Associate Creative Director, Experience, 2015-2019
On Mercedes-Benz, I led teams in the development of prototypes, pilot programs, and client workshops, and additionally implemented usability testing across the entire account. We defined customer journeys and mapped customer moments to our client’s product and business ecosystem, which we used to spearhead efforts to define, plan, and execute a personalization vision for MBUSA.com.
We created this moments-driven ecosystem to serve as a foundation for mapping customer journeys across products, properties, and business lines. The map provided a clean visual framework for identifying redundancies and gaps, and also for tracking in-progress work and future initiatives.
This project involved both the personalization of the MBUSA Home Page, as well as defining a longer term personalization vision for the entire site and shopping process. For Phase I, we personalized content for a key customer segment across the shopping lifecycle. Early analytics showed significant increase in engagement across the personalized content.
Qualitative testing was non-existent when I joined the account in 2015. Starting with guerilla-style, in-office volunteers, we demonstrated the value of usability testing on shoestring budgets to our skeptical clients. As client support grew, we were able to explore additional tools and conduct tests across multiple markets.
Testing became a standard consideration for product and feature releases, and our products and teams were both better for it. We also worked to create internal process loops between our testing and data science team to answer existing questions and to generate additional hypotheses.
Through an evolution of commerce concept prototypes, dealer interviews, and client workshops, we created an online reservation experience through which customers could identify a specific vehicle and begin the purchase process. The pilot program launched in 2019 with Mercedes-Benz CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) vehicles and proved highly successful, defying dealers’ expectations. The program expanded to multiple regions and was put on the roadmap for a national rollout.
In critical areas such as personalization, e-commerce, and vehicle configuration, these workshops helped our account align on future work both as a team and with our clients. We developed forward-looking experiences and then iterated with our clients. The most promising ideas were carried into account planning and scoping sessions, where they were used to drive future project and budget planning.