Thule Car Racks, USA Case Study

Business Need: Thule Car Racks has a complicated product. Consumers need to find a rack that fits their particular vehicle, is compatible with their chosen sport, and falls within their price range. The site was not meeting these needs, resulting in expensive calls to customer service for virtually every sale.

Process and Solution: We took a three-stage approach to evaluating the Thule Web site. After gaining an understanding of the constraints and opportunities available to Thule through the Web, we conducted an analysis of their existing site, stepping page by page through the interfaces. We found a number of issues surrounding navigation, site organization, and labeling that we knew could be addressed in the coming redesign.

Next, we took their site into a round of usability testing. All of our recommendations were validated by users trying to accomplish representative tasks. Finally, we created a series of page schematics to accompany our recommendations report. These diagrams were a clear visualization of how to design the next version of Thuleracks.com based on how customers were thinking about the process.

Benefits: Thule had an existing relationship with an advertising agency that had created their brand campaign and packaging. We worked closely with the agency, ensuring that their visual design complemented the usability and architecture recommendations we had developed.

With our page schematics, supported by our recommendations report and video of usability sessions, Thule felt as though it had been given a "head start" in the redesign -- and our work assured Thule that the company had invested their resources in teams that had specific competency and could collaborate.