Discover Your Ford

01/01/2021 - 08/01/2021

"Discover Your Ford" is a digital product primarily aimed at educating and enhancing the experience of Ford vehicle owners. Through a series of human-centered design processes, including Journey Mapping, Website Audit, and Creative Workshops, my team and I proposed five innovative directions to optimize the "Discover Your Ford" experience: channel integration, dynamic content services, gamification, strengthening user feedback, and boosting social engagement. This solution addresses the pain points and challenges faced by Ford vehicle owners, providing a personalized and captivating experience.

Client: Ford Motor Company

Team: USCX

My Role: Customer Experience Designer

Deliverables:

Customer Journey Map
Ideation Workshop Report

Background

Ford Motor Company is a leading global automotive manufacturer known for its innovative products and commitment to customer satisfaction. The company launched Discover Your Ford to help new vehicle owners learn about their vehicles, but the tool initially lacked the desired level of user engagement and functionality. Recognizing the need for improvement, Ford decided to enhance the platform through a human-centered design (HCD) research process.

Problem

As a product with great potential, Discover Your Ford will greatly increase the satisfaction and loyalty of Ford owners. Especially with electric vehicles being a major trend today, there will be more and more new features pushed through Over The Air updates, resulting in higher and higher learning costs.

Unfortunately, however, Disvoer Your Ford did not have the expected user activity.

Methodology

We conducted a comprehensive HCD research process that included mapping a Journey Map to identify pain points; generating a problem statement using internal data and existing research; and holding an ideation workshop with stakeholders to develop five directions for innovation and a second prioritization process to identify core directions to optimize the Discover Your Ford service experience throughout the product lifecycle.

Journey Map

We employed journey mapping, an effective HCD tool that traces the customer experience throughout the entire lifecycle of a Ford vehicle, encompassing discovery, purchase, setup and onboarding, drive and ride, and maintenance. The journey map was constructed based on previous research, website audit findings, and customer feedback obtained from the new vehicle orientation survey.

While there are varying customer needs with different focuses at each phase of ownership, we made a conscious decision to concentrate our efforts on the setup and onboarding stages. By addressing these critical moments, Ford can significantly enhance the overall experience and satisfaction for its customers, laying the foundation for a positive long-term relationship with the brand.

The full journey map could be overwhelming. So I listed a high level overview of how customers' learning needs might change at pre-delivery, delivery and onboarding phases.

Pre-Delivery

Customers need clear information to understand vehicle features and options, enabling them to compare models and make informed decisions about customization.

Delivery

At the delivery stage, customers seek a seamless handover experience, including support in familiarizing themselves with essential functions, controls, and required paperwork.

Onboarding

During onboarding, customers require accessible resources to explore and master their vehicle's capabilities, guidance on setup, personalization, and maintenance, and support for troubleshooting issues.

Ideation Workshop

Following the journey mapping work, we identified a problem statement for Discover Your Ford. To address this, we hosted a successful hybrid workshop, which was enjoyed by the participants, thanks to its engaging visual design. The workshop involved 19 participants from diverse disciplines, who were asked to ideate around the central question for each feature of Discover Your Ford. They then voted for their favorite ideas and grouped them into clusters.

The core team synthesized the results, identified common themes, and produced a report outlining five pillars of innovation, each accompanied by a narrative. This report was used to socialize the findings within Ford, gaining alignment and support from various stakeholders.

How might we further evolve the four (4) DYF experiences to help owners learn about their new vehicle and strengthen their relationship with the Ford brand?

Innovations

With the insights gained from the journey mapping and workshop, Ford developed five innovative directions for enhancing Discover Your Ford.

System/Channel Integration

Leverage other platforms within the Ford ecosystem, such as apps and dealership services, to provide a seamless and consistent experience for new vehicle owners：

Example 1: Integrate the "Discover Your Ford" tool with the FordPass app, allowing users to access information about their vehicles and interact with features directly from their smartphones.
Example 2: Enable users to schedule maintenance appointments or ask questions to dealership service representatives through the "Discover Your Ford" platform.

lulululu_a_concept_art_to_represent_chan

Gamification

The user's knowledge base and understanding of the vehicle are used to develop a suitable learning plan for the user. And through interactive elements such as staged tasks, challenges and rewards to engage customers and foster a sense of achievement and enjoyment:

Example 1: Provide digital badges or achievements for completing vehicle maintenance tasks or using specific features to encourage users to explore and learn more about their vehicles
Example 2: Provide leaderboards and social sharing options that allow users to compare their progress with friends and family and motivate them to continue learning about their Ford vehicle

Leverage Customer Input

Facilitate user-generated content and peer-to-peer learning through forums, enabling customers to educate one another and contribute to the overall knowledge base:

Example 1: Establish a forum or discussion board within the "Discover Your Ford" platform, where users can ask questions, share tips, and collaborate on vehicle-related topics.
Example 2: Encourage high-quality user-generated content by featuring top contributors on the platform and acknowledging their expertise, motivating others to share their knowledge as well.

lulululu_an_illustration_of_customer_input_forum_verbal_contrib_25d8531f-4340-450c-9869-3c

Social Engagement

Promote sharing and interaction among users, utilizing social media influencers and other channels to raise awareness and engagement with the Discover Your Ford product:

Example 1: Implement social sharing buttons within the platform, allowing users to easily share their achievements, tips, and experiences with their friends and family on social media.
Example 2: Partner with social media influencers and automotive enthusiasts to promote the "Discover Your Ford" product, showcasing its benefits and encouraging their followers to explore the platform.

lulululu_an_illustration_of_social_engagement_connections_socia_5007fd4b-86a7-4c96-9340-eb

Dynamic Content Serving

Personalize the content based on the ownership phases and knowledge levels of users, ensuring they receive relevant and useful information about their vehicles：

Example 1: Deliver targeted content based on the user's vehicle model and specific features, ensuring they receive information relevant to their specific Ford vehicle.
Example 2: Adapt the content based on the user's ownership timeline, serving introductory content during the initial purchase phase and more advanced tips as they become more familiar with their vehicle.

Next Steps

To determine the success of the solution, we designed a matrix with the following key performance indicators (KPIs):

User Engagement:
1. Analyze the time users spend on the platform, the number of active users and the frequency of platform usage
2. Analysis of the acquisition rate of user achievements, the attractiveness of different types of achievements to users, etc.
User retention: monitoring the percentage of returning users and the length of time between visits
Content Quality: Evaluate the impact of various types of content (including user-generated content and Ford's own content) on platform engagement and user satisfaction through surveys and feedback
Community growth: measures the number of active forum participants, frequency of interactions and the extent of user collaboration
Social influence: tracks the number of content shares, social media mentions and influencer engagement