internal research • interviews • focus groups • jobs to be done
Bridging Workflow Gaps
The Agent Page is RepairPal’s B2B product for our extensive network of Partners, including CarMax, Geico, USAA, and more. As a key driver of partner referrals, the Agent Page enables our agents to find trusted shops within the RepairPal network to refer customers in need of vehicle repairs to. Given our expanding partner network, it was important to revisit the product’s experience and ensure the referral workflow and required functionalities were supported.
This multi-phased project took course over the full year of 2022, with the first phase launching in Q1 2022 and the second phase in Q4 2022.
Timeline
I was the lead UX Researcher, closely working with our Product Manager Adan Magana to identify the project objectives, outcomes, and research questions, as well as collaborating with our Product Designer Alison Perez to implement the design feedback.
Team
Setting the Stage
The Problem
The Agent Page is a core tool for our partners to book appointments on behalf of their customers for their required repairs as well as recommend certified shops based on a number of criteria. This unique experience combines functionality present across our core customer experience, listing a directory of shops based on the user’s vehicle make and location.
With new partners being constantly onboarded, the Agent Page tool has not been touched or revisited since its initial launch, and there have been a number of issues identified without being addressed.
Lack of sufficient information. Agents are responsible for recommending or booking with the right shop for the customer; however, information critical for making informed and representative decisions was missing. Filtering and sorting functionalities that help narrow down the selection were non-existent, and the remaining information displayed was minimal and unhelpful.
Absence of a feedback loop. Agents make referrals for customers and book an appointment for them, but following the referral, they have no feedback surrounding the customer and if they were taken care of, i.e. whether the appointment took place, the intended repair was successfully completed, etc.
Usability issues surrounding the antiquated design. As the remainder of the RepairPal.com site had undergone a visual design overhaul, the Agent Page tool was the final product that maintained the legacy branding, contributing to challenges utilizing the tool regularly.
Objectives & Outcomes
Measuring Against Multiple Verticals
This product experience is unique in that it touches both a business - our partner network - and the consumer - our RepairPal users - and hence has an added level of challenge when measuring the success of this project. We defined success against each of these verticals as follows:
Partners: Increase confidence that their customers are getting the service they need, create fewer bottlenecks and a better customer experience.
Customers: Ensure that they are being serviced by a shop that meets their specific needs and develop a more complete experience that keeps them connected to their support agent and encourages future bookings.
RepairPal: Improve adoption and usage rates for the agent page tool, leading to increased leads and conversion (i.e. completed repairs).
By creating a more useful tool for our agents, we hypothesized an increase in the amount of referrals and appointments to our certified shops through this avenue.
Two-Pronged Research Approach
The Agent Page tool is used by two sets of users, our internal team of Chat Reps, who help recommend and book appointments with shops on behalf of customers, as well as our partner agents, who are our core group of users and the original intent behind the creation of this tool.
To streamline the redesign efforts, I proposed taking a two-pronged approach to research by first identifying “quick win” improvements to the tool by meeting with our Chat Reps, then second reaching out to our agents to dig further into additional features and workflow adjustments.
The benefits of this approach include being able to (1) report back to our stakeholders with suggestions with a quicker turnaround, and (2) show our partner agents that we’re actively addressing this tool that is heavily-used and encourage them to share their feedback to further improve the experience.
PHASE ONE of the project focused on understanding internal use cases and pain points, as well as specific interactions our internal team has with agents and consumers.
As alluded to earlier, the original intent for the Agent page was to be used by our Partners; however, with the recent addition of Chat Reps who share a lot of face-time with consumers, they began to utilize this tool and rely on it as a means to make recommendations for shops to book appointments with. Hence, it was critical for me to reach out to our Chat Reps and understand how they typically interact with customers using the Agent page, what their end-goals include, and identify apparent and urgent changes to make to the design.
I conducted 1:1 interviews with each of our Chat Reps, synthesized common themes around their interactions with customers and making referrals, and worked with my design partner to identify initial improvements to the Agent Page prior to moving into the next phase of research.
PHASE TWO of the project revolved around uncovering the workflows of our Partner Agents, how they interact with customers, and pin-pointing the frustrations they may have about the existing tool.
To achieve this, I conducted a mixture of 1:1 and Focus Group-style interviews with various Partner Agents, including folks from CarMax, DOWC, and FIXD. Each of these partners tackles a different set of consumers and at different stages in their car ownership lifecycle, so it was important for me to have the variety to truly understand how the tool is used in multiple settings and the widespread reach it currently has.
The 3 main areas I hoped to learn more about included:
The Agent’s respective roles and responsibilities, as well as their ultimate end-goal from their interactions with customers
The referral process they typically follow and how this may/may not differ among partners
The most common repairs agents encounter and the decision-making process for selecting a shop to either refer or book with
Key Takeaways
Core Functionality
Side-by-side view of the old Agent Page and core site Directory
The process for finding a shop in the partner network and booking an appointment for the customer is very tedious. Adding in core functionality that would alleviate existing friction is the starting point for improvements to the Agent Page.
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Our Chat Reps were shuffling back-and-forth between the Agent page and the Directory, another tool on our core site, due to the lack of necessary information on the Agent page. Having to rely heavily on the core site’s directory also caused inconsistency between what shops were actually within the respective customer’s network, given that they were referred by Partners and not all shops have accepted to work with every Partner. This complication creates further work for our Chat Reps to cross-check and ensure the shops they recommend are appropriate for the customer.
