Ford Motor Company
· AutomobileFord Pro: Upfitting Vehicle Configuration
One centralized place to buy, price, and upfit a commercial vehicle
- Persona groups interviewed
- 4
- Core upfitting capabilities
- 3
- Regions phased: NA, then EU
- 2
Goal of the project
Ford has launched a new service called Ford Pro, which provides a one-stop solution for dealerships, upfitters, and customers to purchase and maintain commercial vehicles. A new build-and-price experience is put in place so that it propagates customer satisfaction and brand retention.
Geography
Targeting the North American region as part of Horizon 1 to test out the solution, then implementing a refined version in the EU region in Horizon 2. In later stages of the roadmap, the vision is to expand into Oceania and South Asia to test out similar upfit configurations while servicing their respective personas.
Key activities conducted
- Benchmarking and market research: Understanding the competitor’s approach on modern automobile e-commerce experience.
- Customer journey mapping: Building end-to-end journeys for each and every feature.
- Database design: Creating data entry points based on the proposed user experience.
- Designing high-level wireframes: Describing the product vision at a very high level that communicates to the businesses and stakeholders.
Who we spoke to
| Persona | Role & day-to-day | Pain points |
|---|---|---|
| Store manager Works for a local dealership | Fleet management, contacting local drivers, managing used vehicles, updating vehicle data, contacting local upfitters, and looking for deals on upfits. | Wants a system that connects existing fleet data with local upfitters; wants an e-commerce-style site to track upfit orders, status, and delivery; wants ease of finding vehicle upfits. |
| Store owner Owns and runs a store providing services and repairs | Sends repairmen to work on tasks, manages vehicles and equipment for houses and landscaping. | Does not want to spend a lot of time looking through upfit options; when buying a new vehicle, would rather get one that already has the necessary upfits ready; doesn’t care about brand loyalty of parts. |
| Regional store/fleet manager Works for a privately owned regional chain service company | Manages a fleet of vehicles, contacts parts stores and vendors for additional equipment; service technicians and drivers contact them for mechanical issues. | Struggling with high price markups from upfitting companies; even wanting just one part means paying for an entire package deal; wants the flexibility to upfit their own vehicle and visualize how it will look. |
| Drivers, service technicians, delivery personnel Works under a franchise or local store | Reports to the store manager, updates work orders and tasks, uses heavy equipment and machinery installed on the vehicle. | Wants to look up the cheapest options for upfitting parts in their area; wants an option to create custom invoices and share them with their managers. |
The "aha" moment
The proposed solution should be able to provide users with three core capabilities: searching for upfits alone, searching for vehicles with upfits, and lastly, upfitting their own vehicle. Based on these three insights, we crafted our solution.
Solution flow
The full solution flow: three parallel paths (buy to upfit, buy already upfitted, upfit my own vehicle) converging on a single cart and checkout.
Customer journey mapping
Journey maps highlighting the touchpoints of each persona, built from the flow above and tied to each interviewed user type.
Prototype creation
A low-fidelity, high-level prototype reflecting the MVP vision: vehicle upfitting, telematics, engine configuration, and build-and-price.
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