GIG Car Share
Researched and prototyped a new paid feature on GIG’s app to improve the car pickup experience.
Role: Design Consultant
Project Type: Interaction Design, Prototyping
Team: Cici Wei, Jirachaya Kiriruangchai, Jasmine Chen, Isabel Zheng, Etheline Nguyen
Duration: Sept - Dec 2021
Project Summary
GIG Car Share is a vehicle sharing company that offers car rentals that can be spontaneously booked and ended. They came to us with the task of reducing call volume coming into their customer support line.
Over the course of 16 weeks, our team identified the rigid pickup time period as a cause contributing to the large call volume and designed an in-app feature that allows users to extend the pickup time for a fee.
We presented the solution to GIG’s leadership team, including the President and Director of Marketing, and the project is to be incorporated into their strategic planning for 2022.
The Problem
GIG Car Share is a vehicle sharing company under AAA operating in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Sacramento.
As GIG’s user base expands, the company no longer has the capacity to answer all calls to their customer support. One major constraint GIG imposed was for the solution to be low engineering lift and scalable.
The Ask
How might we reduce customer support’s call volume through creating a seamless and intuitive GIG vehicle experience.
Research
Pivoted to focus on preventing the problem from happening in the first place.
To understand reasons behind users’ preference of various troubleshooting methods, we surveyed 38 GIG users in the Bay Area and Seattle. Conducting interviews with users helped us visualize their journey and identify pain points during their journey.
We realized while some issues are better fit for calling customer service, others can be solved by the users if they are given adequate tools. Targeting our design to prevent these issues improves GIG’s productivity and user’s experience using the service.
Survey responses from 38 users
Interviews with 10 users
Data from GIG
Synthesis
Decided on “car pickup” as a problem space that is the most appropriate for us to address.
Synthesizing our research results, we found that there are a broad range of problem spaces we can address. Among all the potential directions, the two that we saw the most potential in is “car pickup” and “parking”. Nonetheless, we choose to focus on car pickup because of the following reasons:
During interviews, users expressed that it is “difficult to find cars nearby”. So when the user have reserved a car, it is important to them that they won’t easily lose the reservation.
From the survey, users value timeliness when using GIG. But currently users have to call customer service to extend their pickup time, which can be time consuming and inconvenient.
From GIG’s call data, calls coming in for the purpose of extending pickup time is one of the top call reasons in the Bay Area and Sacramento.
Pain point #1
Rigid pickup period causes stress and frustration
Even arriving one minute late after the 30 minutes free period results in the reservation expiring, leaving the user unable to book that car for another two hours.
Pain point #2
Unexpected delays to pickup is common
60% of users we survey indicated that they have experienced delays, like waiting for a friend, when picking up the vehicle.
Pain point #3
Lack of troubleshooting alternatives
The only way to requests extension to the free pickup period is through calling customer service representatives.
A more targeted HMW question
How might we improve the car pickup experience?
Low-fi ideation
Mid-fi ideation
Final Solution
Auto-extend pickup time
An opt-in feature that automatically extends the pickup time after the free 30 minutes pickup period expires
One click to extend pickup time
In the past, arriving even a few minutes late will cause users to lose their reservation.
Now, user the can secure their reservation even with unexpected delay.
Automatically extend — hustle free, stress free
When the 30 minutes free period ends, the pickup time extension starts automatically. The interface shows the timer of how long the extension has been going on, as well as the estimated cost of the extension.
Never forget about an expiring pickup time
This is designed for users who did not initially opt-in to auto-extend but later realized that they need the extra time.
Users will be notified when there is only 5 minutes left to their pickup time and be asked if they want to opt-in to auto-extend.
User Feedback
Users liked the additional feature because it gives them extra flexibility in the car reservation process.
“I would opt in every time I got a GIG because it guarantees me a car every time I book one. It’s a safety net.” — AT
“I like that you’ll never have to pay for more than exactly how much extra time you spend getting to the car.” — EL
Client Feedback
“A simple and elegant way improve the app!”
— Jason Haight (GIG Car Share CEO)
We first presented our solution to the GIG team. The project was well-received and we got the opportunity to present to GIG leadership, including the Director of Marketing and the CEO.
Reflection
Systematic analysis helps narrow down the problem scope
A big challenge of the project was making a decision on which issue to address. It was hard to choose because there are many factors and constraints to consider. But through comparing the options in a systematic way using research and various synthesis tools, we were able to greatly reduce the complexity of the decision and arrive at a problem space we felt satisfied with.
More to explore…
If given more time, it would be interesting to explore designing a credit system where reliable users are given free pickup time extensions. This works to rewards users for their punctuality and also boost GIG’s relationship with customers by showing consideration for unexpected delays users might experience.