Camping in the Digital Era
An RV is like a second home on wheels. Our team collaborated with Element Three to redesign their QR code infrastructure for shoppers looking at Newmar vehicles.
The Newmar Corporation, a luxury RV manufacturer, approached marketing consultancy agency Element Three with the task of gathering customer analytics while shopping for their RVs. Element Three initially solved this with QR codes for on-lot RVs, but they soon realized most customers weren't scanning these codes. Our team was tasked with creating incentives for customers to scan the QR codes and enter their information.
This was my first semester-long UX studio project, and I was thrilled to learn how to work on a team effectively as well as how to apply my UX skills in the real world. During the semester I assisted with on-site interviews and research about RV shopping patterns. I also created the current QR experience cognitive walkthrough, and recreated a floor plan comparison page to help customers better visualize different floor plans.
Our team had the unique opportunity to visit the Mount Comfort RV dealership and an RV show in order to uncover the key aspects of the customer / sales representative interactions on a showroom floor and how customers interacted with Newmar’s QR codes. Our team started with a tour through the two Newmar showroom RVs, guided by a sales representative. Then we started to dive deeper into the strategies the salesperson used while talking to customers.
At the RV show, we scanned the QR codes of other RV companies to compare the experience to Newmar’s and observed how customers interacted with sales representatives and QR codes.
Our team aimed to discern and understand the RV buying process from the customer’s perspective. Specifically, our team wanted to learn about customer pain points during the buying process.
Our team put ourselves in the shoes of RV customers, ideating the possible questions and concerns of customers within each page of the QR code environment. Those questions focused on understanding where a button or link would redirect a customer to, and how visible floor plan images were (since the main function of the QR code is to display the floor plans for each model).
Models are listed horizontally when viewing the “See All Floor Plans” page, making the visually similar images hard to differentiate between.
After clicking the “Compare” checkbox, the images are still too small to clearly see the differences without zooming, which may cause customer confusion.
.png)
.png)
.png)
After clicking the “Read More” button in the What You’ll Find Inside homepage section, customers are redirected to a page that includes detailed information about the selected feature, but the bottom half of the page is a duplicate of the "What You’ll Find Inside" section.
All links are denoted using red text, but some links are outlined by a box, while others are not and there is no distinction between internal and external links, creating more confusion for the consumer.
.png)
After taking the time to understand what customers look for while researching potential RVs, the team took time to sketch ideas that would improve customer interaction while viewing the QR code experience. Our team had three big ideas:
We’ve improved the current QR experience, provided by Element Three, and created a cleaner and more approachable design that provides relevant information to both customers and Newmar. Below are the main features of the QR landing page.
The model name, starting price, and short description open the page and lets customers know the QR code matches the model they are standing in.
Customers are also greeted with an interactive 360º image of the model. This allows them to quickly view select angles of the exterior of the model.
The current floor plan and brochure Call-To-Action buttons serve to provide customers with relevant information and increase engagement.
This recommendation allows customers to explore the extensive options Newmar RVs provide via a guided Build-A-Coach application. It contains two sections, the design experience and a fine-tuning section for additional features.
This was a speculative approach in creating an enhanced on-lot shopping experience that immerses the buyer in the RV customization process using AR. Customers can find the experience when putting on a pair of AR goggles during a dealership visit.
This was my very first UX studio project, and I couldn't have had a better experience. Not only were my senior UX peers helpful in their mentoring, they were also very kind and were able to answer any questions I had regarding UX as a whole or related questions. Below are a few things I learned on this project, and how I can use them in my future endeavors.
Thank you to everyone on the Element Three team that I had the pleasure to work with. I hope our ideas and solutions can help provide forward momentum for the work you provide to Newmar!
