In the highly competitive automobile market, how to create a popular product that makes users “loved”? From the perspective of user experience, this article delves into how to create memorable automotive products through strategies such as emotional resonance, scene definition, emotional design, and experience differentiation.
Since entering the automotive industry, although the specialty is the vehicle user experience (non-HMI), it is still inseparable from the UED way of thinking on the Internet, which is more like 3D the way of thinking in the past, thinking from the spatial level, not only from the interface to the space, but also from the interface to the space, the interaction form, the car scene, and the perception path will be considered and designed from a more three-dimensional perspective. The big goal is still how to create explosive products to break homogeneous competition, and the success path can be condensed into the ultimate, efficient and rhythmic under our thinking. Today, I will talk to you about how to create the ultimate user experience from the level of user needs.
Said in the front:
- From functional satisfaction to emotional resonance: Traditional function-oriented design has fallen into the homogeneous “red ocean”, limited to passively meeting the existing needs of users. In the new era, we should actively define and stimulate new user needs, and create user attention dividends with emotional resonance. User consumption is shifting from “being chosen” to “being loved”, and only by touching the hearts of users can we win loyalty.
- “Explosive” comes from experience innovation: Explosive products often break through the convention in terms of experience and open up a differentiated “oasis” in the Red Sea. The simple improvement of “longer, bigger, and better” is not as good as creating a peak experience that impresses users to instantly ignite enthusiasm.The integration of emotion + value + experience produces user “ignition points”，Drive the brand to achieve a leap from “being chosen” to “being loved” 。
- Emotion perception leads design: Product definition is guided by the user sentiment curve, injecting surprise and care into key touchpoints in the user journey, and achieving a paradigm shift from function-oriented to emotion-driven. The design with emotion as the anchor can give the brand a distinct personality and temperature, forming user memory points and word-of-mouth communication.
User experience anchor: the key to creating a hit
Definition and significance of anchor points:User experience anchors refer to key experience points or moments in a product that strongly engage users and evoke emotional resonance。 It often carries the unique selling points of products and user memory points, and becomes a game-breaking weapon in the competition. In market segments, unique design and experience often become “breakthrough anchors”, triggering users’ spontaneous attention and discussion.
Anchor points create explosive genes: Successful experience anchors can form word-of-mouth communication points for products and give products “explosive genes”. The differentiated ultimate experience makes users’ eyes shine, which in turn shortens the decision-making cycle and stimulates the rush to buy and the desire to share. It turns out thatPopular products are no longer about stacking parameters, but about whether they can provide unique experience value that others do not have 。 Once the anchor experience is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, users will take the initiative to “promote” the product and promote the exponential spread of word-of-mouth.
Emotional Connection and Brand Equity: The experience anchor is also the link between the brand and the user. If a car can impress users at the emotional level (such as security, pleasure, honor, etc.), these anchor experiences will be transformed into long-term brand loyalty and premium ability, and become valuable intangible assets for enterprises.
Scenario definition: Create surprises in car usage scenarios
Customized experiences around life scenarios:
In-depth analysis of users’ daily car use scenarios, creating exclusive functional modes for different scenarios, so that vehicles can be intimately integrated into users’ lives. For example, Li Auto has designed scenario-based functions such as nap mode, camping mode, large bed mode and small master mode for family users: after turning on the “little master mode”, the co-pilot and rear screen are switched to children’s exclusive interfaces and audio-visual content, creating an exclusive paradise for children traveling long distances. This kind of scene mode greatly improves the convenience and fun of family cars and enhances users’ favorability towards the brand.
Scene innovation opens up the blue ocean:
By meeting the needs of unnoticed car use scenarios, create a differentiated experience to seize market opportunities.
For example, Leapmotor C16 is positioned at 15–190,000, becoming the only six-seater “big dad car” below 200,000, aiming at the travel pain points of families with two or three children. The car provides a large space of 6 seats that competitors do not have at an affordable price, seizes the blue ocean of the “big six-seater” segment, and the sales after listing far exceed the higher-priced competitor π008.
Another example is that a new model launched the concept of “smart bed car” through the skateboard chassis and “flexible cockpit” design: the car has a large flat layout of slide rails, which can be changed into a movie room and camping bed in seconds to meet the romantic scene yearning of young people for camping, dating, and lunch breaks at any time, triggering the spontaneous spread of “a hundred screaming young people” and quickly fissioning hundreds of thousands of loyal users.
It can be seen that scenario-driven creative design can reach the implicit needs of users and create a blue ocean road in the Red Ocean market.
