Powering car auctions with data and transparency
Car auctions move fast, and field buyers need reliable tools to fill their inventory. My team partnered with Byrider to build a mobile app to track purchases and help field buyers communicate with their home office while they were at the auctions.
At the time of engagement, the buyers used spreadsheet printouts that listed potential vehicles to bid on. These spreadsheets were many pages long, and often were outdated with auctions using digital tools to update inventory every minute.
Process
The current process was inefficient for field buyers. They missed out on important purchases, and were unable to compete with other auctioneers. For instance, if they won a particular auction, they would have to call their headquarters and report the purchase within minutes for them to receive credit. Making these calls caused them to lose time on other bids, and introduced the possibility for errors.
I conducted initial design research with stakeholders and engineers at Byrider headquarters. After initial research, we gathered enough assumptions to begin the design process.
I created wireframes to set up the app’s architectural navigation. I used hand sketches to convey early ideas to product and engineering teams. Based on these hand sketches, engineers built an initial prototype to use for field research. I used agile methodologies to conduct visual QA.
Determining navigation and microinteraction patterns, like a quick view of info, or moving records between lists
Design progression across a few phases
Things that came up
I learned that a mobile prototype helped me refine interactions and UI patterns because I was able to cover implementation across many device types.
The product team supported field buyers and company executives with weekly validation sessions. In these sessions, I learned about new challenges in the auction process, and shared insights from our side.
The product manager and I visited Byrider field buyers in Indianapolis when the prototype was ready to test. I ran usability sessions with auction buyers. I used a pre-production build to collect early data from field buyers. This helped inform the next phase of the MVP.
Some issues arose when we tested the app in the field. We discovered increased load times in areas of low connectivity. These were the primary conditions in which auctions took place, so it was pretty important to restructure the API to preload some of the suggested vehicles. We worked with stakeholders to determine attributes for previously successful bids.
Rearchitecting user flows after the field research
Initial Mockups
Outcome
The first prototype proved to be a successful framework for an enterprise tool. This initial phase helped us map out next steps for the product, like restructuring the API to preload suggested vehicles.
We determined how to build out the bid process within the app. I set up workflows to encourage field buyers to predict a bid price, and then update the actual purchase price after the bid was complete. This would help us gather more accurate data, while also reducing the burden on administrative employees to keep track of this information.
We also made recommendations to track and share notable auctions in their area. This way, teams will have the ability to coordinate their efforts and reach more events–resulting in adding more cars to their inventory on a given day.
