Motability

Challenge

Help disabled customers find a suitable vehicle more easily
Help the business show improved conversion data to shareholders

Solution

Full-scale simplification of text, flows and search mechanisms

My role

I rewrote and tested all the text, including the questions for an enormous search matrix.

I helped reorganise page hierarchies through using text more effectively.

Home page

The language used for top tabs didn't describe what they referred to. Who would have thought that "Products" led to a page about their choice of vehicle types?

Before

The immediate presentation of a “Car Search” without any introduction was ineffective. Cars are not a suitable vehicle for over 30% of disabled customers so there was a high drop-out rate on the very first page.

I wrote and tested two new navigation buttons to signpost the two flows correctly. People understood that

- What’s Available led to the types of mobility support available

- Vehicle Search led to a filter for models within each type

After

I introduced a simple mission statement and a clear introduction to the range of mobility types available

Car Acquisition

This vital page as it was showed the highest drop-out rate in the site

The content is presented as two walls of text with no signposting or hierarchy

Before

There were an excessive number of links off page - NINE - with no guidance to which to choose first

I reduced and reorganised the process into an easy-to-understand 6-point journey to acquisition

After

To support this idea, I suggested the use of a "pathway" graphic to encourage users to progress down it

I gave each “stop”on the path its own Learn More link.

These led to short explanation pieces which only had a "back"button, so the user wouldn’t get lost in a new information flow

Advice about test driving vehicles

Another important page that was not being read. Average dwell time was only 12 seconds.

The writing is long-winded, and is disorientatingly repetitive. The phrase "Things to think about" occurs twice, in the body text and in the subhead

Before

The page was supposed to be offering gentle advice but presented it as a a wall of text broken by only one subhead

I also noticed that two different types of "things to check" were mixed up in the original text.

I separated them into two lists, and wrote them as practical checklists.

After

I noticed the site had some pleasantly encouraging statements buried in its walls of text.

I extracted some of these and suggested they be presented as quotes from the Customer Service team, to give a more personal touch.

This ended up being used throughout the site.