Service Reservation Platform
Case Study
Ford is transforming vehicle maintenance by delivering dealership-quality service directly to the customer's location. To support this strategic shift our current tool needed a facelift. We developed an intuitive scheduling experience, optimized for the unique demands of Mobile Service operations. This tool provides dealers and their advisors with the flexibility to efficiently manage and scale both fleet and retail appointments.
Research
Our entire approach was grounded in understanding the needs and behaviors of our users. For instance, our deep dive into the current platform usage revealed a majority of our users access the platform on desktop. Coming from our Amplitude data, this reveal, immediately informed our decision to focus on a desktop experience. We also discovered a blank slate – there were extensive limitations of the calendar tool on the platform, giving us the freedom to build something truly tailored from the ground up. This initial research phase was vital in shaping our overall strategy and the specific questions we brought to our interviews, ensuring we focused on key areas like user expectations, capacity management, and operational workflows.
We didn't just look within the automotive industry; we cast a wide net! Our competitive and cross-industry audit focused on how leading platforms manage at-home logistics, scheduling, and customer expectations. We analyzed giants (Amazon, PODs, Black Tux, Chewy, BizzyCar) for transparent self-serve logistics and real-time tracking, easy-to-edit bookings and location-based accuracy, and smart calendar logic and dealer-facing visibility.
As a product designer, my focus was on crafting a highly intuitive and efficient tool. I achieved this by simplifying the interface for enhanced clarity across all levels – from the overall user flow to specific vehicle and reservation details. To boost efficiency, I consolidated multi-step processes into intuitive modals, and to provide flexibility, I introduced customizable calendar views. These deliberate design choices directly streamlined workflows, empowered dealers to scale Mobile Service effectively, and perfectly aligned with our core business objectives.
By grounding our design process in dealer feedback and operational data, the project established a north star vision that clarified where FSR+ needed to go next. The outcomes drove alignment across product, engineering, and business teams, enabling us to break the vision into MVP milestones and roadmap priorities. Currently under patent consideration, FSR+, has successfully rolled out to hundreds of dealers over the past couple of years, leading to increased product utilization, streamlined workflows, and improved satisfaction for both dealers and customers. Dealers can now efficiently schedule retail appointments and entire fleets in fewer steps, while customers benefit from faster, more flexible service without needing to visit a dealership.
Product Design: Ken Villapando, Leslie Black, Matthieu Reed