Board Link: https://www.figma.com/file/kIkirrII3NBmNnJixdAVzN/Field-Research---Chennai-(WIP)?node-id=0%3A1

Meet Your Car

GS Buyer Experience Design Research

OBSERVATIONS, FINDINGS & INSIGHTS

Problem Statement

Cars24 has undoubtedly made a significant impact on the used car market by offering an end-to-end online solution for buyers. However, despite their efforts, the platform has encountered a challenge in gaining the trust of potential buyers. A major contributing factor to this low trust level is the gap between the digital and physical worlds. The in-person inspection and condition evaluation involve all the senses, creating a compelling and trustworthy experience that cannot be fully replicated online.

The process of filtering and shortlisting preferred cars from a vast list can be time-consuming, and the fragmented information provided by pictures, videos, sound and text often fails to communicate the condition of the car effectively, it falls short of recreating the real-life experience. Users has to mentally map together all the data & derive meaning which is exhausting & leads to drop off. Even a 360-degree view of the car's exterior and interior can become repetitive, providing little additional information.

Problem Statement

Average VI to US ~ 31%

Average VI to BI ~ 3.3%

Average BI to Ck ~ 15.2%

Average VI to Ck ~ 0.55%

Average US to BI ~ 9.8%

Problem Statement

Cars24 buying services are only available in select metro and Tier 1 cities, making online condition analysis crucial for buyers residing far away. Since these are high-value purchases, remote buyers avoid the risk of losing money and do not buy online without a test drive. If the test drive experience does not match what was seen on the app, it can lead to disappointment and a loss of interest for the remote buyer, as they have already invested their time & money in traveling. This mismatch makes the platform inaccessible to faraway buyers, which in turn make a huge user base to drop off after converting from visitors.

To achieve their vision of a fully online used car buying experience, Cars24 must address the challenge of convert- ing visitors into users and buyers, no matter which city they reside in, a huge untapped user base. To achieve this, the digital experience must replicate the inspection and analysis of the car's condition that occurs during an in-person inspection accurately. Users must be able to shortlist their preferred cars online and perform a test drive before finalizing their purchase. However, creating a seamless digital experience that accurately replicates the trust and confidence created by an in-person inspection without compromising on the sustainability & cost effectiveness factors remains a challenge for Cars24.

Focus Areas

1. Improve the VI to BI funnel and eliminate the mismatch of experience
1. User Behaviour during car condition analysis online
2. In Yard Experience of checking the car condition
3. Test-drive experience and learnings

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• To understand the user behaviour and design interactive digital experience of exploring a used car online
• Online condition evaluation - Interactive experience that matches real-life behaviour
• Information hierarchy, communication(Contextual) and transparency

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• User Testing and Analysis
• Usability testing and feedback
• Analysis of data (VI to BI) (BI to CK)

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Research Questions

To understand the journey of the buyers and their experience when evaluating the car in the physical world

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• How do they experience and evaluate the condition of a used car - behavioural observations?
• What sensorial elements come into play while assessing a car and don’t get communicated effectively in digital space?
• Why is a test drive preferred and how is it carried out in the field?
• What are the customer needs & expectations towards taking final decisions ?

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To understand how the on-ground operational processes, Yard management, studio & refurb centres influence the customers’ buying experience. To discover problems and how can we fix them

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• What problem areas or pain points at the operation level influence the buying experience?
• What problems are faced at the yard and how does it effects the experience?
• What solutions have been tried at the ground level to improve it?

Research Scope

Methodology

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Field research - participant shadowing & observation

Interview with planned questionnaire & feedbacks

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Duration : Till the end of the test-ride session ~ 60 Minutes

Sample Criteria

Buyers actively looking to buy an used car with an age group of 21 & above

Location

Chennai - Tier I City

Vanagaram & VR Mall Branch

Total Sample Size - 21 Units

Home Delivery Test Ride - 9 Units

Branch Pickup Test Ride - 11 Units

Internal Participants - 20

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• Drivers
• CAs
• QC Staff
• Sales Buddies

• Yard Managers
• WSMs
• Logistics Teams
• Studio Managers

Analysis & synthesis

The data has been collected in the form of voice & text notes, available here.

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https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1vwZOSHGQDQnF-DkcX4aPKY8SMaQzwEbi

Pain points & touch points

Journey mapping of buyer & service experience with touchpoints

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https://www.figma.com/file/kIkirrII3NBmNnJixdAVzN/Field-Research-Chennai?node-id=0%3A1

Analysis of data

Key learnings & actionable insights

Who are our buyers?

