Elevating the Omnichannel Experience for a Leading Tire Retailer
Introduction
A journey of transforming the largest independent tire retailer in the US. In a dynamic team with frog, a global design consultancy, we overcame challenges in digital touchpoints, fragmented data, and disparate supply chains to craft a user-centered redesign.
In my role as the Visual Designer, I led the charge in reimagining a tire-finder quiz, infusing it with a brand-friendly voice and interactive elements. Our work explored how design innovation can drive tangible business impact and elevate the customer experience.
Experience & Current State Audits
Audit of current state, a comparative audit of inspirational out-of-industry examples, tech landscape, and gap/opportunity analysis to identify opportunity spaces.
Key Deliverables
Medium Fidelity Wireframes
A series of wireframes that display preliminary key areas for further exploration, illustrate user flow, and overall structure and functionality of the concepts.
Information Architecture
A high-level diagram of the hierarchy, structure, and navigation of website architecture.
Clickable Digital Prototype
A hero flow showcasing and connecting key high-fidelity experience concepts built for a target screen size.
Our path toward a foundation single site
The new design must add core functionality to merge the Core Brand and the Discount Brand into one eCommerce destination, and add Mobile Installation as a new delivery method.
We collected and created new feature & flow concepts, folded in the business requirements with more aspirational ideas, and led several workshops with our stakeholders & extended teams to prioritize which features to pursue in this phase, and which would live in a backlog for future sprints.
We baked the winning concepts into a medium-fidelity, brand-blind ‘Hero User Flow” prototype as a stimulus to test our assumptions with potential customers in qualitative interviews.
Testing our assumptions through research
We baked the winning concepts into a medium-fidelity, brand-blind ‘Hero User Flow” prototype as a stimulus to test our assumptions.
We took this prototype into User Research, speaking with 11 potential customers in qualitative interviews.
Research Goals:
Understand consumer preferences when interacting with a Tire Retailer to learn which features customers find most helpful and how their experience plays a role in their choice.
Understand where customers get stuck or frustrated during the purchasing process and where we can help build their confidence that they have the right products for their car.
Understand what’s common to experienced and inexperienced buyers alike and how we can create an experience that’s inclusive for one without alienating the other.
Defining the new experience in high fidelity
We integrated winning concepts into a clickable prototype that serves as a stimulus for our stakeholders to advocate for the resources required to build the new experience.
See the detailed Use Case walk through of the final prototype below!
Results
As a result of our work in this sprint, the client’s omni-channel team adopted our proposed direction and cemented our work in their 2023 product roadmap, and immediately signed an additional 3 year retainer program with frog to escort the site from design to development.
“frog aligned all of our business segments to achieve the outcomes we needed from this program. That partnership has been massive for us in moving us forward.”
Chief Experience Officer & Client Stakeholder
“Joanna’s presence on the project has been such a relief to the client who knows what they’re asking for is complex and challenging. They have high expectations. She’s delivered on that expectation and helped carry the team through.”
Executive Strategy Director, frog Team
“I very much appreciate Joanna’s more strategic approach to visual design. She is capable of translating nebulous ideas/concepts into tactical, visual renditions or refinements. Also appreciate her attention to detail for visual and for copy (which is not something every visual designer can do).”
frog Team Colleague