Resume

Lou Fusz Motorsports

UX Research + UX Design

Case Study

Project Summary

Objective

Lou Fusz Automotive Network purchased Metro East Motorsports and needed to rebrand its website to Lou Fusz Motorsports. In addition, Lou Fusz Automotive Network planned to move the Metro East website over to Dealer Inspire, the platform that held all their other automotive dealership websites. At the time, Dealer Inspire primarily focused on car dealerships and had not created many Motorsports websites. For this reason, I was tasked with evaluating and identifying any usability and design issues with the pre-existing website and making recommendations on improvement to the website to stakeholders and the development team by providing them with a usability-tested prototype.

Role

UX Researcher & UX Designer

Team

Courtney, Graphic Designer

Scott, Marketing Manager

Methods

  • Stakeholder Analysis
  • Content Inventory Audit
  • Heuristic Evaluation
  • User Survey
  • Personas
  • User Stories
  • Usability Testing
  • Prototyping
  • Prototype Testing

Software

  • Adobe XD
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Google Sheets

Deliverables

  • User Personas
  • Interactive Prototype
  • Tested Prototype Recommendations

Outcomes

Usability Testing of the pre-existing site identified 12 major issues causing significant functionality issues on the site. I designed a prototype to address these issues and help improve the usability of the Lou Fusz Motorsports website. The prototype was also usability tested. As a result of this prototype, there was a 50% decrease in the number of critical issues. I submitted my final recommendations to improve the user experience design of the Lou Fusz Motorsports website to the stakeholders and developers.

Motorsports isn't just a hobby, it's a way of Life.

Empathize

Stakeholder Analysis: Who is Calling the Shots?

Identifying who the key stakeholders via a Stakeholder Analysis for the Lou Fusz Motorsports website was essential to the success of completing my UX Research and UX Design. Taking the time to map out and identify these stakeholders insured I could properly collaborate with them throughout this project. They would also provide me with vital information about the users that come to Lou Fusz Motorsports.

Lou Fusz Automotive Network is owned and operated by the 4 Fusz brothers: Randy, Lou, Pete, and Patrick. They are in charge of determining the budget and business structure and making all final decisions concerning the design and operation of the Lou Fusz Motorsports dealership and website. Direct communication was limited, so all communication went through the Marketing Manager until final approval.

Operating as the eyes and ears of Lou Fusz Automotive Network, upper management acts as a liaison between the various departments to the owners. Before final approval, all designs were submitted to upper management for review.

As a member of the Marketing Team and the only UX Designer at Lou Fusz Automotive Network, I researched and designed the entire project. I worked with our Graphic Designer to gather all the graphics and style guides to ensure that the designed prototype was cohesive with the brand identity of Lou Fusz Motorsports. The Marketing Manager provided me feedback through design changes and reviewed the work before submitting it to Upper Management.

The Dealership Manager and his team were essential in providing me with details about current promotions and vital information on what type of people were coming into Lou Fusz Motorsports. By taking the time to go to Lou Fusz Motorsports, I was able to understand what they were hearing in the dealership regarding our website and what the users needed.

DX1 was the service provider that Metro East Motorsports utilized for its website. They provided me with access to key areas of the website that were locked down. All Lou Fusz Automotive Network’s websites are hosted and serviced by Dealer Inspire. We decided to also transition the Lou Fusz Motorsports website to Dealer Inspire for consistency. Dealer Inspire was able to provide insight on what their developers would be able to do in the development process. After approval of the prototype, it was provided to Dealer Inspire for development.

In the automotive industry, many manufacturers have strict branding guidelines. It was important to take in to consideration these guidelines to insure we were meeting and maintaining their branding needs.

Understanding Lou Fusz Motorsports Users

Interviews with Dealership Manager & Team

The first major hurdle I would need to overcome for this project was having no previous knowledge about the website’s subject matter: Motorsports. For this reason, I decided to interview the Lou Fusz Motorsports dealership staff via “guerilla-style” interviews as my first step. I wanted to understand why they were so passionate about the industry, how they got involved, what the customers were like, and if they had insight into what was missing from the old website. Getting this first-hand knowledge from the staff would give me the base to define my target audience and a general understanding of what stakeholder expectations would be going forward.

What Did They Say?
90%

of Customers are Male

50%

of Customers are Returning Customers

60%

of Customers Browse Online, but Purchase In-Stores

Gathering this information before creating the User Surveys allowed me to tailor the questions I used for the User Surveys to ensure that I gathered the information that was missing and essential for the tasks moving forward.

User Surveys

After meeting with Lou Fusz Motorsports staff, it was time to gather data from real-life users of the website. To do this, I developed a 17-question survey and then distributed it to users via social media and in-store via a flyer that provided them with a 10% off accessories coupon upon survey completion to help entice users to complete the survey.

 

A total of 60 users completed the survey. Based on the survey results, there was an indication that the site had functionality issues that needed addressing in the redesign of the website. The survey also gave insight into essential demographic information that would be helpful further down the design process.

