Future of Dealership Service Experience Case Study

The Challenge – understand what value consumers, dealerships and OEMs see in a handful of service concepts

A team of three first set out to evaluate a few concepts with consumers, various dealership service staff and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). These concepts focused on exploring convenience for the consumer through mostly new technology and process improvements that would make the service experience faster, easier and out-of-sight. While exploring the value that each of these different concepts served for the eco-system of interested parties, we learned we were skipping a vital step.

Consumers have a clear lack of trust with dealerships. Once trust is established the need for convenience becomes more acute.

The Pivot – understand what improvements in the service experience could be made to improve consumer trust

A lean team of two (myself included) set out to focus on trust building design solutions. We designed an end-to-end service experience with low-fidelity prototypes and man-behind-the-curtain techniques. We conducted the research at a friendly car dealership after hours. Our research participants experienced these prototypes in sequence of a typical service experience and then provided feedback along the way with their actions and responses as we wrapped up.

We learned that even small steps helped build consumer trust. This trust could build loyalty that equals dollars today and tomorrow.

As part of our deliverables, we created a video to share the insight across the two phases of research, one-pagers to help the industry make smart decisions about where to prioritize investment in technology and adoption tactics for those employees impacted by the improvements deployed.