Scenario thinking empowers product planning:
Define product functions based on user scenarios, so that product selling points can change from “function superposition” to “story narrative”。
Through scenario storytelling, it is easier for users to understand the value of the product and resonate emotionally. For example, NIO’s digital cockpit connects parking, guarding, entertainment, service and other functions into active service scenarios through multiple usage scenarios (NOMI Agents), upgrading the cockpit experience from passive operation to active care.
This scenario-based experience makes users feel that the vehicle is as intimate as a life assistant, which greatly improves product stickiness and differentiation.
Emotional Design: Emotional experiences that trigger resonance
Guided by user sentiment curves:
Pay attention to the user’s emotional changes throughout the whole process of using the car, inject emotional elements into key touchpoints, and create surprises and temperatures.
For example, the design of ceremonial details such as welcome light effects and start-up sounds brings joy and excitement at the moment when the user gets on the car and starts with one button, so as to achieve positive emotional guidance.
Through empathetic design, predict users’ possible anxieties or troubles (such as traffic jams, finding parking spaces), and provide intimate care (such as intelligent voice comfort or parking assistants), so that users can feel the thoughtfulness of the product, thereby establishing an emotional bond.
Anthropomorphic and companion interaction:
Use personalized design language to make the product “live” and have an emotional connection with users.
For example, NIO’s NOMI intelligent assistant accompanies passengers with the image of a cartoon robot, which can not only have voice conversations but also express emotions. NOMI offers a series of thoughtful features: NOMI DJ can automatically generate a playlist according to the user’s music preferences and switch the color of the ambient light according to the rhythm; NOMI Travel Memories will automatically save the scenery along the way and generate a memory video, just like a friend who knows how to take pictures.
These emotional functions turn cold driving into warm companionship, meet the emotional needs of users to be noticed and entertained, and set a benchmark for emotional design in the industry.
Emotional Resonance Creates Loyalty:
Cleverly design peak experiences and stories that resonate strongly with users。
For example, the brand creates a certain value proposition or feelings (environmental protection, technology, cultural belonging, etc.) into the product, so that users can feel a sense of identity and pride when using it.
When users are “ignited” by an extreme experience or value resonance, it reaches the “ignition point” in marketing – a qualitative change from rational cognition to emotional love.
Once triggered, users often spontaneously participate in the product community, actively spread good reputation, and even remain loyal to the brand for a long time. Therefore, emotional design aims to let users remember the unique feelings brought to him by the product, so as to precise it as an emotional asset of the brand.
Experience differentiation: Create selling points that are hard to replicate
“People don’t have me, people have me”:
There are two paths to experience differentiation –Either provide unique value that competitors do not have, or do better in the functions that competitors have 。
The former can achieve “no one has me” through rational advantages such as configuration, parameters, and price, such as price/configuration combination to create a unique selling point in the same class; the latter realizes “people have me” with creative and forward-looking experience design, and wins through ingenious user experience.
Both paths require deep insight into user needs, or discovering unmet gaps in competitors, or creating new ways to play in general features that make users stand out.
Focus on the first, unique, and best:
The passivated “small improvement” is not as shocking as the ultimate lead。 It is proposed that the improvement of “longer, bigger, and better” is far less than the peak feeling brought by “the longest, biggest, and best”. The product should strive to be the first, unique and best in the industry in some key dimensions, and use this exclusive advantage to weaken the comparison of competing products and directly occupy the user’s mind.
For example, the Leapmotor C16 has caught the attention of users with the positioning of “the only 6-seater SUV within 200,000”, which greatly shortens the decision-making hesitation of target users. For example, some models claim the longest battery life and the fastest acceleration in their class, which not only satisfies the function, but also gives users a sense of psychological superiority and strengthens the legitimacy and pride of their choice.
Resource tilt to create a killer feature:
Use the LACU strategy in product planning to focus limited resources on the experience that users care about most. Benchmark core competitors, rationally plan which attributes must be leading (L), which can be followed (A/C), and which can be discarded (U), concentrate advantageous resources to amplify the sense of value of L items, and achieve a complete breakdown of key experiences. At the same time, decisive trade-offs (defined as U terms) for non-deterministic secondary experiences can reduce costs while avoiding interference with the main selling point.
This trade-off of “doing something and not doing something” is the key to the success of the strategy of explosive products such as Xiaomi –Only make small and refined explosive models, invest the limited resources of each product in the most sensitive experience points of users, so that the excellent will never compromise, and the resolute abandonment of what should be abandoned, so as to exchange for the user’s strong perception of the core selling point.