Key Insights From the Surveys
60%

Currently or Previously Owned a Motorcycle, ATV, or Utility Vehicle

50%

Access Lou Fusz Motorsports website via mobile and desktop

70%

Never Visited the Website Prior to Completing this Survey

20%

Rate the Website as "Easy" to Navigate

Personas & User Stories

Personas

Based on the data I collected during the interviews and user surveys, I created four personas that would embody the variations in the target audience. In the interviews with the staff, they mentioned that only 10% of the customers were women. For this reason, I chose to make one of the four personas a female and the other three male. I didn’t want to leave out the female persona altogether because I thought it was important to include that narrative since that population is often underrepresented in the Motorsports industry. The four personas range in age from 25-55 years old. I imagine this age range is partly due to the fact that Motorsports is a relatively expensive hobby and that it may be hard to afford the hobby in early adulthood, and that as users age they are less likely to take risk.

AdrenalineAdam
FamilyFelix
MidLifeMatt
RoadtripRhonda

User Stories

All four personas received between 2-4 user stories and acceptance criteria. Presenting the user stories to key stakeholders allowed me to keep the focus on the user and help them understand what improvement may be needed going forward based on the user research completed thus far. This meeting and discussion would encourage open communication between stakeholders and my team.

AdrenalineAdamUser
FamilyFelixUser
MidLifeMattUser
RoadTripRhondaUser
Lou Fusz Motorsports User Stories

Define

Evaluating the Current Site

Heuristic Evaluation

A Heuristic Evaluation was conducted on Lou Fusz Motorsports website to help identify usability issues that may be affecting the users of the pre-existing website. To perform this evaluation Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design was utilized. The rating scale used for evaluation: 

  • 0 = No Usability Problems.
  • 1 = Cosmetic Issue Only.
  • 2 = Minor Usability Issue. Low Priority.
  • 3 = Major Usability Issue. High Priority.
  • 4 = Catastrophe. Block Issue.
0
Level 2 Issues
0
Level 3 Issues
0
Level 4 Issues

For this evaluation, I only focused on the issues considered between minor to catastrophe-level issues, because the pre-existing site had quite a few cosmetic issues that would automatically be fixed during the website redesign and didn’t affect the usability of the website. With this data, I hypothesized the following areas would need to be focused on during the usability testing to identify if these were truly issues that needed addressed:

  • Improve Navigation
  • Remove Repetitive Content and Pages
  • Shorten Long Forms that Require Excessive Personal Info
  • Improve Page Names to Ease Navigation
  • Remove Unnecessary and Confusing Icons
  • Improve the User Flow
  • Fix Broken Links

Content Inventory Audit

While performing the heuristic evaluation, I also performed a Content Inventory Audit. During the inventory, I evaluated the following:

  • Content Type
  • Functionality and Forms
  • Type of Files or Media
  • Accuracy and Relevance
  • Key Messages
  • Content Quality
  • Red Flags (Need Immediate Attention)

Completing this step during the define stage of the design thinking process for this project allowed me to define what the users were feeling and seeing when they were viewing the content of the Lou Fusz Motorsports website. Presenting relevant and well planned content is essential to creating a positive user experience. 

View Content Inventory Audit
ContentAudit

Usability Testing of the Existing Website

The goal of conducting usability testing on the current site was to use the data I had collected during the user research to confirm the hypothesized usability issues. In addition, I could identify any additional usability issues that needed to be addressed before the prototype creation. The testing materials utilized for the current site usability testing included:

  • Participant Consent Form
  • Usability Test Plan Dashboard
  • Pre-Test Questionnaire
  • Scenarios and Tasks
  • Test Script
  • Observation Sheet
  • Post-Test Questionnaire

The Scenarios and Tasks were based heavily on the User Stories created in the empathize stage. The pre and post-test questionnaires allowed me to gather data about the user and their thought process throughout the usability testing. All users were encouraged to speak out loud as they worked through the scenarios and tasks to gather additional data that was not visually observable.

 

There were 5 participants during the usability testing of the existing website. The data collected was inputted into the Usability Testing Management Tool created by Carlos Rosemberg (www.carlosrosemberg.com). Utilizing this tool, the data was analyzed for the test plan, issues, task performance, and solutions.

Blocker Issues

During the usability test, I identified a total of 6 “blocker” issues, which are issues that keeps a user from being able to complete a task. This often will lead to task abandonment, which, depending on the task could cause a user to leave the site entirely. These 6 issues were:

60%

of users could not find the "finance" page

40%

of users thought the finance application was too long and unsecure

80%

of users were unable to locate the selling/trade-in page

40%

of users were frustrated about "type" and "category" in the vehicle inventory

20%

of users were not able to locate a Red Indian Motorcycle in the Inventory

100%

of users were unable to find an event

Major Issues

In addition to the 6 “blocker” issues, there were 6 “major” issues as well. Major issues were deemed things that didn’t obstruct the ability to complete a task, but created an extraordinary amount of frustration in the users. 