Learner

0 - 2 years Experience

Owner 0 Cars

Mid - Driver

2 - 7 years Experience

Owner 1 - 3 Cars

Wise Driver

7 - 15+ years Experience

Owner 3+ Cars

“I’m buying an used car to learn to drive or practice driving before I buy myself a brand new car”

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Since I do not have prior experience of owning a car I will always rely on expert advice whether experienced mechanic, my relative or friends in making final decisions

“I’m buying an used car to upgrade from the previous ones or own one for myself after marriage”

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Since I do have some prior experience of owning a car I will rely on a experienced mechanic to help with the checkup and take my own final decisions after thought

“I’m buying an used car to upgrade from the previous ones for my family personal use & business uses”

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Since I do have good experience of driving, maintaining and repairing a car by myself I do not require a mechanic to help me with all the inspection, I can make my own decisions

Comfort and looks is what I look after while making a decision

Comfort & looks matter, but condition is of prime importance to me while making a decision

Condition is the first thing I look for, comfort and looks can be balanced.

Detailed answers

Journey of buyer Experience

Journey mapping of buyer & service experience with touchpoints

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https://www.figma.com/file/kIkirrII3NBmNnJixdAVzN/Field-Research-Chennai?node-id=0%3A1

C2B Yard

Refurb centre

Studio

B2C

Yard

QC

Repair

request

Delivery

Booking

Meeting

Exterior

Engine

Condition

Test-ride

Full

Condition

Additional features

Explore

Buddy

Assignment

Repair Requests

Deal closure

Finance

Insights

Buyers Expectations

Buyers Expectations

“Repainting is not a problem to customers, but why, where & reasons behind repainting remains crucial. Also, poor repainting breaks the trust. Was it accidental?”

“Accidental history can be found under & above the car, chassis & roof respectively.

Flood affected? Registration number & area?”

“Refurbishment is accepted & encouraged only at the cost of open service history & details of original condition before refurbishment. Was it accidental? ”

Why Customers Look For Expert’s Advice?

“The evaluation expert (mechanic) has access to service history a call away, while it takes sales buddy a day to get only the date details”

“Customers expect a proof of inspection report & accept expert’s (mechanic) advice as they get to witness it like who, when & how it was conducted for that particular car”

Insights

Real World Buyer Experience

Buyer Experience - Trust & Process

Users are suspicious whether they are looking at the same car they booked�

• As users get to see the car registration number only upon meeting, they get suspicious and spend first 10 mins verifying the car by matching its imperfections with details page to confirm right booking

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“The procedure of buying a car from cars24 gets only uncovered in the journey leaving customers not sure of their actions and next steps”

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“Booking & comparing multiple cars physically require much bigger spaces, since they’re unable to do it online, this happens offline currently.”

Buyer Experience - On The Day

Lesser the petrol, lesser the test ride, lesser the chance of final deal

• The blinking petrol low-level indicators makes users leave without test-riding or try only within yard limits, leaving users with not enough experience to make final decisions
• No fuel results in air lock and takes a day to fix it - Delay in delivery
• Yard Pickup - Users still take the risk of trying out as they are already in yard & feel confident that cars24 will take care even if it stops mid-way
• Home delivery - Users don’t take the risk of trying out test-ride when less on fuel as they fear getting stuck in mid-way, not confident with cars24 service

“You are selling the car for 3.5 lakhs rupees & can’t fill petrol for 500 rupees is making me question my choice of this brand”

“The test-ride period gets shorter as the outside temperature increases”

Buyer Experience - On The Day

“First impression matters, as it only takes a moment to judge”

“The cleaner the car, the healthier its condition”

• Users feel disappointed as the car looks different from pictures - Dirty and faded color
• The dirty tyres with low air/puncture
• Irrespective of transparent information, buyers expect to buy an used car as close to a new car in the market

“Dead battery & jump start are experience killers”

• Users associate health of the car with its cleaner looks - it also represents well maintenance and taken care of
• The cleaner cars gets sold easily while the dirty ones with good condition takes its time
• Users feel a mismatch in experience as the look unclean compared to the photos in the details page
• Rat droppings are a problem

• All the excitement and expectations gets broken when knowing the they have booked cannot get started.
• Customers end up pushing the car to get it started leaves a bad impression on the brand & never turning to a deal.

Insights

Car Evaluation

Engine Condition Evaluation

“Engine condition is evaluated through unified experience of connected parts and physical sensations”

• Engine pickup is validated by running air-conditioner at different levels and accelerated at slopes or straight roads

• Engine health is evaluated by testing engine, clutch control, air-conditioner, transmission at the same time as one body during test ride

• Engine stability is evaluated by the sound & corresponding vibration or jitters it produce while holding the steering wheel tight or by touching the door or hood

“A latest checkup of engine oil level bar(high point) tells the condition of engine much better”

Comfort Evaluation

“Comfort is a personal experience & evaluated by being present & felt”

“The primary level of comfort is measured in terms of legroom & headroom to the individual’s body ratio & seat condition”

“The secondary level of comfort is experienced through braking & suspension.

