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Research, Design, Strategy and Branding for the Automotive Company.

The company operates in Central Europe. Importing cars from Western countries is very popular. There are a huge number of companies specializing in importing cars from Western Europe. Imports from the US and Canada are niche due to costs and legal and technical challenges. In Poland, we have only a few companies that import cars from America.

Scope:     Research, Strategy, Branding, UX, UI
Tools:      Figma, Google, SurveyMonkey, Semrush, Analytics

This is a shortened version of a holistic strategy and design. The following example is based on 3 real businesses, their data and projects for them.

Background

General characteristics

What they do

AGL Cars is a European dealer of used cars from the USA and Canada. This is an individual service which, in addition to the car auction and its import, also includes repair.

Business environment

The company operates in Central Europe. Importing cars from Western countries is very popular. There are a huge number of companies specializing in importing cars from Western Europe. Imports from the US and Canada are niche due to costs and legal and technical challenges. In Poland, we have only a few companies that import cars from America.

Business strengths & weaknesses

Strengths:

  • Extensive, almost 10 years of experience in the industry.
  • Comprehensive and professional customer service.
  • Large community on Youtube and Facebook.
  • The vast amount of video content on Youtube.

Weaknesses:

  • High customer service costs.
  • Large reliance on the personal branding of the owners.
  • One main sales channel
  • The vast amount of video content on Youtube.

Business opportunities and risks

Opportunities:

  • The increasing popularity of daily cars from USA and Canada.
  • Popular automotive content translates into a vast audience.

Risks:

  • The lowering the standard of living in Central Europe.
  • LUnfavorable exchange rates.
  • Changes in the law.
  • Youtube channel dynamics drop.

Customers sources

Online vs. Offline

  • 54% – Online
  • 47% – Offline

Offline traffic

  • Recommendations
  • Billboards
  • Advertising on cars

Online traffic

  • 67% – Youtube
  • 14% – PPC
  • 11% – Google
  • 7% – Direct

Business vision

The owners wish the new website were not duplicating social media, where a bond with potential customers is built. The website is supposed to focus on “cashing in” this relationship, which has been warmed up beforehand, and trust has been created. Therefore, the presentation of the knowledge base in the form of films and articles must not distract from the sense of prestige and uniqueness of the cars sold. All activities on the website are to lead the user to contact the company and choose a car.

Another requirement was to avoid showing real cars that are significantly damaged, which may raise legitimate concerns before buying. In the case of videos on YouTube, the key is to show actual vehicles, where there is time to explain how “simple” it is to fix the car, which removes the user’s doubts. In the case of a website, we do not have the time and focus of the user to explain it effectively.

Business goals

First

The main goal is to contact the customer with the company and then sign the contract. In the case of a website, there is an inquiry via the contact form, but also a phone number from the website.

Second

Secondary and measurable goals include joining users to the company fb group, subscribing to the YT channel, subscribing to newsletters. Such people will be subject to education and remarketing.

Third

Building trust and educating potential customers to create a long-term relationship with the company can result in the fulfilment of higher goals by the user.

Secondary project goals

  • Collecting data about the user’s interests (type of movies, cars, brands).
  • Moving viewers from YT to the website + promotion of offers and extended knowledge.
  • Strengthening SEO, SEM.
  • Optimization of PPC conversions.

Branding requirments

Part of the project was to prepare branding that meets the following requirements:

  • Simple.
  • Monochrome.
  • Related to car brands.
  • High readability

Initial resources

The company has significant, real resources that can be used to achieve the assumed goals.

  • 10 years of presence on the market
  • Over 3000 transactions, over 1000 served customers
  • Over 300 videos on YouTube, over 40,000 subscribers
  • Over 1,000 people in the company’s FB group

Research

Competitors

The website can help you build a much more significant competitive advantage, and the AGL Cars brand can be the first choice in the local market due to the following competitive features:

  • Poor presentation.
  • Low level of credibility
  • Small community
  • Achieve similar positions at Google
  • Lower prices
  • Very little public knowledge

User research about competitors

  • Unclear or lack of explanation about how it works and terms.
  • Very few and deficient quality offers.
  • Low credibility- lack of testimonials, information about the company.
  • Hard to find contact page or phone number.
  • Unfriendly contact form.
  • Mobile unfriendliness.
  • Too many, too long texts.
  • ”Poor” quality of UI design.
  • Lack of prices of the cars.

Personas

Below is one of the main persona taken into account during the work on the project.

  • Male
  • 30-50 years old
  • From Central Europe
  • Mobile device user
  • Upper middle class
  • Rather single
  • Automative fan
  • Dreaming of a car from “America”
  • Likes luxury products, despite a limited budget
  • Likes to stand out
  • Upper middle class
  • Makes decisions quickly
  • Watching rather than reading
  • Little patient, does not like to look for information

Audiences

Partially based on the above persona, you can create two primary audiences based on the financial factor. The first group consists of potential customers, i.e. people with the ability or potential to buy. The second group consists of people interested in the topic, building a community around the company but without the potential to become customers.

