Jaguar Landrover South Africa eCommerce audit

Project: UX & Accessibility Audit for Jaguar Land Rover South Africa

Client: Jaguar Land Rover South Africa

Brands: Jaguar, Land Rover (including Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery sub-brands)

Project Goal: To conduct a UX and Accessibility audit of Jaguar and Land Rover's South African eCommerce websites across devices, identifying pain points and market-specific needs for improvement.

My Role: Lead UX and Accessibility Researcher

Phase 1: Understanding the South African Context

The audit began with a crucial Stakeholder Discovery Workshop to understand the unique South African automotive market and JLR's specific challenges. This direct engagement revealed key insights that shaped our approach.

• The South African market presents unique challenges: low EV adoption due to power issues and a preference for SUVs require a tailored online experience despite strong dealership influence and complex online processes (e.g., credit info for accounts). Fragmented data hinders understanding user behavior, while regulations mandate ID collection for large purchases, demanding a seamless online solution.

These core insights from the Stakeholder Discovery Workshop provided a vital foundation, ensuring our subsequent UX and Accessibility audits were grounded in the specific realities of the South African market and JLR's business objectives.

Image from the audit presentation showing the 'Market' feedback summary gathered from the stakeholder workshops (some data redacted)

Phase 2: Deep Dive into User Experience - The UX Audit

Following the Stakeholder Discovery, I led the UX Audit along with a more junior member of the eCommerce consultancy. We conducted a comprehensive UX audit of the Jaguar and Land Rover websites. This phase involved a heuristic evaluation, key site feature analysis, information architecture review, and usability testing to pinpoint areas of friction and potential improvement in the user journey.

1. Heuristic Evaluation: Identifying Usability Pain Points

• The heuristic evaluation revealed key UX concerns across the purchase funnel: overwhelming and complex primary navigation, particularly on desktop; inconsistent and non-linear purchase flows; a limited search function lacking prominence, delayed results, and auto-suggest; and an ineffective Floating Action Button that often duplicated existing options and caused user confusion.

Screenshot of another of the slides from the presentation of this audit. Focussing on Mobile Navigation on the Jaguar site.

2. Usability Testing: Observing User Behaviour

• Usability testing confirmed navigation inefficiency, with users bypassing the complex menus for on-page links, reinforced the limitations of the search function, and highlighted the poor discoverability of key features like vehicle comparison and brochure downloads.

Image from the presentation of the audit as part of the Usability Testing session. Showing task completion of 40% for this particular task

3. Information Architecture: Mapping the Purchase Journey

• Analysis of the information architecture highlighted a convoluted navigation leading to the purchase flow, with multiple and sometimes duplicate links to different locations, exemplified by the Range Rover site's three distinct purchase routes, creating potential user confusion.

Slide from the presentation, illustrating the complexity of purchase navigation across the LandRover site.

In summary, the UX audit revealed significant areas where the JLR websites could be improved. The complex navigation, inconsistent user journeys, and limitations in search functionality were creating obstacles for users and hindering their ability to effectively engage with the brand and complete their purchase journey.

Phase 3: Ensuring Inclusivity - The Accessibility Audit

In the final phase, we conducted a thorough accessibility audit to evaluate the Jaguar and Land Rover websites against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. This audit comprised both automated testing and manual review to identify potential barriers for users with disabilities.

While JLR themselves stated that there were no DDA / Equalities laws in South Africa to comply with, that is not the only reason to make websites accessible - ethical and commercial considerations are perhaps equally as important.

1. Automated Accessibility Testing: Identifying WCAG Violations

• Automated testing revealed common accessibility issues including low text-to-background contrast hindering readability, unclear or missing link text complicating navigation for screen reader users, general navigation challenges impacting keyboard and screen reader users, and instances of non-unique ID attributes potentially disrupting assistive technologies.

  
  

Screenshot from the audit presentation around Accessibility Testing using 3 separate tools.

2. Manual Accessibility Review: Evaluating User Interaction

• Manual review showed generally good keyboard navigation, but identified issues with missing skip links, radio button grouping confusing keyboard users, inconsistent visual focus states, and significant keyboard accessibility limitations within the finance calculator.

Screenshot of the audit presentation, featuring some manual accessibility testing insights on the Landrover site.

3. Benchmarking Against Competitors:

To provide context, we also benchmarked the JLR sites against a key competitor, Mercedes-Benz.

• Mercedes-Benz Accessibility: While generally performing well, the Mercedes-Benz site demonstrated some accessibility shortcomings, particularly in keyboard navigation, color contrast, and HTML structure, when compared to JLR.

  
  

Overall, the accessibility audit revealed that while the JLR websites demonstrated some positive aspects, particularly in keyboard navigation, there were key areas where improvements were needed to ensure a more inclusive user experience. Addressing issues related to color contrast, link text, navigation, and specific components like the finance calculator is crucial for meeting WCAG 2.1 standards and providing equal access to all users.

Conclusion: Why This Case Study Matters

This UX and Accessibility Audit of the Jaguar Land Rover South Africa websites provides valuable insights for UX professionals and organizations operating in complex, market-specific environments. It demonstrates the critical importance of combining global UX best practices with a deep understanding of local nuances, such as cultural factors, infrastructure limitations, and regulatory requirements.

Furthermore, the audit highlights the interconnectedness of UX and accessibility.  By addressing usability issues like complex navigation and search limitations, we not only improve the overall user experience but also create a more accessible platform for users with disabilities.  The findings and recommendations from this audit can serve as a blueprint for enhancing user engagement, driving conversions, and ensuring inclusivity in the automotive industry and beyond.