CLICK HERE to check out the web-app.
Problem
The founders of Bikewale had an idea of letting users book a 2 wheeler vehicle for a nominal price. Users can choose a dealer of their choice and complete the transaction offline. They did add a button of “Book Now” near the price of every 2 wheeler model but, they were not getting any hits. Soon it became evident that a mere addition of button is not going to help them get hits and generate business so the goal was to understand why this was happening and how can this issue be resolved.
Background
The Indian 2 wheeler industry is growing at a double digit rate year over year. According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the Indian two-wheeler industry sold nearly 19 million two-wheeler units in August 2016. In the first two quarters of the same year, in the period from April to August 2016, over 84 lakh two-wheelers were sold in India, a growth of 35% over the same period a year ago. Bikewale was born out of this surge in 2 wheelers industry to serve as an information platform but, soon the founders realized the potential of a “Book Now” feature which is a first in the industry. So far despite adding the feature on to their existing website and marketing, the idea wasn’t taking off.
Research Overview
Research
The project kicked off with the research into the user behavior and their journey fo purchasing a brand new 2 wheeler. Preliminary research included data collection like the sales of two wheelers every quarter, looking at the fastest category of 2 wheelers being sold, average prices of those particular 2 wheelers and the demographics of the people buying new 2 wheelers. A quick brainstorming session helped us synthesis the direction of the user research to find the problem areas and validate our assumptions. I conducted online surveys followed by multiple round of interviews with users and vehicle dealers in the showroom recording their stories and deriving insights out from them.
Brainstorming the purchase process
Understanding the users
I started analyzing the research data I gathered from my online surveys and personal one-on-one interviews with customers visiting the dealerships. Theses customers were the ones who were looking to buy a new bike within the next 2-3 months timeframe and were there either to do their research or make the purchase. The research was conducted at 4 different dealer sites spread across the four corners of Pune city.
After doing multiple rounds of interviews with 2 wheeler buyers and vehicle dealers, we started with mapping the Customers journey of purchasing a 2 wheeler and visualize the process one has to go through to own a 2 wheeler. This Customer Journey Mapping helped us look for potential pain points and opportunities for design intervention that can ease out those pain points and improve the process for the buyer a lot less stressful and make it easy to make a decision.
Customer Journey Maps
The map above shed light onto the real stories of exactly how a customers decides to purchase a particular vehicle and how they go about actually buying it from a vehicle dealer. It described us the processes, documentation and timelines involved in purchasing the vehicle and also, shows the potential pitfalls that can delay or change the customers mind in not buying the vehicle or switching to another model altogether. Based on the interviews and the data from the above maps, we were able to visualize our key personas whom we can target to meet the business needs.
Redefining Brief
“ Onboarding the user and guiding them to the right information they want
leading to building a trust and confidence further to book online”
Problem Statement:
There is a growing number of new young buyers for a quality bike to purchase. These new young customers are very tech aware and do spend a lot of their time online performing their day-to-day tasks and they expect services to provide their with that feature. Currently there is no service that provides an option to book bikes online so the opportunity has tremendous potential that can generate business by tapping this target user.
The problems with the service offered is that there is not much information or tools that help the user to search and compare bikes online on one platform in a seamless manner. Users have a negative sentiment about its legitimacy and do not trust the unique feature as to how it works and how could it help them.
Key Design Features
Storyboarding new scenarios
Primary Task Flow
Proposed Information Architecture
Following the user personas, storyboarding, primary flows and the I.A., I quickly listed down the requirements and features we want in the product to help the target personas do their important tasks and assist them in making the right decision of buying the 2 wheeler as per their needs as well as helping them booking one. The most important part of the information design was to categorize the market into the 4 main kinds namely, Brand, Budget, Mileage & Style. Each of these four categories cater to specific requirements of the type of the four broad types of users that reflected in the research.
I explored multiple concepts presenting different navigational scenarios. Form each iteration I learned something new and helped me improvise upon on the next set of wireframes. These are few of the final wireframes that was finalized for visual designs and development.
Another feature that would help users make the right decision of purchasing the right 2 wheeler for themselves is thorough comparing 2 or more different models. My interviews with customers at the showroom reflated that most of them compare two or more vehicles within the same category which helps them narrow down to a specific model. Making a seamless and easy experience for the users to camper different models was an important task ahead. Categorizing different aspect of comparison points made is easy for users to choose to compare those points that matter them the most. Some of the most sought after comparison points were, Pricing, Colors and Power. Again, showcasing these points that came out from my research through an easy experience helped users getting the most relevant information they want to make their decision.
Once the user decides on a particular vehicle, its time to book it in advance. Bikewale offered incentives like free bike insurance and helmet to attract customers to make their bookings online. But the biggest problem was the lack of clarity and trust on what they saw on their screens. I tried to solve this issue by introducing the user to the concept of booking online and gain their trust by showing the most relevant information upfront. This leads to bringing clarity into the users minds as to how the concept works and how it benefits them in getting their choice of vehicle early with the freebies offered. I used a sequential set of steps that reduces the users anxiety while going through the process of booking online.
Visual Design
In parallel with the UX of the webapp, I was also leading the visual design, which included:
Creating a set of reusable components.
Designing vector icons for the navigation and configuration controls.
Once detailed high-fidelity wires were finalized, I imported them into Zeplin for development stages. I added specific comments to communicate expected behavior. Doing so was the simplest way to communicate designs, provide design assets, as per specifications.
The Result
Bikewale is now the go to site for all 2 wheelers related information, latest news reports and online booking that is a first in the country. The idea, after the much needed design intervention, resulted in more than 136K online bookings in the first 3 quarters of 2016 generating revenues for Bikewale along with many more dealers added into its network. Google Analytics showed a less than 76.27% drop-off from the bike Details Page and 32.60% drop-off from the Booking Page.
Retrospective
Investing in user research
User research is an important step many tend to overlook in their design projects, relying heavily on guerrilla testing to validate their concepts. Most of the times, its either time/budget constraints or lack of direct access to the actual users to understand their journeys and experiences. We were lucky to have a dedicated timeframe from so real world research which helped us understand our target users and their anxieties and problems they face while purchasing a new vehicle helping us shaping our concepts precisely that provide the solution. Knowing your users is the key for directing the designers thought process and ideas in the right direction.