Buying a car is one of the most expensive purchases that people ever make. Historically, the car buying journey has been an incredibly complex process involving annoying dealership visits and significant time investments.

While other industries have embraced e-commerce to improve convenience and accessibility, the automotive industry has been slower to adapt.

The Simplified Shopping project was launched at FordLabs with the goal of modernizing the online car shopping experience. Beyond improving the customer journey, the initiative aimed to drive key business outcomes like increasing lead conversion rates, boosting lead revenue value, and raising accessory take rates.

This led to the development of a test site that carved out traffic from Ford.com, providing a streamlined and data-driven shopping experience.

The test site focused on optimizing high-impact touch-points, particularly redesigning the digital car configurator, where customers build their ideal vehicle online. We also experimented with features designed to improve engagement and decision-making, such as:

• A recommendation quiz to help customers identify the right vehicle trim

• Feature nudges to encourage add-ons and upgrades

• Optimized feature catalogs for better browsing

• Smart filters to simplify vehicle customization

The impact of these optimizations was measurable. The test site drove a 38% increase in lead conversion rates, a 22% boost in lead revenue value, and a 5% rise in accessory take rates, while over 50% of users opted for additional features with nudges.

These outcomes established the Simplified Shopping test site as a valuable asset to Ford, becoming a testing ground for shaping Ford's digital product roadmap.