Cochran Collision
This consumer app for a chain of auto body shops is designed to streamline communication between customers and their estimators. The app enables users to monitor the progress of their collision repair without waiting for a call from the shop.
01
Problem Statement
In a town not so far away…
Customers are upset. Their grievances are many. They've been in an auto accident for starters. That's enough to upset anyone. What's worse, their collision repair facility keeps ghosting them. The communication about the status of their vehicle is infrequent if it comes at all. Customers are in the dark with nothing to light the way but empty promises.
The repair facilities are incredulous. They lamented, "why are our survey scores so poor?"
So they hired me to improve the customer experience.
02
Solution
Management was clear that adding more responsibilities to the estimators and customer service staff of the shops was not an option. They hoped that through sheer grit and charm, I could coerce customers to review their experience favorably after the fact without addressing the underlying issues.
I'm not THAT good.
The app is my solution. It is simple, streamlined, and connected to the shop management system. Customers can use their estimate number to view snapshots of their progress. In the future, a chat feature will allow users to ask questions to their estimator directly in the app.
03
The Journey
After six months of analyzing the survey results from the past year and speaking with hundreds of customers directly, I determined the major pain point customers experienced: Communication. Using Tableau data, including state-wide metrics, I analyzed responses and created data tables to support the findings.
These data were presented to management in a slide deck with my recommendations as their CX Manager. The recommendations included simple steps for the collision center staff to take to satisfy customer expectations. Management would not budge on their desire not to assign additional responsibilities to the staff.
Hence, the app was born. A simple interface that allows customers to view their vehicle's progress at a glance.
04
Result
The app is currently in development with the company's engineering department. Following the launch, I will test the app with a sample of users from one of the 11 collision repair centers and use the findings to produce additional iterations to satisfy the customer's needs.