Enhanced the company's reach by successfully attracting and engaging 1.2 million unique website visitors within a year.
Overview
"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein.
After five years in operation, Imports by Kairo experienced a co-founder dispute that led Khalif Kairo, one of the original founders, to start anew. Leveraging his 10,000 followers on social media, Kairo sought assistance in designing and building what he envisioned as an "intuitive and clean" car dealership platform. Combining this new platform with his operational expertise, he aimed to create the safest way for Kenyans to buy and sell cars.
My Role
I was the UX researcher & sole designer on the project. Basically leading the research and design from 0 to 1. I worked closely with Kairo, the CEO, along with the business development team and engineers, to brainstorm ideas, design, prototype, test, and document the project for a range of stakeholders.
Brief of the Problem
Through research, it has become evident that a significant number of Kenyans lack access to a recognized, reliable, and trusted car dealer with platform that not only provides comprehensive information about the cars they are interested in, but also assists them in finding a vehicle that meets their needs—all from the convenience of their phones.
Design Process
I had both in person and online conversations with the team to clearly define the business pain points and the customer profiles and journey. This also gave me an opportunity to learn about the car dealership, the current challenges and how the company saw the vision of the industry.
Interviews/Immersion trips
We had numerous interview sessions with customers and the company’s sales reps, marketing team and business development. This gave me insights into the customer segments, their pain points and the Jobs to be done.
Competitor Analysis
I did an indepth competitor analysis of how other parties were approaching the problem. From this, I was able to gather ideas on what worked but also where other failed and tried to capitalize on that.
Such included a keep look into their offering, presentation of cars, important information, their customer reviews and metrics.
Customer reviews & Feedback
I was also able to gather customer feedback and reviews from Kairo’s previous business operations(Imports by Kairo). Those came in form of DM messages, emails, social media posts etc
Ideation
We convened on a number of occasions to ideate on the customer profiles, current market problem, potential solutions and develop a clear problem statement.
Summary of our findings
What jobs do people want to get done ?
- Find a specific vehicle the are looking for
- Find a vehicle that fits their need and budget
- Learn about a vehicle
User personas
Solution
Develop a mobile-friendly web application that allows customers to access reliable information about Kai & Karo's current inventory. The app will assist users in discovering vehicles that suit their specific needs and budget, all from the convenience of their smartphones.
Platform to develop
We settled on developing a web app based on the following reasons;
- Easy to access - With just a link, you can access the platform
Ready available to anyone - both on phones & computers - Require less commitment like downloads etc
- Easy to market, google ads and social media were among the go to market strategies decided on.
Unique insights to consider during design 🤩
Design Pointers
How do you make it intuitive and easy for them to achieve among the 3 goals
- Develop a clear navigator to help each user achieve their intended objective
- Implement a search bar to quickly help the ones who have a specific vehicle in mind find it.
- Offer advanced filters for users to narrow down their search by various parameters such as price range, vehicle type, brand, year, mileage, and features.
- Include tools that allow users to input their budget and display a list of vehicles within their price range.
- Provide comprehensive details on each vehicle, including specifications, price, features, and high-quality images or videos.
- Offer comparison tools to allow users to evaluate different models side by side.
- Provide easy-to-access contact forms and chat support for users to ask questions or schedule test drives.
Designing for trust meant...
That to reinforce and guarantee a sense of reliability, security & integrity, we had to clearly showcase the following;
- Vehicles being a high involvement purchase decision product, we had to providing the right amount of information to showcase transparency
- Disclosing all costs & fees associated with a purchase - further going into the operating costs
- Clearly label the seller - whether it’s the company or a third party
- Ensure only fully available vehicles are listed
- Mobile first solution, majority of Kenyans access the web on their phones
From Insights to Design
I designed and prototyped the web application in figma. That involved;
- Customer Journey Mapping
- Sketching the user flows in figjam,
- Wireframes and low-fi
- Finally the hi-fi for prototyping
- Dev handover
Wireframes
High Fidelity Designs
1. Homepage
2. Car details
3. Car details
4. Blogs
5. Search Car Reviews - Empty State
6. Technical Car Review
7. Events Home Page
8. Events Detail Page
9. Payments Page
Implementation
Kai & Karo was officially launched in January 2023, and went on to become the leading car dealership platform in Kenya.
How?
The team led by Khalif Kairo really focused on operational excellence supplemented by continous update and iterations on the system. That meant customers we looking forward to some new feature and more value.
Appropriation Testing
Our commitment to making data-driven decisions has been central to our design and iteration process. By conducting A/B tests on various designs and implementations, we have been able to inform our decisions and refine our approach with each iteration.
Additionally, we continuously monitor user behavior using tools like Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics, which help us uncover new insights and identify emerging customer needs. This ongoing analysis ensures that our platform remains aligned with user expectations and continues to evolve effectively.
Feedback
By implementing a go-to-market strategy that includes conducting fake door tests and diligently gathering feedback and suggestions from our users and customers, we have successfully crowdsourced valuable insights and requests. This approach has enabled us to better understand our customers and continuously enhance our offerings based on their real needs and preferences.
Impact
Over the past two years since the system's launch, we have successfully attracted 1.2 million unique visitors and generated over $750,000 in revenue by 2024. This achievement highlights our ability to effectively serve a large and growing customer base, demonstrating the ongoing value and appeal of our platform.
See product review : video
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