Nissan LEAF Launch
It was ground-breaking - customers could purchase the first mass-produced electric vehicle online. As the UX lead, I collaborated with Nissan to create a full-cycle experience integrating multiple touch-points and providers.
Objective
Create a seamless online experience for shopping, ordering, purchasing and owning an electric vehicle.
Educate people what it means to experience and own the LEAF.
By…
Role
Lead experience architect
Platform
Web
Team
Account/Client team, Project managers, Planner, Experience architects, User research, Visual/Motion design, Engineering, Content, Copy
Skills
Design leadership, User advocate, User modeling, Service design, Interaction design, IA
Responsibilities
Primary architect contributor for customer journey, reservation & purchase process and ownership experience
Support contributor & brainstorming participant for shopping process
Collaborated on-site with US client partners, championing user experience
Gathered business, user and technical requirements to map the new customer journey
Worked with management team to create roadmap, scope and estimate design work
Collaborated with creative team to brainstorm and define interface
Worked with development team to define and QA implementation
Challenge
Shift the mental model of car buyers from traditional to online purchase.
Build trust through a completely online experience – balancing education and pragmatism.
So, our team worked to put the shopper in the driver’s seat of the LEAF and educate them on the purchase process.
How did we do it?
Discovery · Definition · Design
Discovery/Experience Map
Equipped with an objective, I worked with the client partners to identify key components, which were then assembled into a map. This enabled the project management team and leaders to scope and plan the project.
Discovery/Skinny User Profile
I created a profile based on demographics and psychographics from Nissan and encouraged the team to ask questions.
“What would inspire Jorge?”
Discovery/Customer Journey Map
During stakeholder sessions I gathered requirements and advocated for the user with the objective of mapping out the high level and detailed process of researching, ordering and maintaining the LEAF.
As the sole contributor, I distilled the requirements into a seamless online customer journey. For ease of use it was split into two documents; pre-reservation and post-reservation. This visual requirement document depicted multiple, moving parts as an easy-to-read visual guide that was used by all client partners and team members.
Discovery/User research
We engaged our research team to put together a test to validate the purchase process. A moderated online discussion and survey was conducted. Unsurprisingly, the consumer mindset was conditioned by the existing vehicle purchase process and found issue with inability to test drive and complete an in-home charger assessment before committing to a reservation.
Defining the Ecosystem/Concepting, Storyboarding & Sketching
“How can we educate and inspire?”
A part of the supporting team for the shopping process, I helped to brainstorm a non-linear journey using modular tools and data visualization to help curious shoppers explore the realities of owning an electric car in context to their lifestyle. Comprehensive information about the home charger and charging-on-the-go was outlined. Aiming to putting them in the seat of the new car we used video, sound and rich visuals to create an immersive, sensory online experience. Data visualization was key for building trust – we used science to describe science.
“How can we ensure the purchase process is clear and build confidence?”
Our team also created a step by step video outlining the reservation & purchase process. Since there were a number of moving parts - including charging station evaluation and installation - we needed to ensure folks were fully informed. In addition, we were up-font that we needed to gather data about the car preferences for factory operations to ensure sufficient supply
“If Jorge falls in love with the car how do we make sure it’s the right match?”
We had an obligation to ensure the LEAF was right for each reservee. So, after a brief onboarding video we included a suitability survey. The reservation flow was a fresh start. Even though we reused some of the modular tools from the shopping experience we didn’t carry over any data. We needed to be explicit about gathering Jorge’s information for assessing suitability.
Designing the interface/Wireframes & Flows
I created wireframes for the suitability sequence for the reservation flow which embedded tools from the shopping process. Working with a roadmap of technological advances and feature releases, I designed the sequence to also calculate delivery timeframe.
The tone on the summary was definitive. If it wasn’t a match we would clearly communicate why and provide access to Nissan chat to help answer questions. The reservation confirms a spot to purchase a LEAF. This screen was a reference of vehicle preferences that would be sent to the dealer to arrange purchase. Next, I worked with the design and engineering team to refine the interaction patterns and specify the detailed logic.
“The Nissan LEAF reservation process delivered 90% conversion”
“The pre-launch and launch of the 100% electric Nissan Leaf was a digitally focused, tremendous challenge to take on and Sunny led our development of a seamless user experience with great strength, patience, and brilliance. Turning the complex offline program into an easy-to-use online user experience, unique to the industry was no simple task.”
Sandy Schadler, V.P. Client Partner, Nissan USA