Perceived value delivery: Make users feel worthwhile
Return to the essence of user value:
No matter how many new technology configurations are provided, if users do not perceive the value, they still cannot win word of mouth.
In recent years, many new energy vehicles have piled up a large number of dazzling technological functions, but users complain that the basic experience is not done well, which reminds car companies that they must return to the essence of user experience value rather than stacking configuration. Only by thoroughly explaining and practicing the user value behind each new feature can we win the long-term trust and recognition of users.
When designing experience anchors, you should always pay attention to the subjective feelings of users: Does this feature/scenario really solve user pain points or bring pleasure? Do users clearly perceive this value? If not, I’d rather not do it.
Ensuring Quality Support Experience:
The ultimate experience must be premised on reliable product quality, otherwise no matter how eye-catching the selling point is, it will be difficult to support word-of-mouth for a long time.
J.D. Power’s research pointed out that in the subdivided “blue ocean” market, design and experience often become the anchor point of product breakthrough, but if the quality assurance is not followed up synchronously, these initial niche hits may encounter word-of-mouth bottlenecks in the future. Therefore, while pursuing experience differentiation, enterprises should establish strict quality control and testing and verification mechanisms to ensure that the anchor function is stable and reliable in various scenarios.
Only when experience and quality go hand in hand can users sincerely feel “value for money”.
Strengthen the transmission of value:
Through effective communication and scenario demonstrations, the hidden value of the product is made explicit and helps users “see” the value。
For example, in marketing displays, user stories or usage scenario videos are used to visually present the convenience and happiness brought by new features, so that users can have a sense of substitution.
The transmission of “perceived value” also comes from feedback from others: actively operate the trial experience sharing of seed users and KOLs, so that potential consumers can understand the actual benefits of the product from third-party reviews and deepen their understanding of the value of the product. Finally, through consistent brand experience (pre-sales introduction, test drive, delivery training, and consistent intimate after-sales service), we continue to strengthen the positive feelings of users and form a positive cycle of word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth Driven Recognition:
The value that users sincerely recognize will eventually be amplified through the word-of-mouth effect。
If a product makes the first batch of users feel “value” and “surprise”, they will naturally recommend it to the people around them.
In the early days of Xiaomi’s business, there was almost no advertising investment, which was to achieve a market breakthrough with the fanatical word-of-mouth of the enthusiast group.
For example, Google Gmail only relies on a small number of invitation codes to spread word of mouth among users, which has triggered a global rush to buy, and some people are even willing to pay a high price to get an invitation code, and its strong word-of-mouth communication is shocking.
Enterprises should consciously create such highlights that trigger user self-communication, and ensure that every user experience is consistent with the publicity promise, and over time, users will naturally regard the brand as a reliable quality endorsement and form a strong perceived value identity.
Data insights and user co-creation: accurately grasp the needs
From Passive Feedback to Proactive Insights:
In the past, product definition mostly relied on passive user feedback collection, which was often lagging and fragmented. Nowadays, we should make good use of big data and multi-source information to “dig deep into the data mine” and put user research in the product definition.
Car companies are shifting from the original means of “Xiaomi plus rifles” in the past to the “shotgun for gun” led by big data – by integrating user behavior data, vertical media word-of-mouth, questionnaire interviews, third-party research and other channels, to explore user pain points and new expectations in various car links and scenarios, and combine user research and co-creation for verification, so that consumers can effectively participate in product design improvement.
This data-driven insight can help us uncover overlooked “pearls” in mainstream markets and accurately identify potential blue ocean demand, rather than just following the competition.
Listen to real voices on the front lines:
Let “those who can hear the artillery fire” make decisions。 Enterprise management and R&D teams should regularly sink to the front line of the market – including regional sales stores, after-sales service centers, and even online communities where users gather – to experience the actual pain points of users with “five senses and six touches”. Listen to the most authentic voices from frontline sales consultants and end users and get the vivid feedback behind the data on paper.
For example, establish a “mystery shopper” mechanism to visit the exhibition hall service, organize executives to communicate directly with users in the delivery center, etc., to find problems that may be missed in the usual reporting system. At the same time, it is also necessary to continue to pay attention to the dynamics of competing products and industry trends, and quickly integrate changes in the front line of the market into product planning.
Only by mastering both macro data insights and micro user emotions can we fully grasp the direction of the product.
User co-creation accelerates iteration:
Establish a mechanism for users to participate in product co-creation, and introduce target users to “trial and error in advance” in the process of product definition and development.
