QR Code Customer Experience

Purchasing a new vehicle can be a daunting process for car shoppers. It can be confusing, time consuming, and expensive. These are some of the reasons why many shoppers have shifted from physically visiting car dealerships in-person to researching and purchasing cars completely online.

The Problem

Our research showed several pain points for both car buyers and dealers. Some of the challenges car buyers expressed include distrusting dealers, lack of financial affordability, and limited time on qualifying for a loan. On the other hand, dealers expressed they have to handle an exuberant amount of paperwork that takes up a lot of time.

The Goal

To improve the overall customer experience for walk-in customers and to improve dealership efficiency by equipping dealers with digital products that can help reduce lead time while gaining the buyer's trust and confidence.

User Interviews

We spoke with our dealer partners to better understand the following:

• Discover moments of truth along the car buyer's journey to uncover the challenges and joys of buying a new car
• Understand the needs of dealers for walk-in car buyers
• Understand the needs of walk-in car buyers to gain trust
• Develop buyers' confidence by leveraging Capital One's shopping tools

Synthesis

After we gathered user feedback we sat as a team and synthesized our findings and concluded the following:

• There are a lot of manual data entry for buyers to submit to the dealers when trying to qualify for a loan (hand written documents)
• Buyers generally lack trust with dealers
• Consumers lack financial literacy
• More than half of buyers end up with cars that they didn't intend to purchase due to affordability
• Buying a car can be a long and tedious process (sometimes 5+ hrs.)

Sales Associate Empathy Map

The Product team and I worked together to create this empathy map to help categorize research notes from our user interviews and surveys. The following is a quote from a dealer associate we spoke with that highlights one of the many significant gaps that exists between car sellers and buyers today.

Customers don’t trust us. They think I’m trying to scam them as soon as they walk through the door.

To create a digital product for dealers and in-person car shoppers that could significantly improve the car shopping experience. The implementation of the QR code experience could result in the following positive outcomes for both customers and the business.

Our streamlined car buying process can reduce paperwork, and personalize recommendations resulting in a smoother and more efficient experience for buyers.

• Boost Buyer Confidence & Trust:

  Transparent pricing information can instill confidence in buyers, resulting in higher conversion rates. Buyers feel more comfortable making a purchase, knowing they had access to comprehensive vehicle details and trustworthy dealer ratings.

• Real-time Accurate Inventory:

  The QR code experience can provide dealerships an up-to-date inventory. This could provide sellers a quick and accurate depiction of what is currently available on the lot.

• Transparent Pricing:
  The experience can provide buyers a realistic budget that they can actually afford. This could help customers and dealers save time and money focusing on cars that is within the customers' monthly budget.

• Data Insights and Analytics:

  The experience can generate valuable data and analytics on customer preferences, buying patterns, and dealership performance. This information empowers dealerships to make data-driven decisions, optimize their inventory, and refine their marketing strategies to better target potential buyers.

We wanted to digitalize the car buying experience and help buyers find their preferred vehicle within their budget quickly and easily. Our goal was to create a QR experience that could help alleviate a lot of confusion, paperwork, and mistrust at the dealerships.

User Flow & Sketches

As a team we created a user flow to flesh out the user journey. Afterwards, we rapidly developed hand-drawn sketches of what the screens could possibly look like.

These are the wireframes that were presented to my stakeholders along with the feedback they provided me. I learned a lot through these early iterations such as how to design the Home Screen by minimizing distractions and drawing users' focus on the CTA.

This project was well-received when we presented it to the senior leadership and dealership partners however it was put on hold as Capital One shifted their focus to other business initiatives. 

Conclusion

Even though this proposal was not funded for production, we learned that the implementation of the QR code experience and the accompanying digital products can have a transformative impact on the car buying process that can result to a better customer experience.

Personally, I learned that by enhancing the car sales process for dealers directly benefits the buyers, thereby improving the overall car purchasing journey. If this project is funded in the future, I would like to participate in research opportunities to validate its usability with our users.