As an active user of U-Haul website, I had very negative online truck booking experience and truck mobile pick up experience. I redesigned U-Haul’s main feature - “truck and trailer rentals” flow, in order to enhance the user experience and provide a good experience for users who need U-Haul trucks in different circumstances.

CHALLENGE

Redesign the “Truck and trailer rentals” Flow of the U-Haul website to achieve a better user experience based on the research of the target users.

OUTCOME

Provide two levels of solutions to the “Truck and trailer rentals” Flow:

Feasibility level that streamline the flow process and make it less overwhelming and redundant.

Desirability level with new feature and UI design added, to fill the missing gap and smooth the friction of the experience.

1. Background Research

   What’s the problem of the current U-Haul website?

   U-Haul website is an information heavy platform that provide many different types of services. The chaotic layout of services significantly diluted the main feature of U-Haul - Truck and Trailer rentals. The user flow of “Truck and trailer rentals'“ has abundant friction experience in both “online booking” and “mobile pick up truck” process.

   How might I redesign?

   To take a step back to evaluate the customers U-Haul is trying to reach, how to best target and engage with them to create a user experience in the service design thinking that will differentiate them and allow them to capture some of the market share they have lost.

   Design Focus:

   Focus on redesigning the “Truck and trailer rentals” flow of the U-Haul website which is the original and main feature of the product, based on the latest data.

I prepared a list of questions from easy to hard, and interviewed with eight people. and created the persona below, in order to stress the goal and pain points of different types of the user. Is the whole process frictionless? If not, which part confused you the most? which part favored you the most?

• What is the most significant factor when you decide which store to pick up your truck? ( Location, equipment, hours, truck type…)

• is there any step you think is necessary and might / should be removed from the process? Why?

• What’s your biggest concern of booking the truck online?

• Why do you select mobile pickup / counter pick up as your pick up choice.

1. Pain point & Insight

   I concluded main pain point of each step from the results of the background and user research that the users currently suffer from the U-Haul “Truck and trailer rentals” Flow.

Frame the design problem

“How Might I?”

How Might I frame the “Truck and trailer rentals” experience of U-Haul website to better satisfied users with different goals?

1.Solution

I provided two level of solutions to the U-Haul redesign.

Feasibility level, without new features added. I modified the following features: Images and texts, map view, detail page, check out layout.

streamline the flow process and make it less overwhelming and redundant.

Desirability level, with a new flow built in and unnecessary flow removed.

• I create a flow to let the users to see and compare the U-Haul location and information with a map.

• Focus on location function instead of equipments.

• I integrated scattered flow with same function into one flow: The damage protection pages( 2 pages to 1 page) and supply page( 4 pages to 1 page).

2. Lo-Fi Wireframe