Digitizing Car Buying

Car is the second most expensive purchase of an average buyer in India and after extensive research and comparisons on an online platform, buyers tend to personally visit the dealerships and try their favorite cars.

Unfortunately, after the worldwide pandemic, it was difficult for people to leave their houses and try their favorite vehicles. We took this opportunity to finally expand CarWale into a 100% online solution for car buying

CarWale is an online portal which allows user to extensively research, compare cars and connect with dealers.

Year: 2020 Product: CarWale Specifics: User Experience, Conceptualization

Background

Car Buying in India

Car buyers do extensive research before buying a car & CarWale had made car buying extremely simple for users by providing in-depth information about cars and bikes and connected users to dealers.

Being in the automobile market for more than a decade now, CarWale has a lot of buyer behavioral insights. One of the most certain phenomena of Indian car buyers was a taboo around online buying for a big purchase, which stopped CarWale from going "all-inclusive digital car shop" for a long time.

After the pandemic automobile industry had a dip due to various reasons, mostly safety and partial lockdowns. Potential buyers were unable to connect to the dealers or were uneasy visiting showrooms or trying vehicles as they wanted to avoid as much contact as possible.

Research methods

Challenges and Objectives

The growing inconvenience brought a lot of opportunities but every opportunity comes with a challenge. In order to determine all the challenges and to lay a strong foundation for the user experience, I used Quantitative and Qualitative user research.

For quantitative research, we had analytics of user behavior around what led people to be interested in a certain product but for further quantitative research we had surveys, focus groups and contextual interviews.

Surveys and Interviews helped us understand the shortcomings and fears buyers have when considering buying a car online. In focus groups we concluded the challenges.

Challenges

Buyers had a fear that their would be hidden charge in on-road price

Digital buying would remove the close analysis and design look of the product

Will there be accesories available for the car pruchased

Most users postponed buying as they wanted to avoid physical contact

Might get limited options for payment and loans on the product

Will we get assistance that is as good as the dealership

This overall research helped us understand the problem statement which shaped the further objectives for a better information architecture. I worked on each objective seperately with different solutions for each, later grouped the information with relevant branches in the flow.

Objectives

Covering all the aspects that users look for in a normal car buying process

Objectives

Real time updates with dealers for hassle free bookings

Objectives

Provide post booking solutions to buyers

Objectives

Interaction of user with car in least contact and least travel possible

Objectives

Provide online finance options linked with banks

Objectives

Offer and allround virtual tour of dealers.

Design Thinking

Information Architecture

After the quantitative research, I had enough insights about the users, the dealerships, and the sales team's challenges. Quantitative data shaped the personas which are most important to create empathy in the design.

Personas

Starting with qualitative research I further funneled the information through card sorting and categorized the information in relevant sets in line with the respective objectives.

"The objective was not just to digitize the process but to have the best of both worlds"

Right from the first thought in the user's mind till buying the desired car, there is a long journey that a user goes through, I first mapped the whole journey and then bracketed the journeys in a design flow.

Car Buyer Journey

The online process was already covered in CarWale model, what we tried to digitalize was the process involving the dealers. For the journey online we divided the Test drive and personal visit in "Test drive scheduler" and "Virtual Tour". Divided the Purchase options in "Finance Flow" and "Auction Flow" and a comprehensive flow that could include all the details in "Booking Engine Flow"

Every micro journey around different needs of the user was interlinked in relevant flows. Depending on the process where the user started his journey, needed directions were delivered to the users. The sole focus was to assist the user with his desired bookings and provide assistance in all the aspects of car buying.

Flow Chart

Design

Wireframing and Visualisation

After finalizing the user journey with the teams I quickly started working on the wireframes of each user journey in detail. I am quick when I wireframe in my diary but for the final wireframes, I refine the same in my system to ensure no confusion for designers, I hand over wireframes to.

There were multiple user journeys in the whole buying process as different users started from the different entry points and had a different mindset. Some processes needed detailed and comprehensive options given to the users, to get more engaged but some flows were brief as users were sure of what they wanted. I designed the wireframes separately keeping the journey in mind.

Low Fidelity Wireframe

More than 70% of the users start browsing on google to look for their desired car, preferred budget or top ten cars in certain segments and reach CarWale through google SEO. The entry points lead the users to preferred model pages where they can see detailed information of the model, from variants to colors to articles and news.

Without compromising on the current UX we added entry points that would lead users to extensive research on models and connect the digitized flows of the virtual tour, E-Booking and Test drives and make an all-round buying platform.

Model page entry points

Users in their exploring phase tend to take a digital tour of the model and are led to a virtual tour of the dealers and manufacturers. The tour encompasses 360 views of the model's exterior and interior.

Virtual Tour

It is followed by a car configurator which allows users to see the accessories and add-ons of the models. Users can see the all-inclusive price of the car with the accessories added in summary. The flow also gives an entry point of the test drive scheduler as a primary button to encourage users.

Virtual Tour

I started the flow with test-drive scheduler and addressed the elephant in the room before starting the process. Although dealers would sanitize their vehicles before sending the car to buyers I suggested we document the process and show it to the users to build more trust.

The booking process was kept comprehensive from the detail of the car to the details and availability of the bookings and a process of updating real-time dealership information was taught to the dealers in order to give the users exact date, time and vehicle availability to the users.

Test Drive Scheduler

Booking a car or any product for that matter is a decision well thought out by the buyer. The buyer goes from exploring the products to comparing them and shortlisting the final product, which takes a lot of time depending on the product buyer is booking. Hence I tried to keep the booking flow as short as possible and avoided distractions as much as possible to avoid bounce rates in the

E-Booking Flow.

The booking process starts with car details such as model, variant and color which are the key factors to check the availability of a car and avoided accessories or other add-ons to reduce the decisions of a user in the flow other than of booking.

