Ford
Henry
For Ford, we designed a new incident support system based on the principle of gamification, as a way to encourage participation and build a brand community.
Introduction
The problem defined by the brief states Incident Support to Customers. Ford requests a new product-service system that overcomes these issues: the uncertainties that people face and feel after an incident, and the customers’ tendency of calling Ford Roadside Assistance even for minor problems that they could fix on their own. The company also asks for integration of smart technologies that could connect customers as well as their cars. The target audience is set as existing Ford users, mainly in Europe. And the timeframe is between tomorrow and five years.
Client /
Ford
Scope /
Strategic Design
Service Design
UX Design
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Team /
Merve Fettahglu
Milou Mertens
David de Witt
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Year /
2017
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Project Length /
3 months, 2 days per week
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Focus and Scope
All accidents are incidents but not all incidents are accidents. “The word accident has a negative implication and could result in loss of life, or damage to goods. An incident on the other hand can refer to any event that happens; it could be positive or negative.” (1)
Regulations by the European Union require all the cars produced after April 2018 to be equipped with eCall technology, meaning that 112 will be called automatically in case of a serious accident (2). This is another reason to come with alternative solutions to other types of incidents and breakdowns.
The majority of the breakdowns are caused by minor problems such as battery issues, flat tires and motor management (3) which are easily solvable and sometimes preventable, with the right equipment or extra information, attention, courage or strength. Considering how human factors play an important role even in any type of accident and there is a growing technological interest in the topic -for instance smart driver seats (4)- it is clear that more than technical needs should be addressed.
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In a creative session, the group members discussed possible minor problems. The subgroups included key related issues, parking difficulties, health of the driver and passengers, distractions, vision problems, mood, or need for speed. This allowed us to paint a reach picture about the different, and very diverse, causes of incidents. The results of this session are depicted in the following visual.
Trends
Ford elaborates a trend book every year. We reviewed the trend books from 2016 and 2017, and by doing so we identified the most relevant trends for our project: the good life 2.0, time well spent, community ties, embracing heroes, Swiss army life, time poverty, the EZ life and fit for misfits (5). Here I highlight embracing heroes, community ties and the EZ life.
COMMUNITY TIES Communities can take many on many forms and sizes - both online and offline. According to a US Gallop poll, people who said they received recognition for community service self-reported being a well-being score of 70/100. Community and the sense of belonging are more important than ever and many brands provide a community feeling as successful as, for example, nations or football teams.
EMBRACING HEROES Embracing heroes refers to communities and individuals who rethink the meaning of being a good person, citizen or neighbour. Initiatives for random acts of kindness are everywhere (i.e. pre-paying a coffee or a slice of pizza for a homeless person). As Ford says, they are committed to creating products and experiences that empower consumers, and their goal is to get heroes in motion.
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THE "EZ" LIFE The rise of “full-service” technology is leading to more anticipatory and self-sufficient products. As artificial intelligence pushes new limits, a lot of new responsibilities are outsourced to technology. Smart solutions, that learn and adapt to our needs – expands our sense of hope and possibilities for a better life ahead.
Personas
We conducted more than twenty interviews with users who had either experienced an incident or helped someone with their car. From the insights of these interviews, we derived a set of personas to synthetize the information from the interviews. The personas also enabled us to focus our design on a group of characters.
Speaking with users derived in the realization that each group has very different needs. For those who are in need of help, some might need reassurance and emotional support, while others just want to be helped as quickly as possible. For those who want to help, some just enjoy sharing their expertise while others will only do it if they can empathize with the other person.
Additionally, we sent a survey to our friends and family, with a yield of 37 responses. This allowed us to refine and verify our previous findings from the qualitative research. 70% percent of the respondents had been involved in a car incident. Most of them said that they would call the ANWB or emergency services in the event of an incident, but on the other hand they responded that they would try to help if they saw someone else suffering an incident. The visual depicts our findings translated into the personas we will be designing for.
Current and Desired Situation
CURRENT SITUATION We researched existing products (both of Ford and others) as well as Ford’s brand identity and strategy. There are a range of solutions available: some try to prevent panic, others sense and report the accidents directly to police, or those that show maintenance information.
Currently, for incident support, Ford customers are provided with either a direct or an indirect connection to Roadside Assistance Services. They do not pay extra fees if they fulfill some requirements, however every time the service is used, it costs Ford approximately 100€.
Additionally, one of the most noticeable issues Ford is suffering from is the lack of user attention and communication. This is alarming since a better relationship with customers is required to thrive in the 21st century.
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DESIRED SITUATION The aim is to minimize the role of external services, while keeping Ford’s investment on infrastructure at minimal. We want to achieve that by letting users communicate with and help each other, as well as making it possible for drivers to understand their cars better.
Vision
We defined a vision based on our analyses of needs, trends and the current situation to make drivers feel more secure, by being visible to peers, educating drivers about their own car and communicating vehicle issues clearly.
