Volkswagen´s Omnichannel
customer experience

The brief was daunting: re-design the entire Volkswagen customer journey.

From an initial mobility need to choosing a car to own it, upkeep it,  and re-selling it.
A 5-year long customer journey that not only included all touchpoints, digital, advertising, dealerships, apps, in-car,... but also gave birth to a few pivotal new services in Volkswagen transition from a car manufacturer to a mobility provider.

VW NOW, a European pilot

Buying a new car is a highly engaging purchase decision that deserves the best customer experience. Unfortunately that was not what VW was offering its customers. Volkswagen had a huge "audience" (FB followers, in store traffic, site visitors, Newsletter subscribers,… ), Intermediaries were hitting their lead targets, but they just weren't converting that interest into sales.
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We set out to rethink the entire ecosystem and re-design the customer journey over ALL the touch-points, In-store, Site, app, in-car, media, social media, before, during and after ownership,… 

Not just to answer how VW could sell more cars but also uncover new services and offering to accompany it from a car manufacturer to a 21century mobility provider.

The concept, I named VW NOW, became the European pilot of Volkswagen new vision.

Built on Data, users and research, not gut feelings.

With such high stakes and in such a changing industry, more than ever, we needed to rely on quantitative and qualitative data. As the pilot market was France, that is where we focused most of our research. Accessing other countries data to highlight local specificities or underline macro trends
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In-store Observation
Online Observation
Focus groups and interviews
Work sessions with industry experts in DE and UK

Later in the design process, we involved these data sources again to challenge conclusions we had come to and to test prototypes for continuous feedback.

A business design project at its core.

This project wasn’t just about overcoming pain points from a UX or service design perspective and design the screens. It demanded to go much deeper and understand the business relationships and motivations between the stakeholders (VW, dealers, customers. banks,…); what KPIs they used, where and how they made their profits.

For an omnichannel strategy to be successful it is vital that each "Sillo touchpoint” strategic goal is aligned to their own best interest.  One of the issues was that some of the KPIs used for incentives by VW had become goals that involuntarily rewarded behaviours that were hurting the overall experience and counterproductive to the business goals.

It is because the role of digital becomes increasingly tied to companies bottom line, that I went and got a business degrees. We are designing solutions for the real world.

Leveraging the challenge to build and rally a team.

When the initial brief came in, shortly after I joined, Tribal only existed in name. It was a dept of DDB; one that had never tackled such a big project. Confidence - and morale- was low.

The first thing I did was move the entire team project, not just the designers, to the garage (after clearing away the cars of course). Though an unpopular decision initially, it quickly became clear it had been the right one.

We all sat together on one huge table, united around a common goal. Nothing else mattered.  Seeing everyone's commitment and hard work created a fun energy we all fed and contributed to.

This not only turned us into a team but made us into the agency Tribal.

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

Beyond brand content, customers are looking for information and services to assist them.

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

From mobile to desktop, alone or with your partner, at the dealership or at home, or even via chat…
The Volkswagen Now experience has to be seamless and omnichannel as our customers are.

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

The philosophy of Volkswagen Now is to anticipate and "push" the information and services that are most useful to customers at any given moment, rather than to have them look for it.

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

People are different and have their own concerns and journeys. Volkswagen Now, fueled by the DMP, leveraging Digit’all, creates a unique tailor-made experience to fit each customer.  

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

The customer experience doesn't start when a person buys a car. It begins as soon as he or she starts to interact with Volkswagen, even if they are not on our site, dealership or social media.

Project Manifesto

I am a big believer in using project manifestos. Simple sentences that explains internally what we are trying to accomplish, and how. It is not about the features but about the intents, so that we can use it as a guide throughout the project.

All the information and services, delivered how and when you need them,
to create a stellar VW customer experience.

More than a singular experience, Volkswagen Now is a journey. Volkswagen Now accompanies customers with relavant information and services from the first touchpoint: from « I am not looking for a car », to « I am a VW client » (ownership, and re-purchase).

User perspective demo film

To explain to internal stakeholders, the vision of Volkswagen NOW from a user perspective, we made little films where two customers tell their story. A way to literally make all those features, sites, apps, come alive. Here is one of them.
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