Ren Wardle

Case study · Dave Cantin Group / JumpIQ (contract)

Rebuilding a Dealer Analytics Platform Around How Dealers Think

May – June 2026Principal UX Consultant

IC workLeadershipInformation architectureDesign systemsData visualizationPLGEnterprise SaaS

Challenge

JumpIQ, a map-based dealer analytics platform, was getting poor feedback in limited dealership testing and had never opened to a general audience. It was built as a flat site, not the parent-child hierarchy dealers navigate by, and many dealers couldn't tell what it was for.

Action

I reframed the mandate from "fix the feedback" to "realign the platform to the dealer mental model," rebuilt the information architecture as Market → Group → Rooftop, built a design system, and designed the comparator.

Impact

In two months I designed and delivered the entire experience, adding a second designer for the final month: the Market → Group → Rooftop structure, the comparator, the map and grid views, analysis, sentiment, and the design system. I was hired for the redesign only; engineering never built it, and the company later changed direction.

3 tiers

flat site to a Market → Group → Rooftop hierarchy

Designed
MD3

Material Design 3 foundations, tokens, and Figma component library

Built
4 tiers

of role- and attribute-based data access

Designed
Multiple

dealership sessions; the designs addressed the legacy product's core issues

Directional
Organization
Dave Cantin Group, JumpIQ: a map-based dealer analytics platform with two jobs: market research for potential M&A, and optimizing sales and service by comparing one rooftop with another
Partners
The VP of Product and the C-suite (CEO, CFO, CTO)
Team
Me, plus a second designer I brought on for the final month. I divided the workload between us and managed it to accelerate delivery, so I was both the IC and the manager.
Timeframe
May – June 2026 (a two-month contract)

The Challenge

JumpIQ was getting poor feedback in limited dealership testing and had never opened to a general audience. It was built as a flat site, not the parent-child hierarchy dealers navigate by: Twenty Groups, then dealer groups, then rooftops. Dealers struggled to navigate it, and many couldn't tell what the tool was for. The mismatch between the platform's structure and the dealer's mental model was what blocked adoption.

Mandate: Realign the platform to how dealer principals and investors think, from market to dealer group to dealership.

My Role

  • Owned UX end to end as a contract Principal UX Consultant: strategy, IA, design system, prototyping, and discovery
  • Set UX strategy and stood up the design practice on the engagement, partnering directly with the VP of Product and the C-suite
  • Reframed the mandate from "fix the feedback" to "realign the platform to the dealer mental model"
  • Brought on a second designer for the final month, divided the work between us, and managed it to accelerate delivery
  • Led customer discovery jointly with my product partner: interview frameworks, UX hypotheses, and direct conversations with dealers
  • Owned executive-facing presentations that turned strategy into decisions

Approach

Restructure around the dealer's mental model

  • Rebuilt the IA from a flat structure into a Market → Group → Rooftop hierarchy, with a persistent context rail so users always know where they are
  • Applied overview-plus-detail and recognition-over-recall: a group view shows the portfolio (rooftops, brands, states, performance counts, JumpIQ scores, valuation), and a rooftop card shows the detail
Group view with portfolio summary and a rooftop card on the map
Group view: the portfolio on the left, a rooftop card on the map. Dealer and group names are fictional.

Design the comparator

  • Built the comparator for benchmarking a dealership against others, in grid and map views
  • Sets come from the user (built from the map, the rooftop drawer, an existing set, or a blank comparator) or from the system (local market by radius, competitors, look-alikes). Every path feeds the same comparator data.
  • A grid/analysis toggle turns the comparison into charts, including a Momentum vs. Environment quadrant (Champions, Overachievers, Opportunities, Stragglers)
  • Sentiment scores reveal from a summary row into the review themes behind them, by sales and service
  • The map switches between a radius view of local dealerships and ZIP territories against competitors
Comparator grid toggling to valuation and Momentum vs. Environment charts
The grid/analysis toggle: the same comparison as data or as charts. Dealer and group names are fictional.
Sentiment summary row expanding into review themes
Sentiment reveals from a summary row into the review themes behind each score. Dealer and group names are fictional.

Govern the data

  • Designed role- and attribute-based access across four credential tiers for each dealership role (principals, CEOs, owners, GMs, and sales managers), with separate gating and anonymization for cross-group benchmarks

Build the system

  • Built a Material Design 3 design system: foundations, tokens, and a Figma component library covering maps, the dealer suite drawer, navigation, news, and the impact report
  • Designed product-led growth upgrade patterns that tease premium value (competitive position, sentiment, dealer specials, competitive map) without giving away the full dataset
Comparator with a premium upgrade panel over competitive position and sentiment
Product-led growth: premium sections tease their value without giving away the data. Dealer and group names are fictional.
  • Produced high-fidelity prototypes that served three purposes: executive presentations, developer handoff, and dealership usability sessions

Key Artifact

I designed and led the whole experience shown here; a second designer joined me for the final month.

Comparator flow: user-built and system-built sets feeding the same comparator data
The comparator flow: every way into a comparison, user-built or system-built, feeds the same comparator data. Dealer names are blurred.
Wireframes from map to comparison
Wireframes: from a dealer set on the map, to a compare panel, to a full-screen leaderboard.
Map switching between local dealerships and competitor territories
The map switches between a radius view of local dealerships and ZIP territories against competitors.
Figma component library
The Material Design 3 component library: maps, the dealer suite drawer, navigation, news, and the impact report.

Results & Impact

  • Across multiple sessions with dealerships, the feedback was consistent: the new designs addressed the core issues with the legacy product (directional)
  • Delivered everything I was hired to do, on a two-month contract: the IA, the full comparator experience (map, grid, and analysis views), and the design system, ready for engineering
  • I was hired for the redesign; engineering never built it, and the company later changed direction

Reflection

What I'd do differently

Get to the mental model faster. At first I followed the legacy product's flows while I ramped up. It took longer than it should have to get the information I needed about how principals, GMs, and managers actually think before I could truly drive the design. On a short contract, I'd now front-load that: talk to the core personas in the first week, before touching the existing flows.