Solutions to achieve goals

Lead generation

  • Call to Action focus on the primary goal.
  • Simplification of the path and requirements for submitting an inquiry
  • Showing that contact is without strings attached
  • Building interest in the details of the offer, which are available after contacting the company
  • Reinforcement through solutions for objectives 2 and 3

Become a member/subscriber

  • Showing the best content tailored to given sections, cars, topics and potential interests.
  • Showing dynamics on the YT channel and other social media.
  • Promoting the best activities of other users.
  • Highlighting and proving the company’s experience.
  • Posting a Call To Action with the content along with an indication of the benefits for the user

Building relationship and credibility

  • Presentation of user stories
  • Showing customer reviews that can be verified
  • Showing the community around the company
  • Presentation of industry knowledge in the form of articles and videos
  • A detailed description of the company and team
  • Providing company data to verify its status on state portals
  • Showing cooperation with other companies

Marketing strategy

Users through a large amount of educational and entertainment content are to reach the brand, become members of the community, build a bond with the brand, to build the desire to own the product, the AGL brand was the first and only choice. Using different channels and methods of promotion.

User journeys

Entry points

  • Someone is searching US car dealer, importer.
  • Someone foung AGL cars video and become interested.
  • Someone sees us cars and get information that was sold by AGL cars.

User journey graph

Consider
Weeks, Months
  • Searching for information about the import of cars from the USA, Searching for information about vehicles from the USA.
  • Paid Ads.
  • Organic search traffic for AGL cars content.
  • Seeing a car imported by AGL cars.
  • Contact the owner of the car brought by AGL Cars.
  • Searching for information about the import of cars from the USA, Searching for information about vehicles from the USA.
Explore
Weeks
  • Getting to know the offer of exemplary cars.
  • Adding favourite cars to the list.
  • Knowing the terms and costs.
  • Watching and reading materials about selected cars and procedures required.
  • Initial contact with the company.
  • Finding financing methods.
  • Seeking justification for the purchase.
Compare
Weeks
  • Checking the available competition. Checking their conditions. Poor contact, or complete rejection due to the lack of information on their pages.
  • Comparison of offers of damaged cars with cars after renovation.
  • Getting to know the opinions of users. The user may come across a group of AGL cars.
  • Checking reviews about the company. Checking the legitimacy and credibility of the company.
Test
Weeks
  • Narrowing down the selection.
  • Looking for a car test opportunity.
  • Searching for opinions.
  • Checking exact costs.
  • Submitting more detailed inquiries to competitors.
  • I wonder if it’s the right purchase or I can afford it.
  • Checking the cost of maintenance.
Negotiate
Days, Weeks
  • Signing a contract.
  • Choosing the right car.
  • Checking repair costs.
  • Auction.

Solving customer doubts

Doubts:

High cost.

Solutions:

Financing is available, showing a wide range of prices, breaking costs into small parts, focusing on the required expenses and showing users’ cases of the car as an investment.

Problem with local law, insurance, maintenance and repair.

Showing cost calculation, users cases, comparing it to standard European cars

Whim – buy over the personal budget.

Building a stronger vision of an achievable dream car, showing daily usage.

Repairing cost, time, stress, knowledge.

Providing knowledge, and technical service support, showing successful use cases, showing that the cars are safe.

Searching for more information.

AGL cars must be the primary source of valuable information. Articles and videos must cover all essential topics.

Lower prices from competitors.

Showing credibility, wide range support, content value.

Extended funnel

  • Website visitors.
  • YT Channel Viewers, Group Members. (Optional)
  • Newsletter subscribers. (optional)
  • Researchers. Viewing offers, cars reviews, company reviews.
  • Checking the details of the procedure.
  • Submitting an inquiry
  • In contact with the sales office.
  • Signed contract.
  • Purchase. waiting for the car.
  • Customers sharing their opinion.
  • Promoting the brand.

Main user segments

Content consumersMainly engaged in content consumption, subscribers, fb fans, group members… We can divide this segment into users, due to the chances of conversion into customers.

  • With the potential to buy
  • Without potential

The cost of buying a car and the decision itself strongly divide this group of users. A group without the potential to buy can be used as a very valuable support in gaining final customers.

Potential customersWith real interest in buying. They analyze how it works, knowledge base, contact with the company
No possibility to buy – Prices from kalkularoa have expired, contact with the company has expired.CustomersThese are people during the execution of the order or after.Promoters & SupportersThis is a group consisting of other groups of users who react to content, promote it or brand.

Segments migrations goals

  • Turn viewers and readers into customers with the potential to buy.
  • Turn clients without possibility into viewers and readers.
  • After contact – build interest and brand loyalty.
  • All groups should be activated, associated with the brand, and encouraged to promote it.

Analytics requirements for segmentations

Analytics and marketing tools should track the user by the level of engagement in the purchase but also by interest. The presented advertisements and content should be tailored to the user’s interests and solve his problems on the way to purchase.