Principles
We suggest a three layer system, depending on the severity of the incident. If possible, the driver should be able to handle the situation on their own, if not they should ask peers for help. Self-help and peer-help is an extension of professional services provided by Ford. The three layer system will be possible by the following four elements:
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Connection refers to enabling the connection between the car and the customer’s phone. This will eliminate the barriers of entry of the system for those who don’t have yet a Smart vehicle.
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Prevention refers to the possibility of providing more detailed and live feedback on maintenance issues (made possible by connection to On-Board Diagnostics System).
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Communication means that users will be able to communicate with other peers near them, making peer assistance possible.
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Education refers to teaching customers how to solve the issues themselves. This can be done through workshops, how-to videos made by Ford or peers, or easier to understand manuals.
The platform will only work efficiently, if drivers are willing to take part. To encourage participation, we defined three more principles: brand community, motivation and gamification.
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The idea of community used to belong to geography based populations. However in the contemporary world, brands have power to create one beyond nations. And we want to build a community, a shared consciousness, a sense of solidarity and moral responsibility with newly identified rituals and traditions.
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Cognitive evaluation theory suggests two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic (6). Extrinsic motivation refers to rewards, prices and external factors, while intrinsic motivation refers to more internal factors such as karma, competence, autonomy, connectivity. A very contemporary and common way to motivate and engage users is gamification, which simply works with badges and ranking systems. Badges make it possible to impact intrinsic motivations by external events (7).
Functions
With a creative session we laid out a general structure for functions of the platform. Education, Support and Rewards became the focal points, without neglecting interaction methods and other complementary options.
Badges
To become an expert, a mechanic or hero, one has to gain experience by collecting the badges. The ultimate reward for the user, would be getting a level 10 expert, hero and mechanic badge, or several of them. We came up with this categorization based on the personas previously determined, simplifying and glorifying them. A badge is initially bronze, and is upgraded to silver and gold by more effort.
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The “shield” badges encourage prevention, the “shock” badges are for the real incident moments and the “circle” badges are given for sharing expertise. Below is the list.
The Platform
The platform is designed for two devices: one is the navigation extension on the Ford screen, the other is a more detailed phone application. By Ford Sync, the phone and the car can be synced easily. The platform consists of two components: Henry academy and Henry community.
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HENRY ACADEMY The Henry academy enables drivers to work towards becoming a mechanic and expert. It can be used to give an insight in the car mechanics, prevent damage and learn from tutorials. On the other hand the platform is used to share knowledge, post tutorials and help peers to fix their own car.
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HENRY COMMUNITY The Henry community is an addition to Google maps, in which the driver is still able to use the tool as navigation but also gives direct feedback about peers. Drivers can ask questions to the community or send them directly to another car. By triggering intrinsic motivations (such as karma and competence) and combining it with gamification, the community will expand.
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Here you can see a video of the low fidelity prototype of Henry:
Ford's Side of the Story
The new system is not just convenient for users, it is also beneficial for Ford in many ways. Firstly, it allows the company to collect a new set of meaningful data. Additionally, it lessens Ford’s reliance on external Roadside Assistance services and saves money. Lastly, it makes drivers take control, letting them create a stronger bond with the brand.
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DATA Currently most cars are not connected to a data system, except for usage data that might be collected during checkups. Henry’s aim is to inform drivers what is wrong with their car, and to enable them to act on it. Data sets like these, give Ford an insight in what are the main occurring car issues or how these issues are being fixed within the different car models. Data like this, can result in offering special additional services or preventive features built in the new designs of the models.
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ANWB/ADAC Currently Ford has contracts with roadside assistance companies such as ANWB and ADAC. This special service Ford is offering is controlled by these companies. Although services like these are valuable for Ford customers, and therefore for Ford to offer, it comes with a risk. Henry’s aim is to prevent a percentage of the reoccurring car issues and stimulate peer support, resulting in a lower use of services like ANWB and ADAC.
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TRUSTWORTHINESS AND SERVICE Henry’s ambition is to give the driver back a sense of control, by offering a service that gives drivers the opportunity to learn about their car, help others or being helped. This non-profit model provides the driver with a more transparent process and control and ownership over their own car. It will also expand to non-Ford drivers and will expand company’s impact.
Final Presentation
At the end of our project, we had the opportunity to present at Ford Headquarters in Koln, Germany. The set up was a market where each team got one stand, and we had several materials:
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marketing brochures which presented the final idea
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a booklet that detailed our process, from initial research to final concept
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a roll up, which intended to be as attractive as possible to bring people to our stand
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an animation, which people could watch while they were waiting to speak with us
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The visitors of our stand could already earn their first badge. There were three options. To become a mechanic, we had a LEGO car, and they could fix an issue with the car (such as a broken light or a flat tire). To become an expert, we asked them to watch the animation. And to become a hero (our hero), they were required to bring a friend to our stand.
We were selected as one of the top three teams, and it was very fun to present our idea to employees that were so enthusiastic about it!
