How do you make travel friction free?
It starts with data-based design!
The Problem
The primary purpose of the website is to provide users with the ability to book airline
flights, get flight updates, check-in for flights, and change flights when needed. Avelo Airlines' business objectives were to increase the conversion rate, reduce the time complete booking, and increase the purchase of optional add-ons while improving usability.
Research
Goals
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Define Avelo users.
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Identify current pain points for users in the online booking process.
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Identify users' needs for online airfare booking.
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Guage user interest in and prioritize potential features for the Avelo website
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Discover competitor websites/apps users are using.
User Survey & Interviews
I sent out two customer surveys, one via a confirmation booking email and the other through a marketing email to customers who had booked a flight within the last 30 days. Since I was tasked with improving the web experience, specifically booking-related, I focused on customers who booked travel, not just passengers. Questions were created to understand who the users were, their goals for traveling, frustrations when booking, other airlines they trust, and other general travel questions.
I followed up with the surveyed customers interested in participating in a short phone interview. I wanted to dig deeper into their motivations for booking with Avelo Airlines and obtain more feedback on what can be improved during their end-to-end travel experience.
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Reviewed:
• 679 Persona Survey Responses
Conducted:
• 18 phone/web Interviews
Usability Testing
I conducted usability tests with 3 participants who aligned with the primary customer segment to gain perspective on the different booking experiences. Participants were given 4 tasks to complete during the test. Each participant was tested on the current Avelo Airline website and two competitors’ websites.
Test Participants:
• Female, early 50s, mid 60s
• Travels semi-monthly
• Books with Mobile and Desktop
• RN Nurse, Retired Teacher, Realtor
Artifact Will be Inserted Here
Content Strategy
I conducted a sizeable competitive analysis on airlines that are considered Avelo Airlines alternatives or preferred airlines by booking customers. I then extended this to smaller airlines that align with Avelo’s maturity and current model. My analysis included an evaluation of the time to complete bookings, product features, and other key performance indicators.
Website Redesign
The most challenging part of this project was deciding on the best interactions for the user. For example, does the user enter all their passenger information first or select their seat first? Both came with advantages and disadvantages. Utilizing the information obtained through the surveys and interviews, we concluded that users wanted to know what seats were available. The business team gave a lot of pushback because they wanted to capture users’ information as quickly as possible. However, the redesign’s focus was to make the site user-centered. It was crucial to get users to the end goal of purchasing tickets and not just capturing information. Throughout the redesign process, I tested the new design with users to ensure that the site was user-friendly and provided validation for the changes made.
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Once we completed the redesign, we reduced the time to purchase tickets compared to their old site and competitors and increased add-on purchases.
