The overall strategy of FuelPass is reliant on its goals. It is, quite simply, an EZ-Pass for gas, with goals to be intuitive, simple, powerful and reliant. Intuition stems from an easy-to-use interface, simple explanations for detailed use-cases and a well-designed information architecture that shows where the user is, relative to the home page. Simplicity and powerfulness relate when an action can callback to a powerful function or method. These facets will be apparent when the user pulls up to get gas and do not have to go through the normal routine. Reliant technologies can be created as infrastructure is built up on a scalable, relational database. Once users are feeding in exponential data, and this data is crunched algorithmically, reliability will be improved. Even on a small scale, reliableness may stem from talking to users on a case-by-case basis, to ensure technology is working as it should.
The user wants to easily purchase gas, and can do so without the use of cash or a card, with FuelPass. They may not even have to leave their car, in applicable cases. They may hope to gain insight into what FuelPass is. In their case, they will need pictures of the product, explanations, a shopping cart for purchasing, a login system for saving their information, etc. As the creator of the website, I hope that all interactions leave the user with a positive feeling about the site and product, and do not automatically turn users off with gimmicks or useless pages, features, etc. The point would be to consolidate information, eliminate redundancies and elicit positive emotions.
The strategy and features of a site align themselves clearly. The creation of the mobile website or application will match the goals defined above, such as simplicity and intuitiveness. Technology will be cloud-based, to update profiles and balances on the fly. A user will see their balance, where they purchased gas from, a sheet of electronic receipts, and their rewards score. A function that sends this data will be based on pings from the chip, embedded in FuelPass. Once a secure connection is established, the user is able to get gas, to their chosen amount, and this data is fed to the cloud-connected servers, which update the user’s account.
There will be geo-relative chips embedded in the actual product that also relay information to the cloud, resulting in a heat map of your most used locations. This will be useful for showing most popular locations, giving increased rewards for return customers and showing where other users were able to use FuelPass. These chips will only transmit location data relative to gas stations, as laid out in the terms of use and privacy policies.
A rewards system, also available on the site, will be available to save money on gas automatically. This reward percentage is shown in the app, and this data is also provided by a simple calculation, server-side, based on amount of gas purchased, at what price, and from what provider.
Choosing to use a separate payment system, percentage saved based on location and relative notifications are available as additional features within the website. The creation of the site will provide useful information on the product, locations, rewards, and a consolidated login system. Users can learn more, order FuelPass and check their profile using this site.