My Role: UX Researcher

Project Duration: 3 weeks, July 2022

Overview 

Spotawheel helps people searching used cars across Greece, Poland and Romania by providing them an easy and hassle-free acquisition experience. One of the most crucial steps along this process is the checkout flow which we wanted to constantly optimize. My responsibility in this project was to plan and conduct the right type of user research in order to guide evidence based design decisions.

Research Goals

I decided to run a qualitative research study in order to clarify and evaluate what analytics were saying to us. The main goal of this research was to understand how our customers (both those who bought from us and those who didn’t) interact with the checkout form, identify their pain points and eventually increase the conversion rate of the checkout form. Some questions to be answered included:

1. What were their expectations from the CTA on the classified page?
2. What was their impression regarding the steps of the flow? Did they expect a contact screen at the first step?
3. Did they find something misleading or confusing?
4. Did they consciously go through the process and the options presented?
5. Did they actually feel committed to the choices they make on the checkout form?

Plan

In agreement with the PM responsible for this project we decided to attack the problem from as many sides as possible and agreed on watching first user sessions utilizing Hotjar and then proceeding on a moderated research.

For this part I settled on using a combination of Qualitative Research methods: User Interviews & Usability Testing in order to gather both attitudinal and behavioral data from our customers.

Profile of Participants for the Moderated study

I targeted 3 distinct user groups both in GR and in PL:

1. Uses that selected the Touchless buy option and ended up buying their car from us.
2. Uses that again selected the Touchless buy option buy didn’t buy from us a car in the end.
3. Users that didn’t complete the checkout flow and didn’t buy from us.

The goal was to recruit 3 users from each group (9 per country). That means that the total users I was aiming to recruit were 18.

Research Outcome

Overall, the research on the used cars B2C checkout flow l provided valuable insights into user behavior and pain points. The study used a combination of qualitative research methods, including user interviews and usability testing, to gather attitudinal and behavioral data. The participants were divided into three distinct user groups: users who bought a car from Spotawheel, users who selected the Touchless buy option but didn't make a purchase, and users who didn't complete the checkout flow or make a purchase.

The research uncovered several key findings and insights:

Misinterpretation of the CTA: Users clicked on the "I'm interested" CTA assuming it meant expressing interest in the car rather than initiating the checkout process. This led to a lack of attention and commitment when selecting options in the flow.

Errors in selecting options: Users unintentionally selected the Touchless option, which was preselected by default. This was concerning because users who preferred inspecting the car in person ended up selecting the Touchless option without intending to.

Misalignment in user expectations: Users were caught off guard when contacted by the salesperson because they didn't expect to be treated as bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFu) customers. They didn't feel committed to the car or the options they had selected.

Suggested Solutions based on Findings

1. Provide a separate option for users to express interest in the car, fulfilling their initial expectation without pushing them to make an immediate purchase.
2. Redesign the options page to enhance the sense of user selection and ensure that the options are comparable. Consider adding a third option for booking a test drive or rephrasing the second option. Clearly communicate the meaning of "Touchless" to avoid confusion.
3. Clarify the process for users who want to trade in their car by explicitly indicating that they need to choose a means of payment (cash or installments). Consider separating the means of payment selection into a separate screen before the time slot options.