First impressions are everything.
From the time a Revel user opens our app to the time they park the moped after their first ride, the experience must be safe, seamless, and revelatory.
We’ve always offered free, in-person lessons seven days a week, but as Revel grows and technology evolves, we wanted to incorporate cutting edge e-learning tools into our user education.
After several months of research and development, we are excited to launch our new e-learning experience for first time riders.
R&D
We conducted extensive user focus groups to understand what our riders needed to know before a first ride. For novice riders, we needed to dispel any confusion and make Reveling as intuitive a possible. We met with motorcycle training organizations and applied their processes, interviewed our own seasoned lessons specialists, and pored over first ride data and user surveys. Our thorough research gave us a deep understanding of how users experience the product the first time and what tips they need to make the first ride safe and memorable.
Once we framed our educational focus, we developed the most effective ways to convey crucial techniques like throttle control, cornering, and parking. We already utilized how-to videos, a mandatory safety exam, and FAQs that cover everything from moped operations, to rules of the road, and how the service works.
Now we have powerful visual tools to show riders how to operate the moped. Research shows that people only remember 20 percent of the text they read without visuals. We needed to tell a story to help people understand and retain information. Longer form videos can be enlightening, but they make it difficult to highlight particular aspects of a frame, like the buttons on the handlebar. Eventually, we chose short, animated visuals, also known as Graphics Interchange Format images, or GIFs.
A Lasting Impression
GIFs are the perfect medium for educating users on how to operate a moped because they visually represent a story, can be annotated and highlighted to focus on particular components of a frame, and they have been shown to increase learners’ retention of text. The repetitive movement in the animation starts the process of building and strengthening neural networks — like NFL players using film to reinforce proper on-field techniques.
This iteration of the first ride experience covers unique-to-Revel tricks — like how to open the helmet case and activate the throttle — and basic moped operation concepts, like how to brake, steer, and park. While individuals learn differently, the majority of us learn best by seeing exactly how to perform actions. By using GIFs, we can present precisely what we want users to focus on.
In developing this experience, we deliberately emphasized aspects that are unique to electric vehicles — the sensitivity of the throttle, for example, which is much different than that of two-wheeled gas-powered vehicles. Finger positioning near the brakes is also important because our product is most often used for lower-speed, frequent stop-and-go travel through city streets. We also optimized for the digital medium by keeping our messages simple, clear, and mobile-friendly.
Getting effective tips and education into the hands of our users from the start is crucial to making their first experience safe, seamless, and revelatory. We’ll continue enhancing these tools over time, using innovative technologies along the way.
