Industry
Automotive Subscription Service
Role
Service Design • Product Design • Web
Audi of America
Taking Audi's car subscription service from zero to one
My team partnered with Audi of America to strategize, design, and build a premium car subscription service. By mapping existing internal capabilities and identifying key gaps, I developed targeted solutions that unified the customer journey into a seamless, luxury experience aligned with the Audi brand.
Full case study available on request
Launched experience
Problem
The challenge was to develop a compelling solution within the emerging car subscription market
We explored how to position subscriptions as a viable alternative to traditional car ownership, identified potential target consumers, and considered how the service could scale into a sustainable long-term offering.
Opportunity
How might we position car subscriptions as a viable alternative to traditional car ownership?
Process overview
The key was mapping Audi’s service ecosystem to uncover design opportunities and experience gaps in the subscription journey
I conducted a thorough service audit and mapped the customer journey to uncover critical pain points. Solutions were ideated, vetted, and validated through rapid prototyping and user testing. To ensure we were moving in the right direction, we user tested for early feedback and validated the full experience with a live pilot in the Dallas/Fort Worth market.
Process overview:
Proto-Personas — to understand the users of the service and create a baseline to validate against
Journey mapping — to understand their experience through the service
Service blueprinting — to understand the relationships between different service components — people, props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to touchpoints in a specific customer journey
Identified existing services to utilize for the car subscription service
Identify gaps such as user onboarding and user dashboard
Group ideation allowed us to gather possible solutions for the new experience
Wireframing the experience to quickly create testable proof of concepts
UsabilityHub testing to gather data and ensure the designs were validated
User interface design utilizing Audi's existing brand guidelines
Pilot launch in one market
Process
The project kicked off with a series of discovery workshops
We first set our sights on defining a proto-persona to center our thinking around the types of users who would use the app. We also journey mapped a lease experience since it paralleled how user might shop for a subscription car service.
Empathy mapping exercise to inform proto-persona
Leasing journey map
Process
From there I led group ideation and sketching sessions with Audi SMEs
We began by affinity mapping ideas and then worked collaboratively on crazy 8s.
Affinity mapping ideas
Crazy 8s and sketches
Process
After leading sketching exercises I worked to distill these ideas down into a storyboard
The storyboard allow me to convey the ideas in a low fidelity way which would prove useful in stakeholder reviews and user testing
White boarding the storyboard outline
Storyboard
User testing
I then user tested the story board to get an early signal on how guest might respond to the concept on a car subscription service
Overall users responded well and we were able to get a read on what was resonating with potential consumers
Testing the storyboard
Process
I then conducted a service blueprint exercise to assess existing capabilities and identify gaps in the user journey
This would allow us to better define the customer experience, define the concierge activities, understand operational activities, define services/infrastructure, and build a shared understanding of what needed to be implemented
Service blueprint
Process
Based off of the testing and service blueprint I felt ready to move to designing the experience
I first mapped the information architecture and initial user flow for the experience. Based on the initial IA draft, I collaborated with the team to de-scope features, creating a leaner proof-of-concept pilot version.
Full featured experience
Pilot POC version (de-scoped featured)
Design
Wireframes of the initial design concepts were drafted and tested. I then refined the design to the standards of the Audi design system
I worked to design a direction for the landing, onboarding, and dashboard experience for users of this experience
Outcome
From concept to first customer in under six months
We defined the service, established the MVP, designed the experience, and launched the product. The pilot exceeded expectations in demand and conversion, and the focus has now shifted to scaling for commercial launch.
The service ran from 2018 to 2021.
My contributions
Senior experience and leadership
Owned design direction and main point of contact through implementation
I was the lead designer on this project and owned design direction, stakeholder presentation, research, engineering handoff, and more.
Co-led and co-planned workshops
I contributed to planning and leading workshops with the cross functional team.
Partnered with 1 other designer
My design work focused on setting the direction for the onboarding and dashboard layouts. I then guided another designer on production tasks, such as creating responsive layouts.