Helping inspire and inform customers when choosing a new Toyota online
Toyota had identified that customers visited their website with one of two primary objectives – either to seek inspiration and ideas or to compare models and start the configuration process. Trying to address these differing need sets had inadvertently over-complicated their UI design.
To inspire and inform customers about the right Toyota for them.
Toyota Europe were looking for a Europe wide standardised design that would give the business the flexibility to cater for new and differing models and were also aspiring to use the configuration process as the first step to ordering your car online, in true e-commerce style.
Although this was a pitch, we treated the pitch prep process as if it were a real project. We did this in order to show Toyota Europe how we had arrived at the decisions we had made. It allowed us to convey in detail how we had arrived at the functional versus emotional factors in the design solution. This was a business that felt like it was on a journey to explore how best to use the channel to address differing customer needs so taking the time to explain our rationale was critical. As part of the process we undertook 30 minute concept testing sessions that were shown to the client during the pitch. The voice of the customer was used to highlight the different expectations customers have and how our solution was aiming to address them.
Our first proposal sought to minimise the amount of effort required by users to find the right vehicle for them. Previous designs had required the user to answer many questions including complex finance options, which increased cognitive load and somewhat detracted from the key requirements that actually mattered to the user. Our solution was to focus on monthly repayments or price and body type to start the filtering process. Once selected, the user could then select further options to further narrow the available options.
Because we had simplified the interaction requirements, we were then able to elevate the overall visual style of the website. Toyota invests in quality imagery of their range of vehicles and we were now able to expose this bringing the range to life for the customer.
In affect we readdressed the balance of the UI whilst still addressing the needs of the customer. As a customer selected their journey we could then further tailor the experience to meet their needs, either becoming more functional or emotionally driven in the presentation style.