Can it withstand bumpy roads & speedbrakers?

Insights

On-Product Buyer Experience

On-Product Buyer Experience

Green tick does not tell you the real condition�Green-tick gets misinterpreted as availability rather than passed. Also real information like low cooling by AC, is more useful than saying AC is working.

OEM stock toolkits and emergency items�These are highly valued by buyers and they expect them to be available or atleast information about them should be mentioned online

The brand name of tyres is equally important as its condition details�Buyers want to know the brand of tyres, if all are same, if they are suited to the car model, if they have been replaced with cheaper third party tyres

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Safety features are a priority for families

Airbags, etc. need to be better highlighted for most buyers at a feature level, and also at a condition level.

Insights

Operational Challenges

Car Condition - Maintenance & Depreciation

Our worst condition inventory might look like some of the best deals online

• Slowest moving parts of the inventory, account for the highest cost of repairs and maintenance
• They are in worst condition and bring down the overall quality perception
• These end up often being the most attractively priced cars online
• Hence they might get a disproportionately high level of interest and visits from customers.
• But they get rejected each time

Cars parked at yards, incur heavy weather and environmental damage, which compounds with time

• Direct exposure to sunlight fades car color & increases pressure inside which crack the window glasses.
• Car gets dirty easily & needs constant cleaning to maintain the looks.
• Rain water enter the car through window opening and produces rust in the bottom body.
• Heat gets the tyre punctured or reduces air

Car Condition - Maintenance & Depreciation

The lack of basic equipment and supplies at the yards increases the cost of maintenance

• Towing Vehicle - It costs 7000 rupees to get a vehicle back to yard in case of a breakdown,
• Grease Containers
• Battery charging units
• Multi-meter
• Distilled water
• Workshop tools & Puncture kit
• Jet water wash & Vacuum cleaner

Operational Delay - Refurb Process

Minor refurb costs & TAT get inflated due to the back and forth process�

• Even minor items like replacing the bulb in the indicator lights for cars, have to be done by sending it to the refurb centre.
• Such minor repairs can be made at the yard itself by available yard technicians
• This causes the cost of refurb as well as the time taken to make the car ready, to go up exponentially.

The centralized QC process for refurb, causes the backlog of work items to continuously grow causing accumulation of inventory at refurb centres.�

• The one night delay in reporting a minor issue and getting it approved from QC leads to accumulation of cars at refurb centres & they get left unattended for days

Operational Delays - Information Flow

Bookings made while QC team moves car from yard to refurb centre after publishing to catalogue

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• Delays in updating booking status to QC team before cars are sent to the refurb centre.
• The QC team doesn’t always realise that a car has been booked, and they unpublish the booked car
• When the buyer arrives at yard, the car might not be present, as it is at the refurb centre, it is now also not available in the catalogue, since it has been unpublished.

Communication gap around vehicle info�

• The make model of the car is not communicated to the driver, and they only have vehicle registration numbers.
• Beyond 500-600 cars, this causes a delay in finding the keys, while taking it out for refurb centres as the yard management team spends 15-20 minute in identifying the car keys

Operational Delays - Refueling

Driver Bears Petrol Costs�

• The driver’s daily wage is lesser than the daily petrol costs
• 10 days of reimbursement processing time, leaves the driver with no money to invest in petrol
• This causes delay in refilling the petrol, as the money has to be borrowed, or arranged before the test-drives.

Fuel Management System�

• The current system caters only to individual rides on an adhoc basis.
• This causes the need to refuel on demand before every test-drive, which causes a delay in the process.
• The delays and the refueling on subsequent test drives, get compounded.

Thank You

Asir - Product Design

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asir.david@cars24.com

Appendix

Problem Statement

Buyers who are interested in buying an used from our online platform are finding it skeptical when exploring the car online as the digital medium lacks the physical space based experience and it affects their confidence in moving forward from consideration to transaction phase. Also, after purchase many users were unsatisfied and requested for returns as the physical experience didn’t match the provided digital experience, leading to huge cancellation costs for the company.

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We need to design solutions that will let users make their purchase decisions with confidence like how they would experience it in physical reality and remain satisfied with their choice.

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Discovery

Car

Details Page

Online Mode

(Digital Experience)

Offline Mode

(Physical Experience)

Channels

Cars24 Retails Space,

Dealer Branch Space,

Mobile App Interface - Image Gallery, 360 product tour

Webpage Interface - Image Gallery, 360 product tour

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360 tour acts as a window to extended reality (Spatial Experience)

Journey

Touchpoint