Dealer Trade Network
Streamlining inventory searches for efficient car sales
Role
Lead UX Designer (me)
UX Designer
Product Manager
Dealer Trade Network
SVP Marketing
Lead Engineering Developer
Product Manager
Duration
3 Months
Overview
Dealer Trade Network facilitates the entire car allocation process between dealerships from searching, buying and selling, delivery, and payment. As their business began to grow, they saw a need to update how sale representatives utilized the internal search system to find cars for buying and selling to car dealers around the United States.
How can we enhance the car buying and selling workflow for sales representatives?
My Role
As the lead product designer, my responsibilities included interviewing users to better understand stakeholders, communicating and presenting designs to client team weekly, leading the end-to-end design process, and wrapping the design file for handoff.
Our outcome was a streamlined search experience where sales representatives could gets matches for available cars to buy and sell and propose agreements with dealers. Users could also examine car dealerships to analyze the best sales and keep in touch with their desired dealers.
Search inventory database to find available cars, get the best matches, and propose sales in one simple flow
View matches in a table, card, and map format
View dealer information, recent statistics, and best-selling inventory
Research
Defining the problem
With a team of under 50 employees, DTN was experiencing rapid growth and needed to find a way to standarize the current process of buying and selling for cars.
1,000+
sales every month
4,000+
dealerships country-wide
On a monthly basis, they were facilitating the movement of over 1,000 cars and their network had expanded to over 4,000 dealerships. They had a current directory and inventory list of dealerships that sale representatives that utilized. To understand the challenges and opportunities the sales representatives were facing, we set to better understand our user group.
User Interviews
We interviewed current DTN sale representatives to learn their thoughts. Our questions centered around their workflow and process, priorities and pain points, information and data, and user experience.
Walk me through how you make a sale.
What are the priorities that you might have when selling cars?
Do you have enough data to make these decisions?
What dealer information is most important?
What are the challenges that you face the most?
Quickly, we found that they either used one of these two ways to search:
Personal relationships
Sales representatives had a own personal list of dealerships and kept a very close eye on their inventory. They would be familiar with what would be coming in and leaving for future sales.
Pros
Faster deal flow due to the familiarity with the dealership
Preferred method because of efficiency
Cons
Limited amount of dealerships to work with
Manual Searching
Sales representatives manually looked up cars on their inventory list and then contacted the dealerships with the available cars.
Pros
Wider range of available dealerships
Cons
Challenging to find the most cost-effective and popular cars to sell
Too time-consuming
There was a strong tendency to focus on their personal relationships but as the business grew, the network of dealers grew which it made it difficult to create personal relationships with. They relied on this messaged because it tended to be the fastest and most efficient way to create a sale.
From here, we took our observations to create the following design principles to drive our design. These observations and design principles further emphasize the importance of creating a cohesive, efficient, and user-centered system for the Dealer Trade Network's sales representatives
Observation
Design Principle
Manual Inventory Searches
The manual process of searching through inventories was time-consuming. Users often relied on personal relationships.
Standardized Process
Implement standardized workflows to ensure efficiency without the need to rely on personal dealer relationships. makes it easier to find and compare cars across different inventories.
Desires for Quick Sales
Users' biggest concern was the quickest way to propose a sale and complete transactions efficiently.
Efficiency and Speed
Minimize the time required to search for cars and complete transactions. Streamline processes to reduce complexity and increase workflow time.
Lack of Comprehensive Data
To make a sale, there were key data points that sales representatives desired. While some data was more readily available, other critical information was often missing or difficult to access.
Up-to-date Data Access
Ensure that all necessary data points are readily accessible within the system, providing sales representatives with a holistic view of the data they need to make informed decisions and close deals effectively.
Ideation
In the ideation phase, our primary goal was to simplify the user flow and address the key pain points identified during the research and analysis stage. We began by mapping out the existing user flow to pinpoint areas of inefficiency and complexity. By collaborating with sales representatives and stakeholders, we gathered valuable insights into their needs and preferences, ensuring our design solutions were user-centric and aligned with business objectives.
