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Is Goodyear’s UX as effective as its tires?

James Flory

Introduction

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies – as part of our Levers Framework teardown series, we ran a heuristic analysis on their ‘Roll’ service page to highlight the power of the framework in identifying strengths – and weaknesses in a user experience.

As part of our Levers™ Framework White Paper release, we wanted to show you how powerful the framework can be for diagnosing and fixing conversion issues.

Methodology: The Levers™ Framework
The Levers™ Framework: Click to enlarge

In this analysis, we aimed to identify the most important Master Levers that we believed could be used to positively impact conversions on this page.

Additionally, at the end of the analysis, we provide the outline of three experiment concepts that Goodyear could run if they wanted to optimize the page further.

Applying the Levers Framework

We’re going to move through Goodyear’s service page one lever at a time. Whenever we introduce a new Master Lever, we’ll give a quick rundown of what that specific lever entails, plus common user questions associated with it.

Lever: Usability

Unsurprisingly, the Usability Master Lever is all about how easily users can progress through the website, from arrival on the site through to fulfilling their desired goal, i.e. converting.

Common user questions around Usability
  1. Do I know where I am, and what I have to do next?
  2. Does this look like it’s going to take a lot of effort?
  3. Do I feel like persisting with the difficult parts?
  4. Are my product options arranged in a findable and easily understood way?
  5. Is my attention being focused on genuinely useful things?
Usability: User flow

The first usability issue we identified relates to the lack of a clear CTA above the fold.

While there admittedly is a ‘Find Tires’ CTA at the top of the page, the styling of this CTA is very discreet, meaning many users may miss it as they work through the page’s content.

Other than this, the user will need to scroll beneath the fold before they encounter a prominent CTA.

Usability: User flow

We also found that there was no clear, consistent CTA styling across the page. This lack of consistency is likely to make parsing the contents of the page more difficult for users, which could result in fewer users entering the sign-up flow. While there admittedly is a ‘Find Tires’ CTA at the top of the page, the styling of this CTA is very discreet, meaning many users may miss it as they work through the page’s content.

Another issue relating to this lack of consistency was that many of these CTAs were presented so discreetly that users are unlikely to see them, e.g. ‘Find tires for your vehicle’.

Usability: Attention

Eye-tracking studies have shown that if a photo includes a person staring directly at the user, the user’s attention may be drawn away from other content on the page and towards the person in the photo

Goodyear includes an image of a tire installer staring straight at the camera. This may distract users away from some of the more important motivational content.

Lever: Comprehension

Comprehension is about how well a website explains the information about the company, product, and industry that might help a user feel comfortable in coverting.

Common user questions around Comprehension
  1. Do I understand enough about this industry and type of product to feel comfortable purchasing this service/product at all?
  2. Do I understand everything I need to know about this product and company to convert on this site?
  3. Do I understand everything I need to about the transaction I’m agreeing to, to convert?
Comprehension: Product Understanding

We believe some of the messaging on the page is slightly conflicting and may cause confusion for some users.

Specifically, the ‘Find Tires’ CTA seems to suggest that users will be given an opportunity to browse tires, whereas the ‘We Come to You’ heading is geared more towards mobile installation and booking an appointment. We would recommend unifying the messaging on the page so that users can more easily comprehend exactly what is being offered.

Lever: Trust

In our framework, the Master Lever Trust is about assessments of risk that a user makes when interacting with a website. Depending on the severity of the trust question, this may relate to several categories of problem.

Common user questions around Comprehension
  1. Is this a legitimate website? (or a scam?)
  2. Do I believe their claims about the quality of their product/service? (or are they likely exaggerating?
  3. Is there proper protection of sensitive information? (How comfortable do I feel entering confidential information on this site, even if it is a real company?)
Trust: Credibility

Towards the bottom of the page, Goodyear has included a testimonials carousel, which is likely to help establish social proof and build the brand’s credibility. However, we believe this execution could be improved by presenting additional details about these users. For example, could Goodyear share info about where these users are from, what vehicle they drive, etc.

This will make the testimonials feel more real, while allowing current users a chance to relate more closely with the content.

Lever: Motivation

Motivation is the broadest category of change in our model. It is concerned with the ‘upside’ of the product or service. Fundamentally, it is asking “What’s in it for me, and or the person for whom I’m purchasing?”

Common user questions around Motivation
  1. Do I feel inspired and excited by the benefits of this product?
  2. Do I feel a sense of obligation to convert?
  3. Do I feel a sense of urgency to convert?
  4. Does this product/service give me access to an imagined community?
  5. Is there a way to try it out?
Motivation: Value statement

Goodyear does a very good job of emphasizing two of the service’s key benefits: convenience and timing.

However, another important benefit of the product – one which will be a decisive factor for many users – is it’s price. The service comes at an extremely competitive price, but there is no mention of this anywhere on the page.

In fact, it’s not until you reach the end of a multi-step tire selection funnel that you finally encounter information about the service’s price. In our view, this is a significant missed opportunity.

Recommended Experiments
1. Sub Lever: Userflow (Lever: Usability)

Without a clear CTA above the fold, users may struggle to enter the signup flow. We would therefore recommend testing moving the secondary ‘Find tires’ CTA above the fold.

2. Sub Lever: Userflow (Lever: Usability)

The sticky ‘Find Tires’ CTA at the top of the page (across the entire site) is extremely discreet and likely to be missed by many users. We would recommend testing restyling this CTA to increase its prominence.

2. Sub Lever: Value Proposition (Lever: Motivation)

We believe the service’s value proposition could be made significantly more impactful by highlighting the service’s price alongside its convenience. We would therefore recommend testing a newly formulated value prop that also emphasizes price.

Conclusion

The Levers™ Framework is an incredibly powerful tool in any optimizers arsenal for diagnosing and fixing conversion issues. As part of this teardown series, we will be providing an in-depth analysis on pages for some of the most popular global brands. Check out our previous teardown on McDonald’s homepage.

Also, if you would like to learn more about different proven use cases for the Levers™ Framework, like how it can help you compare user experiences between brands, check out our newest Subscription Benchmarking Report 

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