Fusion
RouteOne Digital Retail Experience
Overview
Fusion is RouteOne’s consumer-facing digital retail experience designed to help car buyers start and complete the vehicle purchasing journey online. The product enables customers to explore financing options, estimate payments, and prepare key information before visiting the dealership.
The goal of Fusion is to simplify the traditionally complex automotive financing process by guiding users through a structured digital workflow and providing dealerships with the information needed to complete transactions efficiently.
Problem
Purchasing a vehicle often requires multiple disconnected steps across dealership websites, financing tools, and in-person visits. This creates friction for customers and slows down the sales process for dealerships.
Customers needed a way to:
Understand financing options earlier in the buying process
Provide necessary information before visiting the dealership
Reduce paperwork and in-person transaction time
UX Research
To better understand how customers approach the vehicle purchasing process, we analyzed user behavior, internal feedback, and industry patterns around digital retail in automotive financing.
Key Insights
Customers want to understand payment options early
Many users are primarily focused on monthly payments rather than total vehicle cost. Providing payment estimates and financing options earlier in the process helps users feel more confident moving forward.
The traditional dealership process feels complex and opaque
Customers often feel unsure about what information they need to provide or what happens next. A structured step-by-step experience helps reduce uncertainty and guides users through the process.
Mobile is a primary entry point
Many customers begin researching vehicles or exploring financing on their phones. Designing a mobile-friendly workflow ensures users can start the process anywhere and continue later.
Customers want to complete as much as possible before visiting the dealership
Users appreciate the ability to upload documents, estimate trade-in values, and schedule appointments in advance. This reduces friction and shortens the time required to finalize the purchase in person.
Experience Design
The design focused on clarity, progress visibility, and mobile usability, ensuring users always understand where they are in the process and what information is required next.
Key UX considerations included:
Step-based workflow to simplify complex forms
Progress indicators to show completion status
Mobile-first design for customers completing steps on their phones
Clear task descriptions and time estimates to reduce perceived effort
The result is an experience that breaks down a traditionally complicated process into digestible steps that customers can complete at their own pace.
Impact
Fusion helps bridge the gap between online research and in-dealership purchasing.
Benefits include:
Faster dealership transaction times
Better prepared customers arriving at dealerships
Reduced paperwork during the in-person visit
A more modern digital buying experience for automotive customers
Design Decisions
Breaking complex finance workflows into guided steps
Vehicle financing involves a large amount of information that can overwhelm users. To reduce cognitive load, the experience was designed as a step-by-step workflow, allowing customers to focus on one task at a time while clearly tracking their progress.
Providing clarity and expectation setting
Each step includes short descriptions and estimated completion times to help users understand what information is needed and how long the process will take. This helps reduce drop-off and improves completion rates.
Designing for mobile-first completion
Many customers begin the car-buying process on their phones. The interface was designed to be fully responsive, with simplified form fields, clear navigation, and touch-friendly interactions to support completion on smaller screens.
Aligning the experience with dealership workflows
The structure of the flow mirrors how deals are processed at dealerships. This ensures that the information customers provide online can be easily used by dealership staff, helping bridge the gap between digital retail and in-store purchasing.
Solution
Fusion provides a guided digital flow that allows customers to progressively build their deal and submit key information online.
The experience walks users through a series of steps that mirror the dealership financing process:
Personal Information
Payment Method Selection
Trade-In Valuation
Vehicle Protection Options
Financing Details
Document Upload
Appointment Scheduling
Review & Submit
This structured approach helps customers navigate complex financial decisions with clarity, while enabling dealerships to receive more complete deal information in advance.