2023
Curriculum 
Vitae (CV)



NYO


START-UP / INDEPENDENT VENTURE | JANUARY 2024
TEAM: ERIC LEE | TOMMY MA |  MAHDI TASFIN
ROLE: UX RESEARCH / UX/CX DESIGN / SKETCHING / PROTOTYPING / VISUAL DESIGN / BRANDING / AI / ML / AUTOMATION / CRM INTEGRATION / LEAD QUALIFICATION / COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS / AGILE / MVP DEVELOPMENT / CREATIVE STRATEGY / DIGITIAL STORYTELLING  

NYO is a customer experience platform (CEP) that optimizes every customer touchpoint. It is a CRM-integrated, AI-powered tool designed to enhance every stage of your customer journey. From capturing leads and managing appointments to securing positive online reviews and boosting retention rates, Nyo ensures outstanding experiences consistently.




PROJECT BRIEF

We want to show how we transformed one measurable pain point—dealerships losing digital leads through slow, fragmented follow-up—into a cohesive brand and product experience. You’ll see how we: 1. Validated the Problem
● Quanity how slow, scattered follow-ups drain revenue and erode CX. 

2. Translate Insight into Opportunity  
● Funnel eight big ideas into one high-impact MVP: Lead Management and Communication.

3. Build the Brand Experience
● Shape NYO’s voice, visuals, and AI flows so every interaction feels seemless and human.

4. Prototype & Pilot Plan
● Outline the feature roadmap, metrics, and rollout strategy for our launch partner.





THE PROBLEM Car dealerships run on conversations that start long before a customer walks through the door—but the tools they rely on weren’t built for that reality.

1. Fragmented Channels
● Inquiries pour in from AutoTrader, Facebook, SMS, email, and walk-ins, yet each lives in a different inbox or spreadsheet.

2. Lost Context
● Crucial details (budget, language, financing needs) get buried or never make it into the CRM, so every hand-off feels like starting over.

3. Slow Response = Lost Sale
● The average lead waits hours—or days—for a reply, giving shoppers time to move on to a competitor.

4. Manager Blind Spots
● CRMs record what happened after a test-drive, but offer little insight into the messy, high-stakes pre-sale phase where most leads disappear.
THE STATS
(PROVING THE PROBLEM EXISTS)
Shoppers are Overwhelmingly Digital
● 90 % of shoppers prefer a dealer that lets them start the process online; today they visit just 1.4 dealerships on average.

Slow Responses Kill Deals
● Top-performing stores answer within 5 minutes, highlighting the competitive gap.

Lead Handling is Inconsistent and Fragmented
● Industry benchmarks reveal 27 % of leads receive no contact whatsoever, and the average close-rate on qualified leads is only 12.4 %.





DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
(How we turned a sprawling vision into a focused MVP)

1. Starting Wide - The “Everything Board”
●  We began with an 8-component universe (lead management, customer insights, payments, CRM sync, analytics, gamification, etc.).

● Each sticky represented a pain-point we heard in discovery interviews: “slow first response,” “no single view of the customer,” “manager blind spots,” and more.

● Goal at this stage: capture every idea without judging scope.



●  A link for a detailed view of Mind Map 1.0 : https://bit.ly/44AZjor

2. Affinity Clustering - Finding  Natural Groupings
● We sorted all of our stickies into thematic buckets

● Patterns surfaced quickly: communication gaps dominated both staff and customer complaints, touching six of the eight buckets.

●A single question emerged: “If we fix communication first, how much downstream friction disappears?”


● A link for a detailed view of Mind Map 2.0 : https://bit.ly/3GSMSuX

3. Feasibility  and Impact Matrix - Letting the Data Speak
●  Lead Management & Communication scored highest impact and mid-high feasibility—a sweet spot for an MVP.

● Other clusters (e.g., payments) were high impact but required banking compliance, pushing them to later releases.


4. Narrative Storyboard - Pressure-Testing the Flow
● We walked stakeholders through Jane’s story.

● Result: unanimous agreement that if Maggie can own every off-lot touch-point, dealerships solve their biggest leak—leads that ghost.
● A link for a detailed view of the narrative storyboard : https://bit.ly/4lyvdb0

5. The MVP We Shipped: Lead Management & Communication
● A link for a detailed view of Mind Map 3.0 : https://bit.ly/46QBj1X

6. Why This is the Opportunity
High ROI, low lift: A single percentage-point uptick in close-rate pays for the platform across a store’s yearly volume.

Foundation first: Lead Management and Communication generates the raw interaction data our future analytics and retention modules will mine.





