Homepage Redesign
Background
CARFAX Car Listings homepage plays a crucial role in shaping our user’s first impressions, but the existing design relied heavily on brand recognition without offering substantial value. The project aimed to revamp the homepage, creating a more positive brand image and emphasizing CARFAX's value. Adopting an iterative approach, we focused on refining both UI and functionality - and over time introducing access to new car searches.
Problem: The homepage leans heavily on brand recognition and doesn’t provide users much value or options.
How might we assist top-of-funnel shoppers in initiating their car search? 6 out of 10 shoppers are unsure what vehicle they want.
How might we ensure that car shoppers comprehend the value of using CARFAX?
How might we provide shoppers with more search options/filters before reaching a search result?
How might we leverage the homepage for SEO and brand enhancement?
How might we seamlessly integrate new cars onto our homepage? Up until 2023 CARFAX only listed used cars on their platform, HMW support the introduction of ‘new’ cars.
The Team & My Role
The team for this project included our agile product team, mobile apps team, and tech team, including Product, UX Research, SEO and Data Analytics. During this project I was responsible for all design assets, final design mocks for responsive web and native iOS app, along with preparing and facilitating a design workshop for the working team.
Used Car Shopper
“I want a site to help me find the right car for me and my needs.”
Used Car Shopper
“I am overwhelmed with choices and feel confident that CARFAX is the best option.”
Snippets of the design sprint workshop whiteboard.
Research & Process
We conducted pre-sprint research to further validate the problem and get real user feedback on our current state. We conducted unmoderated user feedback sessions, comparing our product to another used car listing site. We used this comparison feedback as a starting point for our ideation and to better understand what our potential users expect and want at the beginning of the car shopping journey.
We kicked off the homepage redesign with a design sprint, involving the team in discussions on requirements, limitations, competitor analysis, and ideation on potential solutions. Our identified themes included optimizing the search widget, creating new entry points for faster searches, and incorporating engaging visuals that communicate CARFAX's value.
Two rounds of usability testing with six design variations provided insights into necessary filters and useful content for top-of-funnel shoppers. We further refined designs with insights from A/B testing, to ensure we built a solution that would both help our users and increase business metrics.
Tools Used: Figma, FigJam, Photoshop
Results & Learnings
The final solution included;
New search widget focused on getting users quickly and accurately to search results
New entry points for users to discover including shopping by body style, price and lifestyle. Better supporting our user’s who are unsure what they’re shopping for.
Introduction of modern brand elements that increased user’s trust and brand awareness.
Additional content that helps position CARFAX as a trusted source, and a useful tool in the car buying journey.
Through multiple rounds of A/B testing, we saw a 2% increase to leads (conversion) and a 2.5% increase in vehicle detail views leading to over $240,000 annual value added. Through user testing, we observed an increase in overall brand trust and perception.
Next Steps: Conducting further round of A/B testing, focused on adding new cars to the homepage. We are anticipating increased views on new car vehicle detail pages and new car leads with this iteration.