Executive Summary
I led an experiment to increase authentication rates on Auto Navigator by identifying high-intent moments where anonymous users might be more willing to sign in. Partnering with design, analytics, and engineering, I introduced a lightweight authentication prompt within the lead submission journey and launched a controlled experiment to understand whether timing and value communication could drive incremental authentications.
Role
Product Manager
Timeline
4 weeks
Team
PM • Product Designer • Analytics • Engineering
Problem Statement
With roughly 85% of visitors browsing Auto Navigator anonymously, increasing authentications was a key business priority. However, users often lacked a compelling reason to sign in early in their shopping journey, creating tension between business goals and maintaining a low-friction user experience. This raised an important question: when is the right moment to ask users to authenticate without disrupting their journey?
Solution
To balance business goals with user trust, I approached this problem through three questions:
When should we ask?
Identify moments where users had already demonstrated meaningful shopping intent.
How should we ask?
Introduce authentication in a lightweight way that communicated value without overwhelming users.
Designed For
Users who have already demonstrated meaningful purchase intent and may be more open to taking an additional step.
Key Design Decisions
Positioned the prompt after lead submission to protect lead conversion.
Kept messaging lightweight and focused on a few high-value benefits.
Avoided aggressive gating to preserve user trust.
Why would users sign in?
Understand whether the value exchange was compelling enough to change behavior.
Since we lacked direct qualitative data, I looked at competitor experiences to better understand what motivates users to authenticate. Across sites, features like dealership mode, vehicle comparison, and personalized experiences created a stronger value exchange than our current product offering.
💡 Key Insight
If users don't see enough value in signing in, changing when we ask may not meaningfully change behavior.
Results
What happened:
While engagement with the prompt was strong, overall authentication rates remained comparable to the control, suggesting that the prompt shifted where users authenticated rather than driving net-new sign-ins.
Additionally, the drop-off between users clicking the CTA and successfully authenticating highlighted friction within the sign-in experience itself may be another barrier to conversion.
What I expected:
I expected users in the test group to exhibit higher authentication click-through rates and drive increases in overall site authentications compared to the control.
💡 Reflection
While the experiment did not achieve its original goal, it validated the post-lead experience as a high-intent moment where users are willing to take additional actions.
This reframing opened up new opportunities to explore experiences in the post-lead experience that provide more immediate value to shoppers, such as surfacing similar vehicles, trade-in tools, and other personalized experiences.