POTENTIAL CLIENTELE
(WHO BENEFITS AND WHY)
We’re targeting mid-sized, multi-rooftop dealer groups—large enough to feel the pain of fragmented lead handling, yet nimble enough to pilot new tech quickly. Groups like OpenRoad Auto (34 stores, BC/WA) sit in this sweet spot: high digital volume and lean BDC teams. This gives us measurable ROI proof and a launchpad to the wider market.





PILOT BLUEPRINT FOR 
OPENROAD AUTO GROUP

1. Integrate  
 


Scope: Plug NYO into 2 pilot rooftops (OpenRoad Toyota Port Moody and BMW Langley).

Success KPI: API handshake and CRM sync.


2. Live Chat & Auto Qualify  



Scope: NYO handles 100% AutoTrader and website inquiries after hours.

Success KPI: Average first-response: < 5 minutes (baseline 2 hours).


3. Smart Hand-Off



Scope: AI lead-matching to top hybrid-performance reps.

Success KPI: 90% of leads assigned to “right” salesperson (manual override < 10%).


4. Auto-Notes & Reminders



Scope:  OCR docs / pre-approval forms auto-populate CRM; NYO nudges reps at 24 hours.

Success KPI:  100 % lead profiles enriched; 0 leads dormant > 48 hours.


5. Review & Expand



Scope: Present metrics to the General Managers and Regional Vice President of OpenRoad Auto Group. 

Success KPI: + 2 percentage points for appointment set rate < 60 days.





STRATEGIC PAY-OFFS FOR 
OPENROAD AUTO GROUP

1. Brand-Level CX Consistency
●One AI voice + unified follow-up cadence across 34 stores.
● One AI voice + unified follow-up cadence across 34 stores.

2. Manager Visibility Pre-Visit
● Pipeline dashboard shows why leads ghost before they hit the lot (CRM blind spot today).
3. Zero New Headcount
● Nyo absorbs after-hours and first-touch tasks that Business Development Centres (BDC) can’t.

4. Data Foundation
All interaction data feeds back in to their Customer Data Platform (CDP), unlocking future personalization.





PERSONA SNAPSHOTS

Through a mix of surveys and deep-dive interviews with dealership leaders, we distilled our findings into one representative voice: Andrew, the General Manager.  Andrew’s daily struggles—slow lead follow-ups, scattered customer data, and uneven staff performance —capture the core pains our platform is built to solve and embody the exact audience we aim to serve first.



PRECEDENT STUDY: DRIVECENTRIC
(LEARNING FROM IT, BUT ALSO LEAPING PAST IT)
To gauge market appetite, we examined DriveCentric—the U.S.-based AI sales platform already piloted in two OpenRoad rooftops. Its success confirms that dealers will invest in AI-driven lead management, but the rollout also highlights pain points: high subscription costs, one-size workflows, and offshore support. These gaps define our opportunity: deliver the same AI speed and insight at a fraction of the price, with Canada-based data residency and hands-on, local customization for OpenRoad’s exact processes.




PROTOTYPE SHOWCASE
(SHIFT FROM A BUSINESS CASE TO A TANGIBLE PRODUCT)

Below are snippets of NYO in action - each tied to a pain point. From the moment a lead arrives to the follow-up nudges that save dormant opportunities, these prototypes show how our MVP turns strategy into real screens and flows. 


Seemlessly Capture &
Qualify Leads

Automatically respond to leads within minutes using our AI-powered sales assistant for realistic and personal interactions.


Easy Handoffs
with Customer Summaries


Receive a detailed customer summary from the initial interaction, enabling a seamless handoff and effective deal closing.




Effortlessly Schedule, Manage &  Notify Customers


Easily manage and schedule appointments, automatically notify your customers, and keep everything in sync with calendar integration.


Effortlessly Onboard with Your Existing CRM.

Easily integrate with your current CRM tool to manage customer inquiries like availability.









EXPERIENCE OBJECTIVES

1. REDUCE QUEUE TIMESBy reducing overall wait times, users can spend less time worrying about arriving early to order their snacks and more time roaming their local cinemas, watching the trailers, and arriving on-time to watch their movie. 2. ENHANCE SELECTIONS Since overall queue times are reduced, local cinemas can focus on creating better food options and increasing their selections. Food vendors currently collaborating with these cinemas can also gain more exposure and have an avenue to better prepare for all incoming customers.




WHY MOBILE? “Digital ticket sales are increasing, with e-ticketing growing by 18.7% in 2018, making up 21.3% of the market. More than 70% of online ticket sales are now via mobile, highlighting the preference for the immediacy and convenience of mobile apps.”
Grand View Research (2022)

“Mobile ticketing applications can also be used by sports, event, and music concert organizers to drive ticket sales, as well as to offer customers the convenience of booking tickets from a remote location or from the comfort of their home without the need to be physically present in a queue at a ticket outlet or having to pay in cash.” 
Persistence Market Research (2022)





EXPERIENCE MAPPING
We identified a concise list of current issues that could compromise the movie-going experience at local cinemas if not addressed. It lay the foundation for a journey map, which helped us to:
Focus on key touchpoints to resolve existing frictions
Develop an infomation architecture map for where the SnackFlix app would fit seamlessly









DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION From Wireframes to High-Fidelity
Our process benefited mostly from rapidly prototyping low-fidelity clickthroughs to determining user flows.

