Smarter motoring

Streamlining The Automobile Association’s digital experiences

The challenge: The AA had over 60 consumer facing apps with poor reviews and little strategy or consumer insight governing the creation or maintenance of them. Most of these apps delivered poor experiences reflected in app store scoring from 1 star to 2.5 stars for many of them. As most consumers use no more than 9-10 apps daily, how could we position the AA as a daily companion with value?

The approach: I led a team to understand the multiple stakeholders across the AA and their business requirements. Departments across the country created a fragmented communications environment for teams in the AA. In parallel, we used quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand who the AA’s best, most engaged customer are.

We delved into the history of AA membership and what being a member originally stood for. In 1905, the organisation formed to help other members avoid police speed traps. In 1907 the AA formed the first motor insurance policy. In 1912 members began to review roadside hotels. In 1920, the first roadside petrol pumps were put in place. Membership meant access to smarter motoring.

Today, with the most valuable AA members (by lifetime value) being families, we built one master app to serve their needs on the road. Over 60 apps were reduced to one and a membership blueprint was created to align membership on-boarding through to app growth, retention and AA membership CRM.

Results: Internally, we streamlined process and teams to work towards a unified set of digital goals alongside the membership communications team. The one app we produced took app ratings from 2.5 stars to 4.8 stars. App usage has grown and retention remains strong.