  • Segmentation of users by car brands and types.
  • Segmentation by types of articles interested in them.
  • Segmentation after calculations.
  • Ssegmentation by faq materials.
  • Segmentation based on time and content engagement.

Traffic sources

Sources’ goals

  • FB, FB Group – Building a community, building a bond with the brand.
  • PPC campaigns – Bringing new users, conversion.
  • Remarketing – Promoting inquiry submission.
  • Newsletter – Education, building bonds with the brand.
  • Content marketing – Education, credibility, gaining traffic from search engines.

Uses journey by a source traffic

  • Youtube, Social media: Related article or Video or car offer, or cars listing, or homepage Exploring Contact
  • Organic search: Article/Video Related article or car offer, or cars listing, or homepage Contact
  • PPC ads: Landing Page, Article or VIdeo, Car offer Contact
  • Direct traffic: Article or car offer, or cars listing, or homepage Contact
  • Email martketing: Article or car offer, or cars listing, or homepage Contact

Website

Website architecture

  • Homepage
  • Cars
    • Categories: Brand, Model, Type
    • Single Car
  • About us
    • About company/Team
    • Testimonials + User cases
    • Partners
  • Services
    • Importing
    • Reparing
    • Insurance
    • Transporations
    • Financing
  • How it works
  • Blog/Knowledge Center
    • Articles/Videos
    • Users cases
    • FAQ
    • Terms
  • Prcing + Calculator
  • Contact us
  • Landing Pages

Pages’ schemes

Homepage

Section:

Hero Section – headlines, video background, view all cars call to action.

Section’s goal:

To give information about the company service and experience and build need to buy a car.

Short about us – short text, few company’s “numbers” call to actions – testimonials, about us.

Building credibility.

Bestsellers car listing – a row of cars, call to action to view all cars.

Building need to buy a car and make it more realistic. Presenting the best part of the offer.

How it works – procedures steps, call to action to the all cars listing.

Education. Showing the process as simple and easy.

User cases / Testiomonials

Building credibility and trust, clearing doubts.

Cars category listing

Presenting general offer.

Content

Education, buidling credibility, igniting the desire to buy.

Contact bar

Converting users to customers.

Cars listing/Category page

Section:

Hero Section – headline, breadcrumbs, image background.

Section’s goal:

Informative. Navigation.

Cars listing – filters, listing.

Presenting the offer. Leading customers to convert.

Offers update – Newsletter signup.

Building mailing list. Presenting the offer.

Financing service.

Solving a purchase holddown. Presenting wider range of offer.

Contact bar.

Converting users to customers.

User cases, testimonials

Buidling trust and credibility, clearing doubts.

How it works

Education. Presenting the company’s offer, procedures and customer service.

Content section for SEO

Buidling content base for SEO.

Car single page

Section:

Main presentation – main imaage, gallery, videos. Main text information: car brand, model, year of production. Categories. Price range. Contact call to action.

Section’s goal:

Informative. Presenting an offer’s information. Converting users.

Car description. Short version for users and longer for Google.

Presenting the offer’s details. Building content base for SEO.

User cases, testimonials.

Buidling credibility. Clearing doubts.

Calucator, financing service promotion, contact call to action.

Presenting pricing. Collecting information about a user. Lead generation.

Related articles about the car.

Building interest in the car. Building credibility.

About us

Section:

Hero section – main imaage/video, headline, breadcrumbs.

Section’s goal:

Informative. Building interest and credibility.

Texts about company. Listing of companies succeses and milestones. Contact us call to action.

Informative. Building interest and credibility.

Youtube channel and facebook group promotion wit call to actions.

Converting visitots to subscribers. Informative. Building credibility and credibility.

Team presenation. Contact us call to action.

Informative. Building credibility and trust.

Map and listing of company locations. Visit us call to actions.

Informative. Converting visitors to customers.

Testimonials. View all testimonials call to action.

Building credibility and trust.

Funcionalities

  • Tools and solutions to implement high-quality seo
  • Option add to favorites with the option to use it in forms
  • Subsribing to the newslettrea about alerts, updates about given brands
  • Pages contents suited to a user’s segments
  • Advanced analitycs and tools to users segmentations

Design requirments

Goals:

Conversions.

Solutions:

  • Easily accessible contact button – phone, form.
  • Simplification of sending a query.
  • Favorites button features.
  • Limited use of call to action.
  • Prediction of only one call to action per section, matching the user journey for a given section or page.

Turning readers/viewers into potential users, education.

Promote content and related content and offers within a given topic or car.

Clearing financial and legal objections.

SShowing the conditions and initial costs in an easy way, promoting financing, user cases, calculator.

Building trust, credibility and connection with the company.

Presenting users cases, testimonials, “numbers” of the company and promoting user involvement on the YT channel and FB group.

Design

Branding

UX Design

UI Design

Main photo by Sanmeet Chahil on Unsplash

Your future project is closer than you even imagine!