To access our full project, CLICK HERE





PAPER WIREFRAMES

We quickly captured various ideas through sketches, allowing for flexibility without committing to a specific design layout. While creating these sketches, we marked elements that were the most user-friendly, ensuring a focus on usability in each design iteration. All of the sketches are archieved here.






DIGITAL WIREFRAMES
We transferred the paper wireframes to digital wireframes via Figma.  






PROTOTYPES

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Following extensive efforts to connect the dots, it took some time for us to become comfortable with the foundation we established. We had to "just do it" and validate our findings through prototyping and testing. This process enabled us to acquire a general understanding of the application's feel.





KEY TOUCHPOINTS
TOUCHPOINT 1  - DISCOVERYPush Notifications + Match Ticket  to Prepare Order

Users are notified in advance to order their snacks before their movie showing. They must then link their movie ticket with the app, so food vendors are notified ahead of time and can prepare orders accordingly.



TOUCHPOINT 2 - ASSURANCE Categorized Choices + Health-Conscious Options

Users are presented with all the options that food vendors in local cinemas offer. The options are categorized for easy navigation. Additionally, a "Health-Conscious" category has been provided, allowing users to easily find healthier alternatives.



TOUCHPOINT 3 - ENGAGEMENTPre-order with Saved Payment Information

Users can pay in advance and choose the saved payment option that works best for them.



TOUCHPOINT 4 - POST-ENGAGEMENTMobile Order Kiosk Integration

Users can skip the long queue and be fast-tracked to the mobile order kiosk, where they can pick up their orders by providing their order number.



TOUCHPOINT 5 - POST-MOVIE SYNDROMELoyalty Program Integration

Users now have an incentive to remain loyal patrons of their local cinema through a loyalty program that allows them to earn and redeem points by ordering through the app.





FIGMA COMPONENT LIBRARY
The component library was created to ensure a consistent design language across the application. It was designed alongside the application, allowing for changes throughout the design process. Only after completing the application did the component library become finalized. 

To access our Figma component library, CLICK HERE





USING FIGMA VARIABLES
To ensure that we don’t design too many variants for a simple drop-down menu, we learned how to use Figma’s new variable feature.



1. Create Local Variables

We created multiple strings and colors to set up our local variables. 



2. Create Components

We created components and their variants, including the selection list and the drop-down menu. Afterward, we applied our local variables to the text layers, allowing us to change the text at any time by renaming the variables.



3. Create Prototypes

We linked everything together and applied the variables to the components, including hover states and both collapsed and expanded drop-down menus. This ensures that when an item is selected from the drop-down, it is replaced by the user's selection."



To access the completed variable feature as shown above, CLICK HERE





TAKEAWAYS, LEARNINGS
Building a Strong Case
This was primarily the backbone of our project. It helped us prioritize focus aspects, determine scope, and drive design decisions.


UX as a Business Strategy
Largely described as user-centric considerations when designing, UX serves not only form and function, but when harnessed fully can create value for brands and transform businesses.


“More” Doesn't Always Mean “Accurate”
Knowing what to do with substantial amounts of research can be disorienting. As we pieced together insight after insight, it took considerable time to become confident in the foundation we established. Ultimately, we adopted a "just do it" approach, validating our findings through prototyping and testing.


Using Variables to Build Drop-Down Menus
We aimed to save time during prototyping, and one method we used was incorporating variables to create drop-down menus. This approach enabled us to quickly change texts and avoided the need for repeatedly creating variants.





FUTURE IMPLEMENTATIONS;
SAME PLATFORM, DIFFERENT USES
Sport Complexes and Stadiums
Sports centers and stadiums, such as BC Place and Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, typically offer concessions to their patrons but do not have a dedicated mobile application for facilitating these transactions. Our application can be easily integrated to serve as their solution, enhancing the overall customer experience.

Performance Art Venues
Venues such as the Orpheum or the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver often offer concessions for their patrons but lack any in-house mobile applications for this purpose. Our application can be seamlessly integrated as their go-to solution to enhance customer satisfaction.





REFERENCES
https://www.acvmax.com/blog/understanding-the-car-buyers-online-journey

https://www.autocorp.ai/blog/how-ai-for-car-dealerships-converts-leads-into-loyal-buyers-around-the-clock