Strategic Autotrader Website Redesign
Improving Autotrader’s market positioning by redesigning
their desktop website experience
O V E R V I E W
In this project, we present a data-driven, strategic redesign of the Autotrader desktop website. Our goal was to improve the website’s overall user experience by identifying usability concerns, analyzing competitor offerings, and understanding user pain points. We narrowed our scope to focus on the core user workflow of finding a car to purchase.
We first completed expert evaluations through a heuristic evaluation and competitor analysis. Then, we conducted user research in the form of card sorts and a qualitative test to triangulate expert evaluation findings and inform a redesign. Lastly, we conducted quantitative and qualitative usability testing to evaluate the redesign.
Through our study, we found four core areas to improve that were addressed in the redesign and next step recommendations:
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Role
My main areas of responsibility were the heuristic evaluation, competitive analysis, qualitative tests, redesign recommendations, and prototyping
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Type
Graduate Studies Team Project
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Duration
January - March 2021 (10 weeks)
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Tools
Figma, UserTesting, Optimal Workshop, and Maze.co
T H E C H A L L E N G E
How might we improve the online car shopping experience?
Purchasing a car should be an exciting and enjoyable life moment. Autotrader’s desktop website lacks in providing such an experience to users because of its outdated web design, workflow, and general navigability.
Competitors are attracting customers; thus, it is imperative that Autotrader enhances its online car shopping experience to remain a popular choice.
U S E R B A S E
Americans aged 18+
The general legal driving age in the U.S. is 18 years. We wanted to ensure the website was user-friendly for new-car shoppers and car enthusiasts alike, so we did not further limit the user pool.
E X P E R T E V A L U A T I O N
Identifying user problems and market opportunities
Expert evaluations were conducted to establish a robust, baseline understanding of the Autotrader website experience and market position
Heuristic Evaluation
We applied Nielsen Norman’s 10 industry-standard usability heuristics to assess the website. Thorough evaluation based on severity and fixability of issues revealed 27 areas for website improvement.
Competitive Analysis
3 direct and 2 indirect competitors were analyzed to gain perspective on Autotrader’s market position.
Key areas to improve Autotrader’s competitive standing were discovered since competitors were attracting users with a better overall experience.
Expert Evaluation Key Takeaways
U S E R R E S E A R C H
Verifying problems discovered with users
User research was conducted to verify expert evaluation findings before a website redesign
Qualitative Test 3 participants, unmoderated, remote on UserTesting
We wanted to understand where and why real users encounter difficulties while completing tasks on Autotrader.com. Think-out-loud participation allowed us to gain qualitative insights.
Navigation Card Sort 10 participants, unmoderated, remote on Optimal Workshop
To discover and understand how users organize the navigation architecture, we conducted a card sort.
We used a hybrid sort to show existing categories but also allow new additions. Results are presented in a dendrogram to the right.
Filter Card Sort 10 participants, unmoderated, remote on Optimal Workshop
We wanted to analyze how users intuitively organize and prioritize car search filters.
We used an open sort to allow full freedom while categorizing. Results are presented in a dendrogram to the left.
User Research Key Takeaways
Insights from this stage verified the problems discovered through expert evaluations.
R E D E S I G N
Addressing user needs through design and features
We created mid-fidelity wireframes of core web pages in the car search workflow
Homepage
Car Search Results
Car Comparison
Car Listing
U S A B I L I T Y T E S T I N G
Validating designs with users
We performed usability testing to evaluate the redesigned website prototype based on five core tasks and to inform the next design iteration
Quantitative Test 37 participants, unmoderated, remote on Maze.co
We wanted to uncover quantitative data regarding users’ experiences while completing redesigned tasks. Metrics evaluated included system usability scale (SUS) feedback and key performance indicators of success, duration, and misclicks.
Qualitative Test 3 participants, unmoderated, remote on UserTesting
We wanted to learn about users’ perceptions of the redesigned website and tasks to uncover the “why” behind quantitative test data.
Usability Testing Key Takeaways
C O N C L U S I O N
This redesign project allowed our team to discover and implement areas of improvement in the Autotrader user experience to ensure it remains competitive in an increasingly saturated market.
Key Takeaways Summary
Next Steps
Given the time limitation of our project, we provide next-step recommendations following a three-tier approach to address all findings.
Reflection
I greatly enjoyed evaluating an existing product with relevant expert and user research methodology. I found it especially exciting to address real-world business needs by creating a strategic vision for the future.
This project was unique because we were able to package many of our findings neatly into four distinct categories. I understand that this is not possible on all projects; however, it was a critical skill I developed to ensure the findings were digestible and actionable when pitching to external stakeholders.
A limitation to our project was the number of participants in qualitative and quantitative testing. Due to budget and time constraints, we had to limit the number of participants, but we still discovered meaningful insights as some data is better than none.
Please reach out to me if you would like to learn more as I would love to discuss the project in detail.