New website Avis.nl

The Dutch branch of car rental company Avis had great ambitions when renewing its e-commerce website. After winning an extensive pitch process, together with the Avis team, including a dedicated product owner, and design partner Fabrique, we realized a modern and reliable booking platform where users can easily and quickly book a car, van or truck.

Challenge
As a franchise, Avis Nederland has its own channels. Part of the digital transformation: improving the website and reducing reservations at the desk.

Concept
We started the project by getting the concept clear. Together with Fabrique and Avis, we have investigated the requirements that an optimally user-friendly reservation flow must meet. Focus: transparent prices and conditions.

Agile development process
We translated this into a design that was implemented in a series of sprints. The Avis team has been included in this agile working method. During the development process, we continuously involved all stakeholders and invited them to the sprint demos, so that we could adjust quickly. Avis' involvement has contributed to the good end result of this project.

End user central
There are quite a few exceptions and technical terms when it comes to renting a car. We have strived to set up the reservation process in such a way that end users notice it as little as possible. This focus on user-friendliness applies to both UX and technology.

Ease of use
Most people start by looking for a rental car on their mobile. The new avis.nl has therefore been set up mobile-first. A recognizable, logical order funnel has also been chosen that connects to standard patterns of online e-commerce platforms. For example, we have made it possible for users to reserve a car without creating an account. And if a reservation is not completed, a user can pick it up and complete it later at the same point. Even if a payment is not completed or fails, we give customers the opportunity to still process the order within 24 hours. In that case, logged-in users will automatically receive an email with a link to the payment page. In short: optimal ease of use!

Transparency
In addition to features that serve ease of use, we have also made as transparent as possible what customers pay for. A fair price is leading. At the beginning of the booking process, it is therefore made very clear what the customer receives and what the extras are. We set up this UX flow together with Fabrique and validated it with end users during our in-house usability tests.

Always up-to-date information
A reservation for a car is made and confirmed immediately: this is also part of the pleasant user experience. For this we have made an API connection to the Avis database. The website always retrieves the latest information from this reservation system. Reservations are paid and saved directly online.

Flexibility with middleware
We have realized this real-time link with Avis' primary back office system with middleware. This not only makes the website more up-to-date and faster for end users. In this database we were also able to realize features that the primary back office system does not support. We have equipped the middleware with an admin section. For example, Avis can set business rules to fine-tune the digital offer, adjust discounts, deposit costs and the stock of rental cars on the website in real time.

Good performance
Partly thanks to this middleware, the website has a good performance in terms of availability and speed. That speed is important, because people drop out with slow search results. Speed is also important for SEO. In addition, we have built in analytics tools so that the Avis team can see when people drop out in the funnel.

Continuous development
Based on this data, we also continued to develop after the launch of avis.nl. By using validated learning, many adjustments and new features have been implemented to improve the customer's user experience.

BB&L Car Rental
After the success of avis.nl, we also built the website for another Avis Netherlands brand, BB&L. BB&L, located at Schiphol and Eindhoven Airport, offers Dutch expats who return to their home country for a short time, extensive service when renting a car. Thanks to the use of standard components and learnings from the Avis website, we were able to realize the new bblcarrental.com website in a very short time.