Alto Group
Iterative Design // Responsive Web Design // Project Management
I led the redesign of an Australian auto dealer group to a mobile responsive site featuring Omnibox search & an interactive dealership grid using wireframes & mockups that increased web traffic.
Themes
User Experience Design, Information Architecture, Branding Consistency
Team
PM, Developers, and Myself
Tools
Photoshop
Timeline
4 Months: March 2016 - June 2016
Having a modern website is essential to business. We helped Alto Group achieve just that.
Alto Group is one of the larger auto dealer groups in Australia with over 12 dealerships across the New South Wales (Sydney) area servicing multiple brands. They have a very large inventory, but they also have a huge repair and service part of the business.
The problem was that Alto Group’s website gave off the feel of a small dealer group with very little vehicle inventory that was difficult to search and was not effective at generating leads for Alto Group.
How might we increase leads while improving the reputation of Alto Group online?
Because of their heightened status and influence in the auto industry in New South Wales, Alto Group needed a first-rate website that could improve their lead generation and simultaneously improve user trust by building brand trust.
Working with Alto Group, we identified the digital vehicle inventory and the vehicle service sections as the main areas that would solve Alto Group’s problems.
An updated digital vehicle inventory would show Alto Group’s status and influence by being able to see the large variety and supply. In addition, an updated digital vehicle inventory plus an optimized vehicle service appointment experience would increase leads.
Design Direction
Once the problem was identified, Alto Group was very quick to influence the design direction by providing us their own mock-up of the site. This was out of the ordinary for us because most clients came to us for design help and in this case, someone had already done it.
With this low-fidelity mockup in mind, I took some minor cues in terms of look and feel along with some layout issues. Additionally, Alto Group did not have any style guidelines so I extrapolated a brand from their logo, which was the only thing they were adamant about not changing.
The client provided their own mockup as the wireframing process began for guidance.
Defining the New Experience
While I was waiting on feedback for the homepage designs, I would work on the interior pages of the site. This allowed me to keep moving the project forward as I would quickly wireframe them on paper and build high-fidelity ones in Photoshop.
Eventually, the PM’s boss stepped in when he realized that the homepage design was taking too long and pushed back against Alto Group’s exacting demands.
Once the home page was completed in earnest, development on the site began and the rest of the designs were approved as they were completed.
The Launch
My goal was to design a modern sleek design that would inspire confidence, reflect Alto Group’s status, and establish a brand presence for them.
Vehicle Service Leads
Vehicle service was a huge part of Alto Group’s business to the point they equated it with sales leads from the vehicle inventory browsing. I understood the stakeholders’ demands, and a compromise was made to present both above the fold. I designed both features in the best way possible to avoid them clashing.
Dealer Map/Grid
With 12 dealerships from 10 different brands, and the desire to add more, I designed a map option and a grid option for the dealer group for display purposes. Both were solid options for the group at its current size as it offered flexibility as things changed but still delivered a solid experience for the user.
Vehicle Listing Page
I created a vehicle listing page that unified Alto Group’s inventory across all dealerships (in the backend) while displaying it in a visually appealing way. This drastically improved the previous search function where users had to search each dealership individually.
