Logitech ZeroTouch Smart Car Mount (Discontinued)
Logi ZeroTouch smart car mount comes with a voice-controlled app to text, call, navigate, and stream music without having to look at or touch your phone. This case study is a reflection of what I learned from an unsuccessful product offering and the project that introduced me to the world of UX.
Overview
Through marketing and user research we discovered several product issues as well as a critical onboarding confusion that affected over half of the initial users. After iterating, we improved the onboarding success to almost all participants.
Role
User Researcher
Launched large-scale beta testing program, conducted in-person usability interviews, collected surveys to track usage experience, & worked closely with Android dev lead and designer
How might we empower drivers to stay connected in the car without distracted driving?
Project Scope & Research Initiatives
I joined a small team at Logitech in the beta phase pre-launch as a user researcher to test onboarding, in-car experience, package design, and bluetooth connectivity across different car models.
Key Research Questions
Are users successful in setting up their smart car mount and connecting it to their phones?
How do users interact with ZeroTouch in the car?
What do they expect ZeroTouch to be able to do?
How distracting is using ZeroTouch while driving?
Target market
Young tech-savvy professionals with Android phones and BT connected cars (started with Android because of some platform limitations on iOS)
Research Initiatives
Recruited and managed 200 nation-wide beta testers and tracked issues, bugs, overall experience, and net promoter scores to understand how our target consumers interact with ZeroTouch smart car mount
Led usability testing sessions to identify in-car behaviors and frustrations and discovered critical onboarding issue with packaging design, which caused confusion in 50% of initial users
Findings
In the beta program, users were observed setting up their smart car mount in-person, and they were instructed to use ZeroTouch for several weeks.
Top onboarding issues:
Users were not following set-up instructions when unboxing and immediately attached the metal plate (used to dock onto the magnetic car mount) to their phone or phone case, which could lead to hazardous risks with wireless charging and overheating of the metal plate
Certain built-in bluetooth systems had trouble connecting properly to ZeroTouch, and the software conflicted with in-car notification systems
Some car makes and models were not compatible with the car vent phone mount (didn’t fit on circular types of vents)
Top frustrations while driving:
Users had trouble getting hand gesture correct to activate Zerotouch while not looking at the phone; the opposite was also true with accidental false activation
Zerotouch had difficulty understanding speech when there was background noise from the road, radio, or in-car navigation
Audio input was frustrating when Zerotouch cut off voice commands or did not accurately understand users
Features were intentionally limited to reduce distractions but users expected to be able to do more things using voice commands
Packaging Changes
Redesigned packaging to conceal the metal plates for the ZeroTouch car mount, ensuring users first downloaded the app for onboarding, which guided proper placement of the plates on their phones.
Software Changes
Added in-app guidance around safe metal plate placement
Tested BT connectivity in various car models to ensure issues were fixed
Increased timing of how long Zerotouch listened to speech
Added alternative types of hand gestures to activate Zerotouch
Expanded feature set to include an Alexa integration
Help Series
Recruited, scripted, and led the creation of a Youtube Zerotouch help series for frequently asked questions that were brought up
Impact
From the research findings of the beta program and usability studies, I collaborated with PM, dev leads, and design to execute the following:
Upon making these changes, we reduced the onboarding issue by 40%, and surveys showed that net promoters scores increased 15% from previous iterations.
Reflection
After I left to study Human-Centered Design at the University of Washington, Logitech discontinued ZeroTouch. Here’s what I learned from this experience:
Resourcefulness is key
As the sole researcher with no dedicated UX team, I launched a friends and family research program for user testing, creatively leveraging internal resources to gather feedback and improve onboarding.
"Smart" isn’t always better
While upgrading a simple car mount into a "smart" product seemed promising, it added complexity. Existing voice-activation tools like Alexa and Google Voice would have sufficed, avoiding the frustrations users had with our app's limitations.
Broad market reach matters
Limiting the product to Android cut out iOS users, missing a large potential audience. We should have explored alternative solutions to expand platform compatibility.
Ease of use is especially important in distracting environments
Connectivity issues, speech recognition problems, and inconsistent activation made the product frustrating to use, especially in a driving context. Ultimately, this led to its discontinuation.
This experience shaped my journey into UX and taught me valuable lessons about designing products that balance innovation with user needs.