cinch — Unlocking Car Ownership in the App with Key Dates

Shifting Focus from Purchasing to Retaining Customers

5 min readDec 24, 2024

The Problem: A Missing Piece in Car Ownership

The cinch app successfully launched its six-month minimum viable product on 24/02/23, marking a significant milestone. Initially, the focus was on search and conversion. After launch, the business shifted its priority to ownership and retention. As of 31/06/24 (12 weeks before the release of key dates), the iOS 28-day retention rate was 4.35%.

The Solution: Key Dates

Tracking and managing car-related dates is crucial for customers handling annual renewals. This aligns with the business’s broader goal of enhancing car ownership experiences. Previous discovery sessions confirmed strong customer demand for such a feature, presenting opportunities to engage customers and improve their post-purchase satisfaction.

Competitor Review & SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunites & Threats) Analysis

A competitor review revealed that key date-tracking functionality is already present in the industry. Using a comprehensive SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) methodology, I gained insights into customer needs, identified market gaps, and informed cinch’s competitive positioning.

Competitor: AA

Strengths: Enables direct booking for MOTs, services, and diagnostics.
Weaknesses: Limited to AA customers, with restricted feature visibility.
Opportunities: Extend features to non-policyholders and improve accessibility.
Threats: Competitors offering broader access and better visibility.

Competitor: Autotrader

Strengths: Effective iconography, tax renewal support, and customisable reminders.
Weaknesses: Repetitive labels, lack of historical details, and email-only reminders.
Opportunities: Introduce push notifications, custom date tracking, and enhanced insights.
Threats: Competitors with more flexible and visually engaging progress indicators.

Competitor: Caha

Strengths: Clear icons, push notifications, visible compact design, and MOT mileage graphics.
Weaknesses: No tax renewal path, small progress indicators, no custom date tracking.
Opportunities: Improve progress indicator visibility and add custom tracking.
Threats: Competitors offering stronger tax renewal integration.

Competitor: Caura

Strengths: Alert icons, insurance date tracking, upsell opportunities, MOT booking.
Weaknesses: No custom date tracking or precise countdown.
Opportunities: Add countdown details and custom date tracking.
Threats: Competitors with better reminders and progress tracking.

Competitor: MoneySuperMarket

Strengths: Tax cost visibility, emissions data, MOT test history, car valuation.
Weaknesses: No progress indicators or custom date tracking.
Opportunities: Introduce progress indicators and flexible tracking.
Threats: Competitors with dynamic visuals and enhanced tracking features.

Competitors Combined

Strengths: Clear visual differentiation, push notifications, MOT history integration.
Weaknesses: Limited custom tracking, weak progress indicators, restricted access.
Opportunities: Expand custom tracking, enhance progress indicators, and integrate services.
Threats: Competitors with superior customisation and broader audience reach.

Moscow (Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Won’t Have) Prioritisation

Collaborating with the product owner and tech lead, I used a MoSCoW (Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Won’t Have) matrix to prioritise features efficiently:

Must-Have: cinch cars only, MOT date tracking, push notifications, progress indicators.
Should-Have: DVLA-sourced dates, last updated timestamp, opt-in push notifications.
Could-Have: Support for non-cinch cars.
Won’t-Have: MOT status history, advisories, road tax, insurance tracking (for MVP).

Low-Fidelity Wireframes/Design Tennis

Using an iterative ‘design tennis’ process, I collaborated with the team to refine key date card UI concepts, ensuring scalability and alignment with user needs.

Fig X.X — Low-fidelity Figma wireframes of the key dates feature in the app profile.

Usability Testing

Collaborating with the user research team, I developed test plans, built a Userlytics test, and analysed results. We conducted remote unmoderated studies with 20 participants to validate:

Comprehension of data availability on cards.
Preference for different date card UIs.
Clarity in editing, adding dates, and next-step expectations.

Findings:

A/B Preference Testing: Users preferred Option B for better visibility of key dates and countdowns.
Desired MOT-Related Features: Top-rated features included MOT due dates, advisories, and failed item details.
Additional Requests: Garage information, advisory costs, cost-saving tips, and recommended garage bookings.

Fig X.X — Low-fidelity Figma wireframes of the key dates feature in the app profile for AB preference testing.

Hi-Fidelity Designs & Documentation (MVP)

Due to backend constraints, the MVP focused on MOT data. Key considerations included:

Card States & Scalability: Designed key date cards for various expiry states (30+ days left, 0 days, overdue).
Your Car Tab: Introduced on the My Profile page, separating ownership features from order tracking.
Scalability: Ensured the component accommodates future date types (road tax, insurance).
Edge Cases: Supported scenarios where MOT data is unavailable or the car is too new.
Push Notifications: Integrated reminders aligned with key date states, including a notification opt-in card.
Animations: Collaborated with Fortech (Romania) to enhance engagement through progress indicator animations.

Fig X.X — Lorem ipsum dolar sit amet.

Performance (First 7-Weeks Post-Launch)

Initial data indicated strong user engagement:

510 unique sessions displaying MOT dates.
145 unique sessions showing “car too new for MOT.”
730 customers opted into notifications (5.4% of profile visitors).
155 customers were notified when their MOT data became available.
6 customers received an MOT due date reminder.

Next Steps

Unlocking Road Tax & Insurance: Expand functionality once the web backend supports these changes.
MOT History Enhancements: Incorporate advisories, pass/fail outcomes, and failed item details.

Summary

cinch is redefining car ownership by prioritising user needs and continuously refining its features based on feedback. Future updates will bring expanded functionalities, ensuring long-term engagement and a seamless ownership experience.

Hi-Fidelity Designs & Documentation (MVP+) — Coming Soon!

The next iteration (MVP+) will introduce road tax and car insurance tracking, demonstrating how the component scales. Key next steps include:

Collaborating with the product development team to deliver MVP+.
Monitoring feature performance to optimise user engagement.
Expanding functionality with MOT booking, tax renewal, and greater data exposure.