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The “filtering” functionality present on the directory is used by our Chat Reps when going through the process of determining the best shop(s) for consumers, so incorporating these into the Agent page would help streamline the process.
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The shop cards on the Agent Page do not contain the same information as the shop cards in the Directory, the other tool heavily-utilized by our Chat Reps. In addition to the inconsistency, having information around the soonest availability of shops for appointments would help streamline the process for Chat Reps and recommend shops for customers that fit within their schedules.
Defining the Referral Process
Standardized Referral Process
The typical referral process starts with the customer asking for assistance with their vehicle, followed by understanding the vehicle issue and gathering customer information to input to their system. At this point in the journey, with the initial context set, the Agent Page enters the scene.
The Agent pulls up the page to access on their desktop computer, either via a bookmark or having the tab/window pulled up for the full day’s session. With the customer’s specifications, the Agent assists in finding shops to share with the customer, either ending in an appointment being booked or an email being sent for the customer to refer to and book an appointment on their own time.
The Agent Page plays a key role in determining the appropriate type of shop for the customer to book with based on their vehicle, their location, and additional specifications the customer may have (to be covered in an upcoming section). Hence, ensuring that we, as RepairPal, can provide as much information as possible that can help the Agent make the most optimal selection for the customer and in a seamless manner is vital for trust.
Identifying Roles, Responsibilities, and Needs
Jobs to be done framework used to represent the Agent’s role
The primary goal for our Agents is to help customers find a shop, and either:
Book on their behalf
Send referrals, answering questions along the way
Their additional responsibilities include starting and processing claims, managing customer escalations, reviewing customer calls and chats, and answering questions about repairs, price quotes, and warranty policies.
Maintaining a strong level of credibility and clear communication with the customer is a key part of the Agents’ roles and responsibilities, and supporting this as best as we can is pivotal in preserving our relationships with partners.
Shop Selection Criteria
Most common repair types and criteria used by customers for decision-making
Repairs come in all shapes and sizes, varying in levels of complexity, severity, and urgency. Larger repairs tend to require more in-depth diagnoses, and these kinds of repairs are also most often referred to RepairPal shops by our Partners. It’s important to note that customers who call-in are often needing to find repair shops ASAP, as they are often in panic situations, i.e. requiring roadside assistance and towing.
Outside of providing shops that are close-enough to the customer and specific-enough for their vehicle, there are a few additional criteria that customers tend to look at:
Flexibility - Giving the customer flexibility on when they can drop-off their vehicles, whether it’s before or after the usual business hours or on weekends, is important for consumers who have busy and packed schedules.
Convenience - Having the option for car rentals or shuttle service if the repair cannot be done that same day is important for consumers who require transportation assistance or are dependent on their one vehicle only.
Ensuring that we can provide both the Agent and customer with peace-of-mind can help with consistent usage of our tool and hopefully increase the number of appointments being booked, as opposed to just providing recommendations.
Launch + Reflections
With the extensive scope of this project and mirroring the two-pronged approach with research, both the design and development of the redesigned experience took 2 phases - and hence two subsequent launches. The result of the first phase of research was focused on establishing the core functions required to meet the workflow needs of our internal users, while the second phase was building out new features and modernizing the tool to provide a seamless user experience for our partner agents.
Slack Announcement of Product Launch
Launching phase 1 at the start of the year, followed by phase 2 towards the end of the year, was a full-circle moment that signified the incremental design improvements and recurring usability reviews that took place over the course of the launches. The most significant part of this experience as a researcher was the immense collaboration I shared with our Product Designer and Product Manager throughout this redesign effort, covered in the following section.
The PRD Trifecta
The brainstorming and planning process for the Agent Page & beyond!
My design partner Alison and product partner Adan were a true pleasure to work with over the course of the past year and played a significant role in the success of the product’s launch, the buy-in we received from stakeholders to complete this project, and with developing a strategy moving forward with future sub-projects stemming from this effort.
The Agent Page was just the start. Improving our email communication, creating helpful tools for consumers to compare shops, and simplifying the booking experience all stemmed as potential next steps in the pipeline. Creating an ecosystem of product experiences that flow seamlessly is the next step, and I can’t wait to get a jump on it!
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It was important for us as a team to establish a cadence of sharing updates depending on where we were in the project and create a shared understanding of expectations. This allowed us to communicate those expectations to stakeholders and deliver on timelines that we set collectively.
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While this one is more research-specific, it was important for me to share the insights I gathered from conducting the internal and agent interviews in a more close-knit fashion and have input provided by my design and product partners without any external pressure from stakeholders.
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I absolutely loved the brainstorming sessions we had as a team to generate new ideas for features or improvements based on feedback provided by our users, as opposed to leaving up to just the designer or product manager to come up with the requirements. This also encouraged us to push the boundaries for what the improvements could entail, a few of which are coming up next in the pipeline - see the following section to read more.
Shoutout to the most wonderful team to have worked with over the past year, especially my design partner Alison and my product partner Adan!
A massive thanks to Chandler Gassman for her phenomenal graphics to visually aid my stories.