Empire Car Spa is a luxury car wash service app for iOS.

In a way, this project was a 2 for 1 deal! I designed one flow so that the business itself could operate and another flow so that the customers could book and manage their car washes. 

This process involved lots of discussions with the stakeholders on topics related to information architecture and overall user flow. Furthermore, this project had a relatively short deadline, so we went into high fidelity pretty quick! 

The simplicity of the UI, although in part, was a result of the time constraints, was also an intentional brand decision to keep it minimalistic for a luxury look & feel. 

Planning for bounce rate

The signup process is broken into four steps with progress indicators along the way. But before I chose this route, we had an extensive list of fields that could've potentially caused a high bounce rate.

So, we attempted to reduce these a bit by asking questions like: 

- “If we remove this field, will it negatively impact the user experience and/or our revenue?”

- “Would it be possible to ask for this information at a later point in the user flow?”

These questions enabled us to reduce the amount by a lot. At that point, the remaining fields fit categorically into a short four step process with ease. 

User experience on the go

Rinse & repeat - "What information is absolutely essential for us to run our business effectively?" After concluding the answers to that question, here's what we came up with. 

Regarding manual inputs vs selections, I chose to go with dropdowns, radio buttons and toggles wherever possible. Based on our research, we knew that many of these users were c-suite executives, often on the go. I wanted to craft a UI that was easy to use while walking or just generally distracted by surroundings. 

In addition, the business model dictated we offer a long list of upsells. Knowing that our users were typically in a rush, I didn't want to interrupt the task flow with add ons - this would've degraded the polite & helpful tone of the app's brand identity & UX. Instead, I opted for a small secondary button, which led to a series of toggles for every add on. The sales process did not start & finish in the app. Being that this is ultimately a real-world service, we decide to rely on in-person sales strategies & strategic print materials upon car pickup. 

Competitive research without competitors

At the time, there were no other competitors for an application like this. However, in my opinion, competitive research, whether big or small, is a must in the UX design process.

So how do I research is there is no competition?

I'm a big believer that there is nothing new under the sun. Most app designs, web designs, graphic designs are inspired by something. Often times, the inspiration comes from another source entirely. This was the case for me. I took notes from banking apps to address payment details & car rental apps to address car details. 

Statuses every step of the way

As this service typically caters to the affluent user, I took careful consideration to make sure that we respected their time by always providing feedback ahead of schedule.

I used a green status light to indicate that the wash has "Started", a yellow to indicate "Waiting" and red for "Ended". However, sometimes, "Waiting" isn't enough feedback for someone who might be in a rush. So, after speaking with the stakeholders, we agreed that it was safe to add a start and end time to give the user confidence when planning their day around the wash.

I added a live tip button to easily tip washers after the wash ends. In keeping with the luxury brand, I gathered inspiration from high end restaurants, where the tip is often suggested. This helps to maintain the polite, luxury brand feel as well as to encourage generous compensation to employees, thereby improving the business as a whole, from the inside out.

The final result was an efficient, luxury car wash booking application for iOS that reflected the live experience of the Empire Car Spa service.

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