Introduce white label solution for Land Rover
Architecting design strategy to scale for multiple while label solution.
SIXT+
SIXT is one of the world’s leading mobility service providers, founded in 1912 and headquartered in Pullach near Munich, Germany. The mobility platform unites products SIXT rent (car rental), SIXT share (car sharing), SIXT ride (taxi and chauffeur services), SIXT+ subscription. SIXT+ saw expansion amidst the COVID period, offering users the flexibility to retain their cars for as long as they desired, with no administrative burdens or financial commitments. This allowed them to experience car ownership without the associated hassles.
Upon joining the SIXT+ team, our primary mission was to elevate the user experience by addressing existing UX and visual issues, aligning the interface with the SIXT design system, and streamlining the subscription journey for utmost user-friendliness!
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One particularly exciting project marked a first for SIXT — a collaboration with business stakeholders to onboard esteemed luxury brands like Polestar and JLR for a streamlined car usage experience through white labelling. This initiative aimed to make high-end cars accessible to a broader audience, eliminating the conventional challenges of ownership.
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I'm thrilled to announce the success of our endeavors, culminating in securing our inaugural white labelling deal with the Land Rover team! Our objectives included completing design mapping, crafting exceptional web and mobile web interfaces, and establishing optimizations for future white labelling — all achieved within a commendable 4-month timeframe. It has been a challenging yet gratifying journey, and we eagerly anticipate the opportunities that lie ahead!
'First of Firsts'
CHALLENGES
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Launch within 6 months.
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Harmonizing the visual and copy tone between Land Rover and SIXT, given their distinct styles, poses a challenge.
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Introducing SIXT's inaugural white labelling solution necessitates the optimization of existing designs and teams for future white-label endeavours.
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Presently, the SIXT design system lacks support for the font and colour diversity specified by the Land Rover team.
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The Land Rover team is rebranding, complicating matters as we lack a direct visual reference.
OUTCOME
We successfully launched our first white-label project in a mere six months, achieving high client satisfaction and a robust, well-functioning web platform with minimal UI issues. A key win was our ability to finally identify and rectify persistent system inconsistencies, a challenge that had been repeatedly postponed. This effort resulted in significant platform uniformity, paving the way for crucial UX enhancements and establishing a strong foundation for future white-label collaborations with high-end brands currently in discussion.
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33% rise in Land Rover bookings within 28 days, with a notable preference for home delivery options.
Crew behind the screen
#WORKSHOP 1
We embarked on our inaugural white labelling design project with a mix of enthusiasm and a touch of uncertainty. The Land Rover team's request for a close alignment with their visual style, heightened brand awareness, insights into models, and the nuances of the user journey during white label subscription introduced a level of complexity. To address these considerations, a decision was made to organize a workshop involving stakeholders from SIXT+, the JLR Business & Marketing team, and the Accenture design team. The aim of this workshop was to gain clarity on specific business requirements for brand promotion throughout the journey and foster mutual understanding of the SIXT+ journey, along with the constraints requiring attention.
Understand Business
ENGAGE
How customers engage with brand, product & service?
How customers will reach us?
AQUIRE
CONVERT
How we design for conversion?
SERVE
How we serve customers for the entire duration of subscription?
CARE
How we care for users when they need help?
GO BEYOND!
How can we turn customers to fans?
SIXT+ customer journey
HARMONIZING VISUAL & COPY TONE
JLR and SIXT exhibit distinct visual tones and atmospheres. We undertook an analysis of various design elements in both to discover a design that achieves a harmonious blend of adaptability and a solid foundation. This facilitates effortless rebranding while upholding a premium standard of visual allure and user-friendliness.
Elements comparison
INTRODUCING TOKEN IN DESIGN SYSTEM
SIXT has a small collection of design patterns showing its different products, but it's not complete and consistent. This gets tricky because we have to customize our design files for each client, limiting how we use our design tools. To solve this, we created design tokens. By setting up these tokens correctly, we made a system that can easily change the style for any brand just by adjusting some values.
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COLOR TOKEN
SIXT's color system is a bit limited because it follows a single-tier approach. This means it's not flexible enough when dealing with many brands. So, we switched to a semantic framework. Now, we don't just have general tokens describing color values; we also have special tokens that say what each color is for. This change makes it easier to handle colors for any brands we work with in the future.
With a semantic token framework for color customization.
FONT TOKEN
Land Rover used a variety of font styles and weights, which differed from the font styles of SIXT. By visually examining their website and brand guidelines, we identified the commonly used font styles and weights for Range Rover, Defender, and SIXT. Range Rover had lighter fonts, while Defender had bolder ones.
Font mapping for SIXT & Land Rover
BRAND TOKEN
Brand mapping for SIXT & Land Rover
COMPONENT TOKEN
Component tokens - SIXT & Land Rover
#WORKSHOP 2
We prioritized cross-team collaboration at each step of the process, enabling us to identify issues early and minimize the need for expensive rollbacks.
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Ensuring that all project teams, especially our development team, were aligned was crucial. This alignment allowed us to discuss expectations, anticipate challenges related to the backend (which also affected designs), prepare the platform for future white-labelling, optimize existing designs, and establish effective communication and design system buffers within the backend workflow.
Example of (left) login followed by SIXT+ and (Right) login followed by SIXT platform
SIXT+ Designs to be aligned as per Design system.
(Left) List of interaction/design not aligned with SIXT design system.
(Right) Designs aligned with design system and followed by other sub brands
LAND ROVER WHITE LABELLED DESIGNS
To improve the acquisition experience, it's crucial that entry points for both parties align. Introducing white labeling emphasizes the need for users to grasp the brand visually, understanding the luxury and premium quality of different models.
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Imagine a physical showroom where users walk in and immediately absorb the brand's aesthetic, visuals, and vibe—a concept like a "House of Brands." Here, agents showcase various model styles, allowing users to make informed decisions based on summaries, like a "Model Boutique."
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The "House of Brands" visually tells the brand story, articulates the brand voice, and highlights subscription benefits. Meanwhile, the "Model Boutique" uses warmer tones for Range Rover, conveying coziness, and cooler tones for Defender, representing a premium adventure. This strategy ensures a cohesive visual narrative for the overall brand and individual models.
Range Rover boutique
House of brands
Defender boutique
Space for soon to introduce promotions
White labelled Web & MWeb screens for subscription confirmation
ENTERING LAND ROVER SUBSCRIPTION FUNNEL FROM LAND ROVER WEBSITE
Entry point from Land Rover website - Subscription and rental section
ENTERING LAND ROVER SUBSCRIPTION FUNNEL FROM SIXT WEBSITE
Entry point for Range Rover subscription
Entry point for Defender subscription
Entry point from SIXT website - Discover vehicles
KEY LEARNINGS & TAKEAWAY
CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK
When faced with a first-time task under tight time constraints, effective organization becomes crucial for maintaining a smooth workflow. We convened to systematically document ongoing progress, conduct design evaluations, address inter-team issues, assess copy elements, engage in brand-client communication discussions, and ensure the Land Rover team provided regular feedback and checks.