Transforming the digital customer experience for Volvo Cars APAC

whiteGREY

The Problem

Volvo Cars Australia and APAC customers faced significant challenges with vehicle wait times, often stretching up to 12 months. These prolonged delays led to customer frustration and gaps in communication, creating a disconnect between the brand and customers once they had purchased their vehicle from their chosen dealership.

My Contributions

I led the exploration and development of an online user portal, Volvo ID, designed to function as a central dashboard for customers to track vehicle customisations and purchases. This enabled Volvo to build its relationship with potential customers from the point of consideration and then continuing throughout ownership. I also designed the payments page and researched competitor user flows.

Background

WhiteGREY had conducted an extensive customer experience audit which revealed that Volvo customers wanted a more convenient and personal experience when purchasing their new vehicle. Buying a new car is exciting and a big deal for most customers, and so the customer journey needed to reflect the level of individual care and consideration that customers were seeking. With customers requiring individualised financing options, having a number of customisation options for vehicle design to explore, and facing long wait times for vehicle availability and delivery, it made sense to develop an online retail experience that could meet modern expectations.

Design Response

The customer journey needed to be able to start from home, not the dealership. To enable this, an online retail experience was crafted by whiteGREY which would allow for designing vehicles, maintenance and care options, financing and trade in estimations, and reserving vehicles through a deposit. Guided by the Volvo Cars brand design system, I designed the payments page, Volvo ID user login and account page and researched competitor user flows. Using jobs to be done theory, I crafted a guiding statement to help understand customer motivations and circumstances for using an online portal:

Despite delivery wait times, Volvo customers want to have immediate ownership over their new purchase.

  • Functional criteria: Volvo customers want to own their car as soon as possible.

  • Emotional criteria: Volvo customers want to have a sense of ownership over the purchasing process.

  • Social criteria: Volvo customers want to be part of the Volvo brand community and experience its associated values and benefits.

Through my research and exploration, I was able to include best practice features for the Volvo ID as well as suggest areas to explore which could elevate the user experience by offering the care and luxury expected from Volvo. The areas I identified included; safety, sustainability and design innovation, and I posed the question of how the customer could feel a further sense of ownership over these aspects of the brand through the portal or elsewhere.

Testimonial

Volvo APAC came to whiteGREY to consult on the digital experience of selling cars online. Nitara assisted myself and the design team in forming a landscape review, workshopping UX journey maps and co-designed and prototyped parts of the purchase flow. Nitara was a valued contributor to the project and great to work with.

— Scott Nolan, Experience & Design Lead @ AKQA