specs
Ability to filter and find cars based on the customer’s preferences
Areas of opportunity
Online purchasing
Addressing shortages in inventory
Minimizing costs for car dealers
Maintaining trust from customers
Ideate Strategy & Solutions
Journey ideation
Based on our journey ideation, we found that research is overwhelming, negotiation is stressful, and filling out paperwork is troublesome and time-consuming. This led to our areas of opportunity in research, purchase, and pay stages, where emotions are low and engagement is high.
How might we’s and prioritization
We considered our customer journey and started ideation by generating HMW’s to address our problem statements. Then we clustered our ideas in order of importance and grouped them based on who the idea targeted. From there we chose the top three dealership needs, the top three customer needs and all of the needs that fell under both. Based on those needs we brainstormed possible solutions. Lastly, we clustered the possible solutions into 5 categories including customer service, easy and transparent financing, and an omnichannel experience.
Decision matrix
We took the ideas we created throughout our ideation exercises and ranked them in a decision matrix based on criteria such as satisfaction for customers and employees, feasibility, and cost. This helped us rank which ideas we should move forward with into our recommendations and prototyping.
Recommendations
To improve transparency:
Let Us Be Your Copilot
Let us help guide you through the complex journey of car buying. Connect with a salesperson that fits just your needs, putting all the hard stuff on us so it can be made simple for you. From research to purchase, you can trust us to be your copilot.
Quiz: Which car is right for you
Live inventory listings
Direct communication with your dealer
Choose salesman best suited for you
Chat and video call with your sales rep
Transparent pricing
Itemized checklist for financing and buying process
Video walk around and car tours
To provide an omnichannel experience:
You’re In The Driver’s Seat
Some customers would rather not go into the dealership at all. Some want to do the majority of their journey online, then test drive in person. Some want a helping hand to walk them through the entire way. No matter which customer you are, you have options that fit for you.
One stop platform that integrates seamlessly between home and dealership
Custom make your new car online
Test drive from home
Small dedicated dealership retail space
A lounge area for finance
Financing online from home
Transparent pricing list
Home car delivery drop off
To improve personalization:
Your car your way
No one wants to spend hours in a dealership. Slow processes hurt salesman aiming to increase their numbers as much as hurts customer’s wasting their Saturdays. iPads and kiosks in the dealership help speed along the process for customers and informs salesmen of the customer’s preferences and exactly where they are in their car buying journey.
Choose salesman best suited for you
Track buying process in dealership ipad
360 AR walk arounds/car tours
Transparent pricing and no haggling
Schedule test drive
Simplified financing options presented earlier in the buying process
Solution: NVGT Platform
Next Steps
If we were to continue this project, next we would user test this solution and iterate based on the results of user testing.