Mobile Service Redesign
Problem
Mobile Service was launched as a pilot program in 2019 and was rapidly scaled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The launch of Ford’s battery electric vehicles and changes in all sectors brought a new set of expectations from customers for on-demand and flexible service. At the same time, dealerships were looking to do more business through remote offerings.
Solution
The team assessed the current state of the mobile service offering to identify gaps and opportunities. We arrived at 3 main projects/workstreams including:
- Define an ideal mobile service experience that includes proactive support and transparency around repairs for customers with varying levels of distrust
- Adapt Ford’s service department management tool to work with mobile service and take advantage of the standardized tools to create a universal brand experience
- Increase accessibility for customers and employees (although Mobile Service is inherently more accessible than an in-dealer repair, disabled customers are largely not thought of in the automotive world)
The Approach
We began by revisiting the established customer journey due to the changes in both consumer behaviors and Ford’s vehicle line. We spoke to dealers at events training them on mobile service to gather feedback about how the service was working and what they were seeing. We used Ford’s existing customer service tool to gather customer feedback on the offering. The team was also briefed on research into electric vehicle owners completed by the BEV team.
That updated journey allowed the team to identify gaps in the experiences and points of potential improvement. We completed a set of hybrid ideation workshops to turn the opportunity areas into actionable ideas.
Validation
Once the team had ideas, we brought them to potential customers for rapid validation around the utility and desirability of new offerings and features. There were limitations – we did not bring items that were logistics-based or accessibility to customers as their impacts would not have been easy to validate with a general car-owner user pool.
We used the results of this validation to prioritize which areas would be where we focused our energy going forward.
Experience Mapping
Ford Mobile Service capabilites were being added into Ford’s proprietary dealership service department software, and because of this, we needed to document the updated service with CX and product teams. I developed a piece of documentation we dubbed an “Experience Map” to satisfy the needs of both teams.
This document outlines how a mobile service experience should work for a retail customer as supported by the proprietary tool that was being built by the product team.
It includes both minor updates to the mobile service offering, as well as the moments for the enhanced support/white-glove experience. By tying together service blueprint, customer journey maps and user flows, we were able to create a unified vision across the teams and start building towards.
We used the results of this validation to prioritize which areas would be where we focused our energy going forward.
Improving accessibility
Mobile Service is inherently more accessible for customers than repairs completed at a dealership for many types of disabilities on the customer end. However, without taking a look at how those disabilities affect customers and dealership employees, we leave unintentional gaps.
Persona Spectrum Workshop
I brought in VMLY&R’s accessibility lead to facilitate a Persona Spectrum workshop. In this workshop we explored various areas of disability (visual/see, hear, cognitive, speak, touch and mobility) and a scale of impact (permanent, temporary and situational). All aspects of mobile service offerings were examined for both customers and dealership employee needs.
We brought together SMEs from product, CX, development, vehicle teams and design with a wide range of understanding of disability and accessibility. This hybrid workshop was the first time many had to look at an experience through a disability lens.
Outcomes
We discovered that we could enhance many moments by writing service standards and ensuring that dealerships were using the digital tools either currently provided by Ford, or soon to be released.
For example, messaging capabilities in upcoming service department management software would enable communication for all customers with auditory disabilities. However, that isn’t an ideal long-term solution. The team proposed that Ford needed to offer sign language interpreter services on request while also being able to indicate in a service reservation that they desired an interpreter. The team took that one step further to include those who would prefer communication in Spanish and other languages.
Incremental changes are being added to the offering to bring competing dealerships to the same standard of service utilizing the new service design and service standards.
New mobile service van configurations such as one focused on tire repair/replacement and one for repairs that only require hand tools have allowed dealerships to meet customer expectations and have fueled a 300% YoY increase in completed services and a 34% increase in customer satisfaction scores.
Project Details
Role
Experience Design Lead
Client
Ford
Team Members
Experience Strategist: Marli Thurow
Experience Strategy Director: Eric Garza
UI Designer: Chelsey Reusch
Process & Methodologies
CX / Service Design
Role playing
Brainsteering
Ideation Workshops (Virtual, In-Person and Hybrid)
Customer Journey Mapping
Rapid Validation Studies