Next Gen Car Shopping

Service Design

Case Study

Holistic solution problem solving for car shopping during pandemic in light of compromised traditional shopping methods. Our proposed system provides increased safety considerations for both dealerships and customers while still providing an efficient and personalized experience.

Services

UX Research
Scripting / Storytelling
Information Architecture
Interaction Design & Prototyping
Visual UI Design
Style Guide

Problem Statement

Consumers and dealerships need increased clarity, support and resources during the pandemic because traditional auto shopping experiences are compromised.

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Defining the Problem

Brick and mortar and physical retail locations have had to reconsider their marketing strategies and their customer experience. One business that is quickly trying to adapt is the automotive industry. Your challenge is to consider a holistic solution for a car dealership and how we may support them in this time.

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Preliminary Research & Data Visualization

To kick off our research process, the team took a look at our key assumptions and findings from our problem statement brainstorm. We identified a handful of key themes to further dig into. Prep research was conducted and tracked within a shared research log where we noted source, date, as well as key findings and questions for each. At this stage the team also drafted interview questions for both the dealership and customer side of things for future in-depth interviews.

Desk Research We continually conducted desk research, maintaining a research log of source, date, and key findings/questions for each.
In-depth Interviews Our team developed questions and conducted in-depth interviews with a dealership owner as well as car buyers who had made a car purchase during COVID.
Recent Car Buyer Survey We created a survey for those who had purchased a car within the last year to gain more insights on shopping habits and expectations both before and after COVID restrictions began.
Online Ethnography Explored existing online chat offerings as well as other support currently available for customers, acting as an interested car shopper when inquiring.
Dealership Visits Conducted a dealership visit to explore the cross-channel experience from online search through dealer websites, to how the test drive and safety measures were actually conducted onsite.
Competitive Analysis Took a look at remote communication tools used for financial assistance and shopping research. Conducted comparison to understand what is currently being used, what works well, and what is missing.

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Ideation Process

HMW on Key Insights Using our six narrowed user stories, the team ideated on each for two minutes before coming together to sort and find key opportunity areas.
Crazy 8’s Based on a broad prompt of our problem statement, the team completed a Crazy 8’s exercise. Key opportunity areas found through dot voting centered around safety and time efficiency, which tracked with many of our initial assumptions.
Solution Sketching Based on our Crazy 8’s top voted ideas, the team divided up topics and did some broader solution sketching.
Idea Portfolio Using ideas from the previous exercises, we mapped each one based on impact and feasibility before deciding on the best solves.

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Solution Proposal

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Wayfinding

From here we dove into prototyping: storyboarding, rehearsing digital services, sketching, paper and cardboard modeling, as well as some mockup visuals. This helped us look at various touch points, and dive deep into what support was needed.