The concept for this article is to exemplify the definition of a streamlined UX process for the redesign of a digital application, more specifically a travel booking application.
Brief
The concept for this project revolved around the development of the experience for a travel booking application, specifically focused on the Flight product. The responsibility for the delineation of the process, tasks and artifacts produced, lied with the UX professional.
Product Experience
The product experience was specifically built around an IOS ecosystem. The flow was streamlined specifically for a success scenario, and excluded at this point, skeleton and loading screens, incomplete, error and partial scenarios. Also the forms presented, only showcased default states, excluding focus and feedback states. This exercise should also be done in 1 day.
Process
The research component of this project was anchored in a variety of sources. On one hand there were data analytics(data I gathered from several sources available online), but also user reviews and ratings, understanding customer satisfaction, competitive analysis and doing some impromptu user testing. This exercise was mostly focused on search functionality, and not so much on development of a personalization experience which would present within the profile aspect of the application.
Research Data
The travel industry is going through a substantial amount of change. New currencies such as Blockchain are becoming an active presence in transactions, as are rewards programs. According to statistics, travel is one of the fastest growing sectors in terms of volume of business when compared with several industries on the market.
According to digital trends, the best travel apps for travel booking are:
- Skysanner, Kayak, Hopper, Air BNB, Hotel Tonight, Uber, Google Maps and Citymapper.
Apps associated with travel but not providing booking solutions, include:
- Packpoint (suggestions on what to pack), Wifi Map, Google Translate, Travel Bank, Dayuse.com, Accuweather and AirHelp (for delayed flights).
Additional travel related apps that provide information on itineraries and creation of a successful trip:
- Cool Cousin (city guides by locals), Localeur (best places according to locals) and Trip It (personal travel agent).
User Ratings & Reviews (compilation from different applications on this vertical, to establish common patterns and consistent feedback)
Priceline
- Rating is 4.8 out of 5 (there are, as of 4/18/18, 94,300 ratings);
- The common thread to the reviews indicate more the relevance of the results and the properties displayed. Not many reviews highlight the functionality of the app.
Hotwire
- Rating is 4.8 out of 5 (there are, as of 4/18/18, 15,900 ratings);
- Less than positive reviews, indicating problems with payments & properties not accurately presented and displayed.
Orbitz Flight, Hotel, Packages
- Rating is 4.8 out of 5 (there are, as of 4/18/18, 23,300 ratings);
- Another mix of good reviews and harsh complaints based on cancellation policies, rental fees for cars. A very mixed presentation and evaluation of the application.
Expedia Hotels, Flights & Car
- Rating is 4.8 out of 5 (there are, as of 4/18/18, 151,000 ratings);
- The reviews function as a complaint and helpdesk system. The users publicly vent their issues, with the customer representatives answering some of the claims. There's a faulty communication system and faulty process for tracking issues.
Alaska Airlines
- Rating is 4.7 out of 5 (there are, as of 4/18/18, 4,900 ratings);
- Very positive feedback for the app, highlighting special features, such as boarding passes. Very complimentary of the product and service. The integration with their rewards program is also very highlighted.
JetBlue
- Rating is 4.8 out of 5 (there are, as of 4/18/18, 346,203 ratings);
- Some feedback on the lack of updates and general functionality/performance of the app, but overall quite positive feedback.
Product Concept
There are crucial questions regarding a product initiative, that typically start with a workshop engagement, where several of these questions are posed, namely:
- Who is the product (or specifically app) for?
- What purpose does it fulfill?
- What do the users want in terms of functionality (are there patterns that should be adhered to for instance)?
- What are the constraints and how does a user navigate this ecosystem (and how does the experience cross the omnichannel ecosystem);
- What is a personalized experience, and how does that translate on actionable functions and tasks?
The list of questions goes on and on, but since this exercise is time constrained, these were some that I thought relevant to expose.
Typically before embarking on the process of establishing the product functionality, there would be a usability session to understand who the users are and build characters that anchor the whole product experience. For the sake of this exercise, and time constraints, this product was built around a character named Robert, who's 45, who is technologically savvy, and wants a travel booking application that caters to his frequent European travels. He typically keeps an eye on flights, and also uses his frequent flyer miles to explore and travel around the world. He also likes to add items to his travel list, and build aspirational itineraries.
In parallel with outlining a persona, I also established a series of questions that married with what a typical empathy map would provide (what does Robert say, thinks, does and feels).
Deliverables
The artefacts produced include a success flow, with the following specific screens:
- Intro Screen (sign in/sign up)
- Main Menu
- Flight Search Widget
- Search Results
- Search Results Expanded
- Search Results within the iPhone 6 height
- Review
- Checkout
- Customer Information
- Payment Information