Once provided with the car details the availability of the car also depends on the dealer, the buyer is interested in. The user is asked for a pincode to locate the dealer as a local address can take longer to get added and detected and Pincode can be added quickly and is also accurate at the same time. Once a Pincode is added a user can see all the details available in the pincode and dealers close to the pincode. The waiting period and booking amount vary from dealer to dealer which is also highlighted in the carousel to ease in choosing the dealer.

Once done with the payment entry points for finance, accessories and auction is available to the user.

E-Booking

Finance options are also available from the model page if users want to view available loans and offers before booking.

After the basic car and personal details section, an employment detail form is necessary for the finance option. The details are synced with the multiple banks that provide vouchers for the purchase.

Finance

Learnings

Phase one and beyond

The digitization of car buying can be revolutionary for the automobile market but it needs a lot of improvements on-ground to be 100% trustworthy for the buyers. The initiative we took was the first step towards online car buying and it was also appreciated by the car manufacturers we approached and a lot of manufacturers bought our digitized solutions to car buying.

I am exploring further how to incorporate more features and buying solutions for the OEMs and also learning on how to incorporate phase one to BikeWale for the online bike buying experience.

Digitizing Car Buying

Car is the second most expensive purchase of an average buyer in India and after extensive research and comparisons on an online platform, buyers tend to personally visit the dealerships and try their favorite cars.

Unfortunately, after the worldwide pandemic, it was difficult for people to leave their houses and try their favorite vehicles. We took this opportunity to finally expand CarWale into a 100% online solution for car buying

CarWale is an online portal which allows user to extensively research, compare cars and connect with dealers.

Year: 2020 Product: CarWale Specifics: User Experience, Conceptualization

Background

Car Buying in India

​

Car buyers do extensive research before buying a car & CarWale had made car buying extremely simple for users by providing in-depth information about cars and bikes and connected users to dealers.

​

Being in the automobile market for more than a decade now, CarWale has a lot of buyer behavioral insights. One of the most certain phenomena of Indian car buyers was a taboo around online buying for a big purchase, which stopped CarWale from going "all-inclusive digital car shop" for a long time.

​

After the pandemic automobile industry had a dip due to various reasons, mostly safety and partial lockdowns. Potential buyers were unable to connect to the dealers or were uneasy visiting showrooms or trying vehicles as they wanted to avoid as much contact as possible.

​

​

Research methods

Challenges and Objectives

The growing inconvenience brought a lot of opportunities but every opportunity comes with a challenge. In order to determine all the challenges and to lay a strong foundation for the user experience, I used Quantitative and Qualitative user research.

​

For quantitative research, we had analytics of user behavior around what led people to be interested in a certain product but for further quantitative research we had surveys, focus groups and contextual interviews.

​

Surveys and Interviews helped us understand the shortcomings and fears buyers have when considering buying a car online. In focus groups we concluded the challenges.

Challenges

This overall research helped us understand the problem statement which shaped the further objectives for a better information architecture. I worked on each objective seperately with different solutions for each, later grouped the information with relevant branches in the flow.

​

Objectives

Objectives

Objectives

Objectives

Objectives

Objectives

Objectives

Design Thinking

Information Architecture

After the quantitative research, I had enough insights about the users, the dealerships, and the sales team's challenges. Quantitative data shaped the personas which are most important to create empathy in the design.

Personas

Starting with qualitative research I further funneled the information through card sorting and categorized the information in relevant sets in line with the respective objectives.

"The objective was not just to digitize the process but to have the best of both worlds"

Right from the first thought in the user's mind till buying the desired car, there is a long journey that a user goes through, I first mapped the whole journey and then bracketed the journeys in a design flow.

Car Buyer Journey

Flow Chart

Design

Wireframing and Visualisation

After finalizing the user journey with the teams I quickly started working on the wireframes of each user journey in detail. I am quick when I wireframe in my diary but for the final wireframes, I refine the same in my system to ensure no confusion for designers, I hand over wireframes to.

Low Fidelity Wireframe

​

Without compromising on the current UX we added entry points that would lead users to extensive research on models and connect the digitized flows of the virtual tour, E-Booking and Test drives and make an all-round buying platform.

Model page entry points

Users in their exploring phase tend to take a digital tour of the model and are led to a virtual tour of the dealers and manufacturers. The tour encompasses 360 views of the model's exterior and interior.

Virtual Tour

It is followed by a car configurator which allows users to see the accessories and add-ons of the models. Users can see the all-inclusive price of the car with the accessories added in summary. The flow also gives an entry point of the test drive scheduler as a primary button to encourage users.

Virtual Tour

I started the flow with test-drive scheduler and addressed the elephant in the room before starting the process. Although dealers would sanitize their vehicles before sending the car to buyers I suggested we document the process and show it to the users to build more trust.

​

The booking process was kept comprehensive from the detail of the car to the details and availability of the bookings and a process of updating real-time dealership information was taught to the dealers in order to give the users exact date, time and vehicle availability to the users.

​

Test Drive Scheduler

E-Booking Flow.

​

The booking process starts with car details such as model, variant and color which are the key factors to check the availability of a car and avoided accessories or other add-ons to reduce the decisions of a user in the flow other than of booking.

​

​

Once done with the payment entry points for finance, accessories and auction is available to the user.

E-Booking

Finance options are also available from the model page if users want to view available loans and offers before booking.

​

After the basic car and personal details section, an employment detail form is necessary for the finance option. The details are synced with the multiple banks that provide vouchers for the purchase.

Finance

Learnings

Phase one and beyond

​

I am exploring further how to incorporate more features and buying solutions for the OEMs and also learning on how to incorporate phase one to BikeWale for the online bike buying experience.