Edmunds Drive Microsite

About This Project

Tasked with the challenge of rethinking and redesigning the Edmunds Drive Microsite, we approached this huge undertaking by applying the process of design thinking – starting with research and running the full gamut through empathy mapping, defining the problem and pain points, ideating, creating a prototype and finally, implementing and gathering results. The Drive Microsite can be thought of as “Edmunds Express.” The purpose of this microsite is to quickly and efficiently get the user from point A to point B – from landing on the site to converting by contacting a dealership in the form of a lead.

As we started the research process, we first set off to discover what the best practices are in the current competitive space. Additionally, we gathered data on site load times and its relation to user interaction and conversion rates. This then flowed seamlessly into empathy mapping which was integral in understanding the journey of our users. By grasping a better understanding of our users, we were then able to categorize them into various buckets and personas. This then allowed us to see a birds-eye view of the makeup of Edmunds users as compared to the total market, further allowing us to focus on the specific types of users to target to gain the best results.

We identified the key hurdles of the existing mobile site that are preventing the user from efficiently getting to point B. The primary pain points are two fold – unnecessary content promoting awareness and the clutter of ads. Awareness on the Drive microsite would not be as pertinent as we would be targeting informed users that are ready to take action. Also, since these users are highly focused and motivated, ads would only hinder the experience while also causing performance issues due to load time.

Taking all these learnings, we set off to ideate the most efficient and visual striking experience. The result is a streamlined version of the full site that retains the integrity of the Edmunds branding guidelines and design language. We created a flow that would maximize the experience, essentially decluttering and removing as many elements as possible without breaking the site or taking away any of the functionality.

The results were highly positive, showing huge improvements in user engagement and conversions. In some cases, there were improvements over the full Edmunds.com website, specifically areas involving site lead time and customer leads and conversions. This project turned out to be a huge win as it increased the amount of leads while simultaneously lowering the cost per lead.