It is mentioned that consumers should be effectively involved in the process of product design and improvement. This can be achieved by inviting seed users to participate in brainstorming, prototype evaluation, concept co-creation camps, etc. When designing key experience functions, organize a small range of user co-creation workshops to jointly discuss pain point solutions; In the engineering prototype stage, test drives are open to solicit real feedback; During UI/software development, collect opinions through internal testing in the user community.
Through the opening of these co-creation nodes, it is ensured that the product has been reviewed and optimized from the user’s perspective when it is still on the “design drawings”. User co-creation not only brings valuable ideas, but also allows participants to become the first fans of the product and spontaneously spread word of mouth in the future.
Requirements management closed-loop:
Build a closed-loop process from user insight→ product definition→ development verification→ and market feedback to ensure that user voices are transmitted throughout the product life cycle without loss.
For example, establish a clear VOC (Voice of Customer) mechanism to trace each version of the requirement change to the original user voice and verify its effectiveness after delivery.
Use digital tools to track the closed-loop processing status of user feedback to ensure that the “acquisition needs” are finally “met”. At the same time, the concept of rapid iteration is introduced, and the problems reported by users are quickly improved through OTA upgrades, so as to fix the shortcomings of the experience before users are lost.
Through the above means, users can truly become a member of the product team and achieve agile response from demand insights to product upgrades.
Implementation of experience definition system: emotional anchor development mechanism
Establish an experience index system:
Introducing a systematic methodology to break down user experience into clear indicator levels to guide the definition and implementation of emotional anchors. For example, NIO uses the PETS (Product Experience Target System) model to decompose the vehicle experience elements into 12 primary and 58 secondary levels from the user’s perspective… A total of 700+ items are accumulated to form a complete experience index tree.
Through this system, the “emotional experience” is translated into practical technical and design requirements, and LACU goals (leading/tying/completing/abandoning) are set for each indicator, and it is clear which anchor experiences must be at the top of the industry and which ones can maintain the foundation.
The metric system ensures that the team has a unified standard for understanding user experience, making emotional anchors evidence-based, measurable, and inspectable.
Cross-departmental collaboration empowerment experience:
The creation of emotional experience involves multiple departments such as modeling design, interaction, engineering, and service, and must break down the barriers of independent governance. That is, a cross-functional joint team (R&D, production, marketing and other backbones are stationed in the same office) to collaborate on key problems. This effectively breaks through the departmental wall and professional wall and realizes the rapid integration of resources. In our organization, we should also implement a strong project system, set up a special team for user experience anchors, and be responsible for a certain type of emotional experience (such as a special team for cockpit emotional interaction) from concept design to landing verification. Regularly hold cross-departmental experience review meetings to ensure that the anchor experience is fully valued and resources are tilted in all aspects.
When R&D and marketing personnel work together and form a consensus on user needs, we can ensure that “made” and “sold” are the same exciting product.
Definition – Development – Marketing Integration:
Build a collaborative mechanism of product definition, engineering development, and market introduction to avoid each link from deviating from the original intention of users. It is emphasized that by improving the IPMS system, the “product definition-market (GTM)-engineering” is closely linked, and the user’s voice is efficiently and without attenuation throughout the entire product life cycle.
For example, the prototype of marketing strategy is formulated simultaneously at the product definition stage to ensure that the anchor experience has bright spots on the communication side; During the development process, the marketing and service teams are invited to participate in the review to foresee future user usage scenarios. Before listing, the marketing team verifies the selling points of the product and feeds back to the project for final optimization. Verify in advance that the design direction aligns with the expected sentiment value and adjust if necessary. These mechanisms ensure that the emotional anchor does not deviate from the idea to the landing, and can be perfectly presented when it is launched.
Continuous optimization and iteration:
The emotion-driven experience system is not achieved overnight and needs to be continuously improved in practice. Establish a user experience indicator monitoring mechanism to continuously track market feedback on anchor experience through NPS, user satisfaction surveys, social media reputation, etc. After the product is launched and put into operation, rely on OTA upgrades and service improvements to quickly respond to deficiencies and maintain the industry’s leading experience. At the same time, the new emotional needs of users are incorporated into the next generation of product planning, and the cycle evolves.
Through this continuous iteration, the user experience definition system of enterprises will become more and more mature, truly forming a closed loop of innovation driven by user emotion perception, and being invincible in the fierce competition.
The space is limited, so I can only summarize the general thinking very generally. It only represents personal opinions, so we will gradually expand each point for more detailed analysis and discussion, and learn and progress with you.
