Chilton | Website Revamp

When I took over as lead UX designer on the Chilton Auto Body account, the site was visually outdated, lacked SEO structure, and underperformed as a conversion tool. Over two years, I worked alongside our agency's development team to touch every corner of the site. From page templates and navigation to user flows and EV-focused content, bringing the experience in line with industry standards and the quality of service Chilton delivers.

Improving a live website over a long engagement meant balancing strategic ambition with real constraints.

• Monthly hour caps — a fixed monthly hour budget required constant prioritization, evaluating each initiative by impact per effort and breaking larger projects into phases to maintain momentum
• Limited traffic data — Chilton's site drew modest traffic, which meant HotJar sample sizes were small and changes had to be assessed through careful observation rather than statistically significant data
• Hands-off account structure — with minimal direction from account management and a client that preferred a lighter-touch relationship, I had to self-direct UX initiatives and build the case for improvements independently
• Minimal scope for testing — A/B testing was never formally scoped, requiring design decisions to lean heavily on best practices, competitive analysis, and behavioral signals from available analytics

‍

Taking over an established client account meant first getting a clear picture of where the site stood. I created an UX initiative framework to evaluate improvements holistically and as a result, gave the team a structured way to prioritize work within our monthly hour constraints. This became the backbone of how we scoped and phased every project that followed.

One of the most impactful initiatives I proposed was merging the locations and appointment booking flows. HotJar data showed users navigating between the two interchangeably, pointing to an opportunity to consolidate them into a single, streamlined experience. I pushed for the merger based on competitor flow analysis and behavioral signals, designed the updated flow, and implemented it in collaboration with our development team. The result was a measurable improvement in CVR for that flow specifically.

Beyond the flow work, I reworked page templates, navigation, and the footer to bring visual consistency and usability up to industry standards. I also led the integration of SEO-driven copy across the site, including EV-focused content to support Chilton's positioning as a certified repair shop for Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian. Every initiative was sequenced deliberately, keeping the highest-impact work at the front of each phase.

• UX initiative framework — building a structured, page-by-page evaluation process gave the team a clear roadmap for improvements and made prioritization decisions easier to communicate to stakeholders
• Behavioral analysis under constraints — drawing actionable conclusions from limited HotJar data and low-traffic analytics required a careful, pattern-based approach to reading user behavior
• Flow consolidation — merging the locations and booking experiences into a single flow reduced friction for users and demonstrated how competitive analysis and behavioral data can together make a strong case for structural change
• SEO as a UX tool — integrating EV-focused, search-optimized copy throughout the site showed how content strategy and user experience work together to build both visibility and trust

‍

Over two years, the Chilton website was fully modernized with every page touched by our team. The locations and booking flow merger drove positive CVR results and the site now reflects the quality and specialization, particularly around EV repair, that Chilton brings to its work. It was a strong engagement that demonstrated what consistent, strategically sequenced UX work can accomplish within real-world constraints.

• Taking ownership of a client relationship — stepping into a lead role on an established account without heavy support pushed me to develop confidence in self-directing strategy, prioritizing initiatives, and advocating for UX improvements independently
• Prioritization under constraints — working within monthly hour caps sharpened my ability to evaluate impact per effort and sequence work so that progress never stalled between phases
• Making the case for UX — proposing the locations and booking flow merger, and building the rationale to get it approved and implemented, reinforced how important it is to ground design decisions in behavioral data and competitive context
• Reading limited data — learning to draw meaningful conclusions from a small sample size taught me to look for patterns rather than waiting for volume, a skill that transfers across any low-traffic engagement