Mercedes-Benz USA
Objective
My main task as lead creative initially was to redefine the design of the now legacy mbusa.com site. The legacy site provided us with many opportunities to look at our user insights and to create solid long-term business goals. Some of the key objectives included ease of access to vehicle information, increasing dealership leads, promoting and increasing MBUSA profile sign ups and encouraging engagement on the site.
After redesigning the site, I led the OneWeb initiative, implementing current site creative for the global market. We collaborated with Germany, China, Mexico and Canada.
I collaborated with the Mercedes-Benz USA stakeholders, user experience leads, strategists, data analysts, product managers, program directors and other design leads to ensure a cohesive digital experience for our customers and users, while occasionally pitching new ideas to expand the business.
(Please reach out for prototype examples.)
Results
MBUSA.com is a central destination for customers where they engage with the brand, research products, and take meaningful steps towards ownership. Through 2021, there were 90MM visits to the site (up +21% YoY) and increased dealership leads (up +19% YoY).
The site averages over 10k leads per month, with that number growing consistently over time and a lead form conversion rate that's up +48% YoY.
Responsibilities: Manage and mentor design team, define processes, art direction, UI/UX design, user testing, understanding AEM capabilities, maintaining web accessibility (ADA compliance) and design system, site globalization, video edits and production, asset edits and creation, feature roadmap planning, client presentations and workshops, prototypes.
Credits: Wayne Fujita, Chelsea Andrews, Estefanny Ramirez, Shannon Koh, Jinhee Hong, Adam Taplin, Sophia Kim, Ji Park, Chris Groser, Arthur Vaughan
Overview & Example Deep Dive
Overview
As I've worked on a plethora of initiatives and projects across my time on Mercedes-Benz USA, there is a general agile blueprint we follow to get our projects to market. Of course, with any project that requires input from various stakeholders and sets of differentiating business goals, the process can vary.
Deep Dive: The Model Page
The next few sections will detail out an example of a process for the model page redesign the team undertook. Most other initiatives would follow the same process, but would differ slightly depending on the needs.
Model Page Redesign
The Process
An iterative approach was taken with the model page redesign, a common process adopted across the team.
The Brief
We were given a brief specifically for the then existing and now, legacy model page on mbusa.com. The brief was to redesign and refresh the model page with a focus on scalability, lead generation, deeper vehicle data and ease of maintenance with CMS. The redesign was a holistic endeavor, as at that point in time, the model page had not been refreshed or enhanced in a few years.
Defining Requirements & Key Insights
Model Page Requirements
The project began with a workshop and collaborative session with the clients and product managers. We set out to determine if the model page as it stood at the time was doing its job as part of a defined user value and a beneficial business outcome.
After defining more of the goals for the page and pulling some data, the team decided that the model page was still fundamental to the user values and business goals.
Key Insights
We gathered overall usage data from the legacy page and utilized different heat maps to identify some key insights. We were able to find from the data that most of the users visiting the model page were unique visitors and had been redirected mostly from the homepage and inventory page. The data also showed us that half of the total amount of unique visitors to the model page would eventually return to the model page.
Ideation & Design
Wireframes & Visual Designs
After defining user goals, business values and drafting a prioritization of the features, we continued into the ideation and design phase.
We began with some basic sketches of the page based on the requirements decided upon with the clients, product managers and internal leadership. This was an iterative process as we continued to work towards a refined version of the wireframes.
From there we moved into visual designs where we continued the iterative process between UX, developers and product managers.
User Testing
Overview
We conducted in-person testing for 12 participants across 3 markets, and gained key insights about the page. Using Sketch and InVision, we were able to make iterative progress to the page as we continued to test different versions based on feedback from the participants.
Test objective
• Locate usability issues
• Identify opportunities for future enhancement
• Feedback on visual presentation
Session agenda
• Basic interview
• Semi-guided walkthrough with thoughts
• Feedback gathering
• Rearranging exercise
Key findings
• Clean design, concise and looks good
• Confusion around packages and accessories section
• Order of page not ideal for this phase of research
Outcome
Final Designs Launch
The model page launched as an MVP, and it outperformed the legacy model page in almost every way. We were able to take a very old page with a very specific use case, that provided a very defined user value and turn it into a page that is flexible enough to evolve over time while still maintaining its primary use case and cover various others.
Metrics
• 80% increase in lead submissions
• 30% increase in viewed inventory
• 184% increase in requesting a quote
The Mercedes-Benz USA Experience
Below are all of the other samples of projects and initiatives I've taken on for Mercedes-Benz USA. I was fortunate enough to be able to lead the creative and design efforts for such a prestigious brand and being able to work with a talented group of individuals.
