Project date: Nov 2018 – Aug 2019
Role: UX Manager – Creative Services
Team: 4 Internal UX/UI Designers | 1 Researcher | 2 Design Agencies | 4 Scrum Teams
Project Summary
A multi-phased project to refresh the look & feel of Kelley Blue Book, the #1 most used third-party automotive site to research and shop online and one of the best-known names in the auto industry since 1926.
KBB’s products and services have the appearance of being outdated as found from:
- Decline in desktop ranking with JD Power
- Consumer feedback from our site surveys consistently say that our site feels dated
- Client feedback that our digital experiences are not as modern as the competition
The Challenge
- Modernize the brand and improve brand perception
- Leverage the established design system to update KBB.com’s product features
- Maintain equal or better engagement and conversion to site flows
Strategy
Identify what visual style reflects a modernized look & feel for Kelley Blue Book.
- Discovery
- Identify and establish benchmarks based on current look & feel
- Design
- Design challenger bake-off
- Measure & Iterate
- Evaluate best design through Desirability Studies and Market Surveys
- Ensure that the new design aesthetics support all user flows through usability study
Discovery
Surveyed 3,588 visitors to KBB.com to learn what words users associate with the Kelley Blue Book brand, design, content, and personality.
This established benchmarks for the target words we aimed to improve.
Design (Bake-Off!)
To have a divergent set of design challengers, I selected and directed two top agencies, Siegle+Gale and Isadora Agency, plus an internal team, to conceptualize four uniquely different designs.
Measure & Iterate
Desirability Study
A qualitative study that measured aesthetic response to (5) different static visual designs in addition to using adjectives to measure consumers’ perspective on the KBB brand and KBB.com’s content, via 1:1 in-depth interviews.
Design Iteration
Market Survey & Usability Study
Design Solution
The Results
With our Research & Market Intelligence team, 835 participants surveyed provided the following results regarding the words they associate with the Kelley Blue Book brand, design, content, and personality.
Participant Verbatims
“Good layout, easy to follow, and good information about the cars that makes it easy to find the right car.”
“The website is well organized and has an incredible amount of information.”
“It is simple to use and navigate.”
“I liked that the information was easy to understand. I also liked that it was very informative.”
“It’s easy to see the pros and cons of the car chosen as well as the ratings and how much they are selling for.”
“The specific vehicle page seems to be well laid out with the summary of information that I’m looking for.”
The Outcome
In April 2020, the refreshed home page was launched, and the conversion rate of the main sections of the site, improved on mobile shoppers’ and owners’ paths by 4.5ppt.
Overall improvements in KBB Leading Indicator from April 2020 launch to September 2020:
- Value Per Visit went from $0.52 in April to $0.63 in Sept
- Consumer Satisfaction score at 82,
- Look and Feel rating at 84