A UX Design Case Study
Design & Business Goals
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GOALS
We designed flight products and services aimed to help improve the air travel experience for both customers and industry partners worldwide. The design centered on creating tools to enable customers to compare and understand flight pricing in a transparent and continuous experience. In doing so, we will improve the overall customer experience and work towards Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in:
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For generative research, we were able to identify core customer segments, and then build custom features and predictive data to allow the user to identify what shoppers care about most when it comes to flights. These customer segments include business travelers, solo travelers, and family travelers. We also conducted evaluative research with EKG testing to track the effectiveness of the design and data visualizations.
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The evaluative design research included extensive EKG user testing to track facial strain or delight with the data visualizations
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Design Exploration
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The design intended to surface actionable recommendations for travelers by indicating the best time for them to book based on how prices for a given flight search are expected to increase or decrease over time. The design process included extensive user journey mapping to best understand the points in the user experience to deploy the price prediction features.
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A major challenge for the UI design centered on designing mobile first, accessible and scalable data visualizations for our users in over 120 countries. At a time when people expect software to help make sense of their data, it’s the responsibility of the designer to ensure that data presentation is meaningful.
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Mobile, accessible and scalable data visualization concepts for users in 120 countries
Evaluative User Testing
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We ensure the designs were understandable and actionable, the team spent extensive time in the Expedia Usability Lab. The two primary technical capabilities of the labs include eye tracking and electromyography (EMG) technology. With EMG, small sensors are placed on the cheek and eyebrow of test subjects, which record tiny changes in the user’s facial muscles. The sensors work by picking up subtle muscle movements creating an electrical impulse, for instance above the brow to detect feeling tense or frustrated and on the cheek to detect effectiveness.
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We have the participant click through a live prototype of the design, then track the changes in the EMG readings to understand the real-time impact that the experience is having on the subject as they go through the booking process. This information allowed us to narrow in the "right time" to deliver the new features in the shopping flow. Additionally, the findings helped dial in the usage of data visualization, moving forward with the designs that were most intuitive and informative for the user.
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Launch & Learn
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After a series of successful A/B tests with the features, alongside our product and engineering partners, we iteratively released the new features to the Flights shopping experiences. After launch, this stockpile of technological and behavioral information allowed the company to give its brands a far more nuanced understanding of what customers want and how to get them from window-shopping to booking.
As summarized in an industry write up: “The entire online travel market has improved its conversion rates,” said Ryan Williams, an analyst at Millward Brown Digital, a consulting firm that tracks Internet use. “But Expedia’s conversion improvement is outpacing the market.” |