  • Users mentioned they were unsure if they actually scheduled a service appointment
  • Users were frustrated by the lack of information on the finance page
  • Users were confused by the "We Buy Rides" page title and were unsure what the purpose of the page was
  • All users struggled to find the promotions page
  • Users mentioned the lack of a finance tab in the navigation
View Usability Testing Results

Ideation

Creating a Plan

During the Define stage, I clearly identified what the main issues were on the existing website and confirmed my previous hypotheses. It was now time to Ideate and create a plan for the prototype. The biggest issue I faced during this stage was that the external development team at that time was very limited on what changes they could make to the site. The overall platform was outdated and didn’t match the level of quality we expected from them. The stakeholders needed to decide if we would remain with the existing development team or move the website to the external development team that managed all of our other dealership websites, Dealer Inspire.

 

After participating in multiple Zoom meetings and presentations on the functionality of their services, it was pitched to the stakeholders that we should move the website over to Dealer Inspire. However, Dealer Inspire had never developed a Motorsports website of the caliber we would need it to be. At this point, I continued with the UI Design and creating a prototype that could be provided to Dealer Inspire to develop.

Checking Out the Competition

Before moving to create the prototype, I was assigned to check out both local and national Motorsports dealerships to get ideas about possible layouts and how they were designing their websites. It was a miniature competitive analysis with no formal direction and more of a short inquiry into what users might expect from a Motorsports website.

Big St. Charles Motorsports Website
Jim Trenary Motorsports Website
Nash Motorsports Website

Insights

Prototype

Structure

Utilizing the data collected from the current site usability testing, I created a prototype to address the 6-blocker and 6-major issues. With limited time on this portion of the project, I opted to focus on prototyping the pages that contained the blocker and the major issues. The pages that were created and tested for this prototype were:

To create the prototype, I chose to utilize Adobe XD. I also utilized Adobe Photoshop to create the necessary graphics that I would need for the prototype. 

Visual Design

Once the pages that would be prototyped were identified, it was time to put together the visual design components of the redesign. Courtney, the graphic designer on the Marketing team, created the following color palette and logo to be used for the Lou Fusz Motorsports website:

In addition to following the branding style guide for Lou Fusz Motorsports, I also had to ensure that we were utilizing the correct logo for each manufacturer sold at the dealership and maintaining their specified style guidelines. With all of the logos gathered and the Lou Fusz Motorsports style guide, I was able to begin creating the prototype for Lou Fusz Motorsports. 

The Prototype

View Prototype

Test

Usability Testing the Prototype

The prototype was tested by 3 users that were representative of the personas that were created during the Define stage. The structure of the prototype usability test was the same as the previous usability test performed on the existing website with some updates to the scenarios and tasks. These changes specifically covered the solutions the prototype aimed to provide.

Insights

During usability testing of the prototype, there was a definite improvement in the overall usability of the Lou Fusz Motorsports website. I identified the following blocker and major issues:

2
Blocker Issues
  • 2/3 of users were unable to find the finance page even after it had been moved and renamed
  • 1/3 of users were unable to locate the "sell the ride" page
4
Major Issues
  • No search bar to search the entire site
  • No address for location of events
  • Trade-In was a confusing name to all three users tested
  • One user struggled to find the online "app" because they weren't sure what "app" meant

All the other usability issues on the prototype were minor cosmetic issues. The blocker and major issues that were found during the prototype usability test would be addressed before the prototype entered development.

View Usability Testing Results
View Usability Testing Results

Results

Final Recommendations

The prototype led to a 75% decrease in the number of issues that kept users from completing a task.

The prototype created drastically reduced the number of issues users were having when visiting the Lou Fusz Motorsports website. As with most sites, there were a few remaining issues that I identified during the prototype usability testing. Based on those results, these were my final recommendations to the stakeholders:

  • Add a search bar to the top-level navigation so users can search the entire site for the information they are looking for.
  • Add the full address for all event locations even if the event is at Lou Fusz Motorsports so users don't have to spend extra time searching for a location.
  • Update all buttons to include the full word "application" instead of "app" to reduce confusion on what "app" means.
  • Change the name of the "apply now" page to "finance center" to make finding information about financing easier for users.
  • Change the name of the "trade-in" page to "sell/trade-in" to clarify that this page is both for selling and trade-in's.
  • Include a scroll to the top button to reduce the amount of scrolling users have to do on long pages.

Making these additional changes once the site was in development would greatly reduce the amount of usability issues that users were having when they would visit the Lou Fusz Motorsports website. In turn, this should reduce the overall bounce rate on the site and help improve sales made via the website.

Final website

After completing the prototype, the stakeholders approved the prototype with the additional usability recommendations I made. The prototype and final usability recommendations were forwarded to the development team at Dealer Inspire so they could begin development. The site launched in January 2022.

*Note* Any changes made to the site after oct. 2021 were completed by someone else.