I've been reviewing various car rental apps lately, and I can say there are plenty of views regarding which factors make for good UX. While some platforms pay a lot of attention to innovative features, others prefer simplicity and convenience.
And this got me thinking about which factors matter most to users in terms of the app's performance.
Sure, from a product development point of view, it may be useful to consider such elements as real-time car availability, payments security, GPS localization, digital verification, touchless delivery, loyalty programs, and recommendation systems. However, I'm still in doubt whether any of these features significantly affect user behavior.
If you've been involved in creating an application for renting cars or working with a mobility solution, please answer some questions:
Which functions are used most frequently by your clients?
Which features should be present in the app by default?
Were there any elements which were important for development but received minimal attention from customers?
What changes were made to increase user engagement and improve customer satisfaction?
Another aspect that I'm going to discuss is frustration among people when it comes to car rental services. Having explored the current trends in car rental app development, I realized that user expectations have changed. Most complaints about such applications don't relate to the lack of specific features but rather to hidden charges, complicated bookings, problems with cancellations, inadequate customer service, and incorrect vehicle availability information.
This makes me question if making these fundamental interactions better is actually more critical than constantly building new functionalities.
From the perspective of developers, founders, or product managers, if you were designing a new car rental service now, what would you prioritize? Advanced functions such as recommendation engines using AI, pricing algorithms, or tracking systems, or the perfect booking and renting experience?
I'd really like to get some insights from people who have already been through all this before and can share some practical lessons learned and opinions. What are the useful functions that users really care about, and what seems to be just buzzword-compliant fluff?
Let me know your opinion!