After the successes of the new mobile site, Kia saw an opportunity to create even bigger buzz with a site customized for tablets. Kia saw this as another opportunity to pull further ahead from competitors.

In analyzing behaviors between mobile and tablet visitors, we saw that while the top content types accessed by tablet users mirrored phone usage, time spent and navigation trends mirrored the PC. This insight prompted us to design a tablet experience that would serve as a bridge between the PC’s engagement and phone’s action oriented behaviors.

In designing the tablet site, we fully embraced the “mobile first” design trend, using the mobile site as a foundation. We then added progressive enhancements to boost the experience for bigger touch screens. This method insures that we effectively utilize every pixel in the tablet’s canvas to promote desired end-actions. Taking advantage of the tablet’s generous screen size, we redesigned the homepage as a virtual car showroom. Kia models took turns driving on and off of the stage. Users can intimately engage with Kia cars by swiping (to move them), pinching (to zoom in and out), tapping (to change colors), and flicking (to switch to another hero car). The global navigation is persistent yet unobtrusive as it slides down with a single tap and collapses with another tap. We enhanced the sales tools by adding dynamically loading content and multi-tasking windows. As an example, the tablet site’s Build & Price feature creates a real-time preview of your custom car and dynamically updates pricing as users select exterior and interior colors, packages, and features (without new page loads).The results even outperformed the high standards set by Kia’s mobile site. Since the tablet site launch, mobile visits have increased by 50% and unique visitors increased by another 40%. Tablet users are incredibly engaged, spending more than 9 minutes on the site (30% more than mobile devices), browsing 6-9 pages per visit, and are 66% more likely to search for a dealer nearby. The tablet site contributed an astounding 250% growth to the already popular “Build Your Kia” tool. Half of these users then go on to view Special offers, validating the site’s effectiveness in supporting purchase intent.Kia has become one of the fastest-growing brands in 2011, with its US sales increasing by 36%, proving that an effective mobile strategy can help drive a business to new heights.