Existing User Flow
We focused on streamlining the process from car search to deal transaction. The new user flow was designed to reduce the number of steps required to complete a sale, making it more intuitive and efficient. Key improvements included the direct search for all dealerships, automated dealer matching, and a simplified deal proposal. These enhancements aimed to eliminate the tedious manual searches and allow a streamlined flow for more efficiency.
Proposed User Flow
Initial Wireframes and Prototypes
Next, we prepared wireframes to visualize the proposed solutions and gather feedback. The wireframes served as a blueprint for the redesigned interface, showcasing the simplified navigation and improved layout. We introduced features like a streamlined inventory search function with multiple views for results, including a map version for visual guidance that identified the distance, and a comprehensive dealer profile page with matches. By sharing these wireframes with sales representatives, we were able to refine the design and ensure it met their needs effectively.
Inventory Search + Results
Results Views
Dealership Profile
The ideation phase was crucial in laying the foundation for a more efficient and user-friendly system. Through a combination of user feedback and iterative design, we were able to create a streamlined user flow that addressed the pain points and enhanced the overall experience for sales representatives at Dealer Trade Network.
Final Prototypes + Results
The low-fidelity prototypes served as a foundation for developing our final prototype. Through a combination of user feedback and iterative design, we created a streamlined user flow that addressed key pain points and enhanced the overall user experience. The final prototype incorporated all the enhancements identified during the ideation phase, resulting in a highly efficient and user-friendly interface.
The user interface was designed to provide a seamless experience from car search to transaction completion. Key features included:
Enhanced Search Functionality: An intuitive search function with real-time inventory updates to quickly find the best car options.
Matching Users to Available Car Dealers: Automated dealer matching to connect users with the most suitable dealers based on their needs.
Dealer Profile Page with Analytics: Comprehensive dealer profiles featuring detailed analytics to help sales representatives make informed decisions.
Deal Proposal: A streamlined tool for quickly generating and sending proposals to car dealer managers.
Streamlined Transaction Workflow: An optimized workflow to ensure efficient and error-free transaction processing.
By incorporating these features, the final prototype significantly improved the efficiency and satisfaction of sales representatives at Dealer Trade Network.
Searching for Dealerships
A streamlined search interface that allows sales representatives to quickly and efficiently locate dealerships.
Users started off with selecting if they were searching for dealerships who were looking to buy or sell the models listed.
They were also able to select from their previous searches (left) or recommended popular cars that were consistently selling (right)
Search Results (Table, Cards, Map)
Flexible search results display options including table, card, and map views to suit different user preferences.
The table format allowed users to scan data quickly, the card format did not show as much information but included the contact info, and lastly the map result would allow users to gauge distance between dealerships.
Dealership Page
Comprehensive dealership profile pages with detailed analytics and insights to support informed decision-making.
The dealership page organized several tabs for information, such as dealer data (what kind of cars were popular), inventory, matches (from your search), contacts, transacation activity, and a sold loads report.
Users were also encouraged to fill out or report missing information for consistency throughout the database.
While this is a brief overview of the pages, I am happy to share more about the features in detail. Please reach out and I can share more about the process and what the final areas looked like.
Outcomes and Reflection
The prototype was tested with sales representatives with the Figma prototype to ensure it met their needs and addressed their pain points. It was also shared with the executive team to meet business goals and expectations. During the handoff, the DTN team was excited to build this tool out for their re-designed internal platform.
As one of the design leads, I felt that the success of the redesigned system was due to the thorough research and user-centric design approach. By involving sales representatives throughout the process, we were able to identify and address their pain points effectively. The iterative design process, with continuous feedback and testing, ensured that the final product met the needs of the users and delivered tangible improvements in their workflow.
This project was a strong reminder of how data and research inform our decisions and designs. Without a firm understanding of the users, our design outcomes may not achieve the desired results. Moving forward, I am committed to maintaining this user-centric approach, ensuring that our designs are always grounded in the real needs and experiences of our users.