/*case study*/
Zipcar
Instantly book cars near you.

Duration
1-week design sprint
Team
Solo
My Role
UX Designer
(Research, UI design)
/*overview*/
Why Zipcar?
Zipcar prioritizes its 18-34 years old target market due to the increasing demand from the targeted age group for rental cars in urban areas. Given its successful subscription-based business model, Zipcar has the potential in increasing its users if not for its subpar interface.
/*goal*/
Retaining user engagement through relevant UI
Zipcar's subpar user interface (UI) and user experience (UI) prevent users from viewing its service before committing on using. To tackle this problem, I will take a heuristic approach to improve the usability of Zipcar's interface to retain user engagement and increase user conversion.
/*problem*/
Identifying usability issues
To investigate the problem, I conducted a usability test on Zipcar's mobile application to see the problem that arises.
Findings:
-
Important information wasn't visible
-
There is no dedicated mobile Sign-up
-
Style was outdated

Research: Competitor Analysis
Research: Competitor Analysis
Design and usability comparison between Zipcar, Turo, Hertz, and Carla

Turo

Hertz

Carla
Google Play Ratings:
-
Turo (4.5⭐, 1M+ downloads)
-
Hertz (4.2⭐, 100k+ downloads)
-
Carla (4.3⭐, 100k+ downloads)
-
Zipcar (3.8⭐, 1M+ downloads)
Findings:
-
All 3 competitors directly display their service
-
All 3 competitors have intuitive designs
-
Turo and Hertz utilizes modern aesthetics
Conclusion: Although it is controversial for Zipcar to direct the users to its service (due to its subscription-based business model), it would be beneficial for Zipcar to showcase its service in its landing page.
The Solution
-
Redirecting the user to the landing page instead of the sign-in/sign-up page. This allows the user to view Zipcar's service as well as being able to go through the car options.
-
Create a dedicated mobile sign-in/sign-up instead of redirecting the user to the website. This allows a better user flow and reduces confusion.

Design: user flow
Since I did not have time to finish the whole sign-in/sign-up mockup, here is the user flow detailing of the general sign-up process. This flow will be triggered after the user selects a car that they want to rent. Members could sign in and new users could sign-up to become a member. This flow is created to align with Zipcar's membership business model.

/*prototype*/
Final Design
Redirecting the user to the landing page
-
Display the main information: Zipcar's car rental service.
-
Increase user retention rate for new users trying to check out Zipcar's service.


Create a dedicated mobile
sign-in/sign-up
-
Provides better user experience
-
Reduces confusion
-
Takes shorter time
/*reflection*/
What did I learn?
✨ UX design is not just making things pretty
There are a lot of steps required before going to the design process. By utilizing design thinking, I was able to learn how to empathize with the user by becoming the user while conducting usability tests on Zipcar and its competitors.
⌚ Time management is really important
It's not easy to conduct my first individual case study not knowing the standard procedure to conduct a proper UX case study. Due to a time crunch, I was not able to develop the whole sign-up process but was still able to provide a user flow.