PRODUCT • EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Improving Kia's online-to-in-person customer journey
Client
Timeline
February - March 2024
Contributions
UX Research, A/B Testing, Wireframing, Rapid Prototyping
Team
5 Designers (Raymond C, Lori J, Angela L, Christy F)
Overview
Extending the online-to-in-person customer journey.
My team and I set out to explore how Kia's online and in-person experiences could be better connected. Through rapid ideation, prototyping, and user testing, alongside feedback from industry professionals, we iterated on multiple concepts before landing on a solution focused on improving pricing transparency and supporting a more seamless customer journey.
Where It Started
During a conversation with a close friend…
One of my friends shared their experience looking for a car to buy at Kia and noted their frustration with missing pricing details when comparing vehicles on the Kia website. Bringing this insight to the design team, I proposed it as a potential area to address through experience design.
"The information I saw online didn’t match what the dealer told me later. It made the whole experience feel frustrating, unreliable, and misleading, and ultimately led me to walk away from purchasing a Kia vehicle."
— Prospective Kia Customer
Friend's text with a Kia dealer
Reddit posts on Kia dealerships
Validating The Problem
But was this problem worth pursuing? We needed more research insight.
Based on our research, Kia ranked 1st in vehicle dependability, yet last in customer satisfaction, revealing a clear disconnect between product quality and the purchase experience. This gap highlighted an opportunity to reduce friction and rebuild trust across the customer journey.
Studies from J.D.Power, A Pioneer In Use of Big Data and AI For Consumer Research
Solution Highlight
Designing a more transparent and connected car-buying experience.
Research
How we built our understanding of the car-buying experience.
We had limited first-hand knowledge of the car-buying journey, so we approached research in three stages: starting with industry data, narrowing to the Kia website, and then hearing about past experiences directly from real buyers.
Step 1: Industry Research
What does the broader landscape tell us?
We analyzed third-party research to understand the pain points car buyers face across the category (not just on Kia's website).
Key insights:
Digital retailing is growing, but the in-person experience still remains important.
While digital retailing is increasing, a large proportion of buyers visit in person: 85% of buyers say they visited a dealership during the purchasing process. (Source: J.D. Power)
Lack of trust in dealerships is a major barrier to purchase.
Distrust of salespeople is a root cause of friction in the buying experience, as 83% either do not trust or only somewhat trust the salesperson, making transparency a deciding factor. (Source: Ipsos)
Many car buyers don't feel informed enough to decide confidently.
Of those who bought a car from a dealership in the last 2 years, 55% felt they lacked the necessary information needed to make a confident decision, while only 45% felt fully informed. (Source: Ipsos)
Step 2: Website Audit
Where does Kia's current site fall short?
We then audited the Kia website from a customer's perspective to see how it addressed or worsened these pain points. Four key issues emerged that could impact the overall usability.
A. Long and hard-to-read texts about important pricing details
B. Weak inventory visibility with a lack of visual cues and real-time stock info
C. Features in the user profile (owner portal) are inaccessible to browsers
D. Fee breakdowns and pricing details hidden inside small icons as tooltips
Step 3: Online Survey
What do real car buyers say?
Finally, we surveyed 16 current and past car buyers (ages 21-54) to validate our hypothesis with direct input and to better understand their priorities and decision-making processes.
Key insights from our survey:
Car buying is a hybrid research experience
Buyers rely on both online research and in-person interactions when making decisions.
Pricing is the primary driver of decision-making
68.8% of respondents ranked pricing as their top priority when selecting a vehicle.
Problem Framing
There was a clear gap between online and in-dealership experiences.
Our research revealed a disconnect between the online research experience and in-person dealership interactions. Inconsistent pricing and limited transparency create uncertainty, ultimately reducing trust and confidence in the decision-making process.
How might we?
How might we facilitate a seamless transition between the online and in-person purchasing experience to reduce price discrepancies and enable informed decisions for Kia buyers?
Design Sprint
From insights to tested solutions in one week.
With a tight timeframe, we used the Design Sprint framework to explore and validate potential solutions quickly. Over five days, we mapped challenges, sketched solutions, built a prototype, tested with users, and refined based on real feedback.
Sketching Solutions
Generating ideas individually and thinking together as a team.
Rather than designing as a group from the start, we began with individual sketching to explore a wide range of ideas. We then came together for a heatmap voting session, placing dots on the strongest elements and consolidating the most promising features into a shared direction.
Wireframe Concept Sketches
Home login
Find vehicle
Personalization
Compare pricing
Pricing summary
User profile
Quotes + offers
Pre-fill forms
Collection of low-fidelity wireframe concept sketches during the heat map voting session
Validating Design Decisions
Validating whether our designs improved clarity and decision-making.
With our first high-fidelity prototype, we conducted an A/B test against the existing website. Participants were given task-based scenarios across both flows, letting us measure whether our changes improved clarity, confidence, and the online-to-in-person transition.
Key insights from our first round of user testing:
1
Pricing comparison landed well
Users found our prototype easier to compare the pricing of vehicle builds and offers compared to the existing website.
2
The online-to-dealership transition remained unclear
Users felt uncertainty transitioning from online research to dealership visits, highlighting an area for iteration.
Key Design Decisions
How the final design improves clarity, transparency, and decision-making.
Based on our research and testing, we redesigned key touchpoints to improve pricing clarity, support better comparison, and create a more seamless transition between online and in-person experiences.
Design Decision #1
Vehicle Customization Page
Issue Identified
Pricing details were buried in dense text, making it difficult to understand total costs or trims without extensive scrolling.
What We Changed
Pricing is now surfaced upfront with clear trim breakdowns and simplified financing options, enabling faster comparison.
Design Decision #2
Vehicle Inventory Page
Issue Identified
Users were limited to location-based search, with little control over filtering by preferences or features.
What We Changed
Added advanced filtering and real-time dealership pricing, enabling more precise and informed inventory searches.
Design Decision #3
User Profile (Owner's Portal) Page
Issue Identified
Users had no centralized place to track their journey, forcing a disconnect between research, purchase, and ownership.
What We Changed
Introduced a unified profile that supports both pre- and post- purchase stages, managing their journey in one place.
Extending the Experience
Bridging online and in-person experience through CRM integration.
To further support a connected customer journey, we introduced features that extend beyond the interface, such as optional pre-filled documents to reduce dealership wait times and a CRM-integrated workflow that connects customer information directly to the sales team.
User Scenario Videos
Bringing it to life: How the experience works in practice.
To demonstrate how the redesigned experience supports a seamless transition between digital and physical touchpoints, we created a two-part user scenario following the customer journey from online research to in-dealership interaction.
Online: Research & Configuration
In-person: Decision & Handoff
Reflection
Learning to navigate uncertainty.
This project became one of the most formative experiences of my undergraduate journey. It challenged me to navigate uncertainty, collaborate closely with others, and think beyond isolated features toward designing end-to-end experiences. Through this process, I learned that strong design isn’t just about creativity; it requires grounding ideas in product thinking and balancing desirability, feasibility, and viability to create solutions that truly work in the real world.
A dream team that made the work better.
What stood out most wasn’t just the outcome, but the people behind it. Working in a small, driven team created a strong sense of trust and openness, where ideas could be shared freely, and feedback was constant. It felt like a team where everyone elevated each other, turning challenges into momentum and making the process genuinely enjoyable. Kudos to everyone in the team!
The team that made it possible
Classmates, mentors, guest critiques, and friends!