UX Design Case Study 2024

Empowering Customers with Construction Equipment Rental Availability Insights

Client / Sunbelt Rentals

My role / Senior UX Designer

Implementation Date / March 2024

Project Overview

Sunbelt Rentals required a redesign of their e-commerce experience to address a critical issue: customers discovering rental equipment unavailability during or after checkout. By informing customers of rental availability earlier, we aimed to reduce user frustration, reduce session exits, and prevent the need for site backtracking due to rental unavailability.

Discovery Phase / Initial Research

Our research methodology combined quantitative analysis using ContentSquare analytics with qualitative insights gathered through user interviews, surveys, and a comprehensive competitor analysis.

Who are our customers and what are their shopping behaviors?

Using ContentSquare Data Analytics:

Screenshot of our ContentSquare Data Analytics 3-month session focusing on a test group of 12 million customers

What did we learn from our quantitative research?

of customers who completed checkout encountered an error message stating their rental equipment was unavailable.

of customers who reached the checkout page backtracked and returned during the same session, often to modify their equipment rental choices before resuming checkout.

Research Findings

Customers want earlier, clearer information on equipment availability and were frustrated by conflicting reservation notifications. They often abandoned their purchase if preferred equipment was unavailable at checkout without alternative guidance.

Definition Phase / Persona User Journey

During our definition phase of the design process, we leveraged our research findings to construct our persona, Jason Moran. We constructed a journey for Jason to better pinpoint the pain points and areas of opportunity in the Sunbelt Rentals experience.

What are Jason’s pain points in his shopping experience?

What are some areas of opportunity?

Problem statement

Sunbelt Rentals' checkout process lacks crucial availability information at equipment selection. Users can adjust store preferences and rental dates, but the system doesn't alert them if equipment is unavailable, causing uncertainty and frustration.

The winning approach

After our product strategy workshops, we aimed to highlight filters on the Product Listing Page (PLP) based on customer preferences, allow seamless modification of rental options, and implement product recommendations for unavailable items.

Development / Sketching Explorations

Homepage

PLP

PDP

Development / Lo-Fidelity Wireframes: Tested Screens

Homepage

Product Listing Page

Changing Rental Dates

Changing rental location

Product Details Page

Development Phase / A/B Testing

For our first round of user testing, we conducted A/B testing with three scenarios using the above lo-fi wireframes against the current flow. We also performed a 5-second user test on the PLP to identify the best product card formatting.

What did we learn from our A/B testing sessions?

Delivery / Implemented Experience

After several rounds of iteration and testing, here are the final screens delivered to development. As this project has been shipped, you can be a part of the experience at sunbeltrentals.com.

What were our outcomes?

Increase in account conversions

Decrease in checkout abandonment

Thank you!

Please contact me for greater depth in this project.