Hertz
Using smart content strategy to build a path to the future
Hertz
Using smart content strategy to build a path to the future
Where we started
When we first sat down across the table from Hertz leadership, they described an existential threat to their business: not only were their digital properties suffering from brittle, obsolete infrastructure, but they also found themselves in competition with digitally native companies like Uber, Lyft, and online travel assistants.
Our task, then, was to not only improve their core user experience, but to also help bolster their brand reputation as a brick and mortar business that was adapting to the digital age. What that meant in practice was an unmistakable overhaul to their digital presence, but also helping their internal team to illustrate an ongoing commitment to innovative exploration within the travel space.
While the due diligence of industry competitor research was necessary, we also explored the adjacent digital products that would be 'perceptual competitors' – the online experiences that would set customers' expectations as much as (if not more than) their relatively low quality competitor experiences.
Somewhat counterintuitively, the incremental revenue of ancillary sales - things like supplemental insurance, car seat rentals, satellite radio, and phone chargers - would emerge as core to their business model. So in the midst of a complete reimagining of their online experience, the minor players of add-ons and upgrades would need to play a major background role.
But first we’d need to know what they were.
Our approach
Alongside our typical qualitative research into the user experience, we conducted an exhaustive content audit and inventory. Where our visual and interaction designers were building out a design system from an atomic level, our content designers worked in parallel to construct a content system - one that would come to form the basis of our proposed solution.
Hertz' perspective on its user base came entirely from its marketing segments, creating an unnecessarily complex and fragmented approach to determining user requirements. One goal of our research was to simplify the client's 'worldview' to facilitate a more focused and consistent approach to product development.
By creating named personas and assigning Hertz product owners to role play them through our user journeys, we helped them empathize and internalize the user research insights, and shifted their perspective away from the specific verticals or segments they were professionally responsible for.
A selection of ultimately deprioritized Hertz Car Sales work, including chat integration facilitating a hand off between AI support to human support.
At below left, a concept for used car search exploring 'folksonomic' options like "big family" or "red sedan," designed to accommodate the majority youth market and reduced price point (and expectations) associated with purchasing de-fleeted rental vehicles.
And where the legacy hertz.com design focused on the full-width desktop experience to the detriment of small screen accessibility, we built from the mobile experience first, leveraging data partnerships: online travel assistants, airlines, and hotel providers; but also adjacent services like restaurants, office and printing services, an travel related businesses like Starbucks. These immediate and adjacent partnerships would not only provide user value in the context of travel, but also provide user profile and behavior data that could better personalize Hertz’ future offerings.
The results
Ultimately what was delivered not only improved the legacy user experience by reducing real world touchpoints and friction, but also opened up the full on-rental experience to a company that had been focused entirely on reservation, pick up, and drop off.
An illustration of how our design solution would honor Hertz' existing focus on planning, booking, pickup and return, while opening up the on rental experience as additional 'customer surface area.'
Our modular, atomic approach to both design and content meant that not only was the overall system more efficient and simpler to maintain, but also optimized to personalizing customer experience by targeting the most relevant and useful ancillary products and services based on robust user profiles.
A selection of the modular, card-based experience. Each card served the user a simple set of microinteractions.
At top left, the more immersive desktop vehicle search experience.
At lower left, an example of how the search home screen could be adapted to accommodate Hertz' rental partnerships.
At right, a mockup of the 'vehicle forward' reservation finalization screen, showing the floating itinerary "receipt," merchandising placements, ancillary placements, and tertiary content.
An example of the digital style guide provided to the client as part of the final delivery. On the left are different rental vehicle scenarios; on the right are guidelines on how to prepare merchandising blocks for cross-platform responsiveness.
The bonus
Most exciting for me personally was the ‘hidden’ feature of the design: by structuring the design around a modular, personalized experience, Hertz was provided with a tool optimized for test and target. Where the upfront focus would be identifying which ancillaries were the most effective under what circumstances, the business also had the opportunity to market-test and incubate wholly new revenue streams - things like direct to vehicle, on rental fuel delivery; or direct to trunk product fulfillment.
A number of partner integration and co-branded, travel-adjacent product offerings were created as demonstrations of how Hertz could leverage the design system and interaction structure to explore new revenue streams. Labels on the different concepts tied back to the mission statement and success metrics co-developed with the client at the start of the project.
While a visibly clarified and modern brand and UX would prove Hertz’ commitment to competing with digital native brands, this test and target capability would allow it to illustrate to its shareholders (among others) that it was continuously innovating and expanding its perspective. And thanks to a simple microinteraction model, Hertz would have the data to back up its new business bets.