CAFU 2023 / Legacy car wash
When car wash was first launched on CAFU, there were only 2 washes available. The selection was easy and decision making fast. By spring 2023, the number of available washes was 4, and growing. The previous designs could no longer accommodate the growing list of car washes.
I lead the refresh of car wash selection screen, in CAFU legacy app.
MY ROLE
Lead the product design from explorations and research to final launch.
TEAM
Product Manager - Ugyen Tsezomla Lama
BOLT Squad dev team
PROBLEM
Since its debut in 2018 as a fuel delivery application, CAFU saw that there was a larger potential for on-demand vehicle services. Thus, in 2020, car wash was incorporated into CAFU's line of services. Originally offering 2 basic washes, one with interior cleaning, and the other exterior only.
By spring 2023, the selection had already grown into 4 washes and we were briefed to add the 5th one. After a discussion with the Product Manager, we agreed, that the screen that was designed for 2 car washes, was not the solution to go forward with.
The user experience was already poor and adding more washes would only decrease it.
RESEARCH
In addition to benchmarking, we kick-started the project by gathering some insights straight from the users. Thus, together with the Product Manager, we launched a survey to our user-base - to the users who had already ordered car wash as well as to users who had only used other CAFU services.
OPPORTUNITY
It was clear from the research that our users wanted more flexibility and personalisation. However, as we were nearing the redesign of the whole app, we had to prioritize on what was feasible and what brought immediate value. So we decided that the most important was to…
…allow easy comparison between different car washes, such that users can quickly find the one they need.
EXPLORATIONS AND ITERATIONS
At first, to boost some new ideas, I gathered the team for a quick brainstorm session. From a Crazy 8s during the session, different concepts raised. Some of them total redesigns of car wash selection, which was not yet possible. However, other ideas helped me to kickstart and jam on uncountable explorations and further iterations of the screen. Keeping my focus on easy comparison, the playground consisted of various concepts - exterior and interior vs exterior only; wash-specific pages; all washes in one view.
Once we had some concrete and promising ideas, I had a critique session with the wider Product and Design team. I gathered feedback on 2 concepts - 'Quick Wins' and 'A few steps further…'. Despite the latter consisting of rather simple fixes, we couldn't afford these steps and agreed to continue with the 'Quick Wins' until the full app revamp.
No more scrolling
Number one issue in the previous design was the lengthy screen which made it impossible to compare the car washes CAFU offered. After the refresh, all car washes were now visible at once. We decided to hide the further description at the first glance and kept only the most important information.
Interior and exterior
Tabs for separating exterior and interior washes was something we were keen on trying out and also testing with users showed that it makes the decision easier, specially for users who are less car-savvy. However, due to platform and development constraints, we could not do that and thus had to find a different way to easily visualize inside-outside features. After validating with users in usability testing, we launched with tags.
On point content
One of the goals was to give the user good overview of the wash they were getting, without scaring them away with a lengthy (and boring) sheet of text. We tested the content with users and coming from the results, we decided to change the car wash names all together as well as revamped the description bullet-points completely.
LAUNCH, IMPACT AND FINAL REFLECTIONS
It was a project that well illustrated the essence of product-lead. We were determined that it was time for the car wash selection screen to get a refresh after being asked to add more washes. We did as much as we could with the time and development constraints at hand, and it paid off - we saw a considerable increase in orders after the usual summer dip, in September 2023.
Despite having added a new wash, interestingly the majority of the growth could be attributed to a car wash that was in the selection already before the refresh. Previously, it was hidden under the fold and users had to scroll to it - which they never really bothered to do. The new design allowed the user to see all washes on one screen and easily find the one they wanted. Additionally, it allowed the car wash vertical and business to grow.
🙋🏼♀️ The views expressed here are entirely my own and are not those of my employer.
©2024 • Sandra Tõnts