With smartphones and smart technology dominating the marketplace, merge the two by creating a smart app that helps car owners. One of the best ways to serve as a useful tool is through the maintenance process. Cars require maintenance that’s often dreaded by most. Consider some of the best ways to serve as a middleman in helping with this seemingly arduous task.
1. Create an Informative Yet Attractive Appeal
In the culinary world, chefs prioritize beautiful plating because people eat with their eyes first. Consider creating an aesthetically-pleasing interface because people consume with their eyes first. If the design looks cluttered, confusing, and unclear, they’ll ignore (and eventually delete) the app. Prioritize clean and clear designs. Make the interface visually attractive. Consider features such as a homepage, a few tabs, and some room for user customization (color-coding, extra reminders, service history, etc). The homepage might feature a reminder of the next important service date. A countdown feature might help the user to know how many months or days are left. Excellent UI/UX design makes the experience, so heavily invest in and test the design thoroughly. Once the app launches, pay attention to user reviews, what works, and what needs improvement. Constantly find ways to tweak the experience to make the excellent design the standard for your customers.
2. Conduct Research on Ideal Customer
Place yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. Think about the kind of car they drive, the issues they face with their car, and the scheduling issues they often run into. For some clients, their most pressing concern is that they have no idea how to take care of a car. They completely miss the routine check-ups (tire rotations, emission inspections, and oil changes). Your ideal client may only know that when a dashboard light goes on, it’s time to do something. However, they might not know what that specific light means and what needs to happen next. Your ideal customer might struggle to track important car paperwork or service records. Once you’re able to do extensive research to discover who you’re targeting specifically and their exact needs within the context of car maintenance, it’s easier to build with the user in mind.
3. Educate the User
When you’re able to educate the user in a way that feels effortless, you provide value. When a user can learn something new about car maintenance and easily connect it back to the app, they’ll begin to recognize it as a necessary, valuable asset they need to keep and reference. An example of an educational tool might be a graphic that showcases the standard symbols on a dashboard. When a person can look at the dashboard, see the ‘check engine’ light come on, and understand it, this also helps them to recognize what to look out for as they care for their car.
As you continue to develop an app and consider your audience, leave room for personalization. If a person can place the make, model, and year of their car, it’d be great to customize their experience to the actual car they drive. This makes the content more specific, personalized, and accurate. Be willing to get creative, but be sure to keep it as streamlined and user-friendly as possible. This will help your target audience find you, use the app, and keep it as a helpful resource.
