Despite a near magical recommendation engine that takes user preferences and geographically optimizes them into an organized itinerary, users were struggling with the fear-of-missing-out on activities. They didn't trust the recommendations and felt forced down a limited path. When the original platform was initially tested, 90% of users weren't even sure what the sliders did.
Changing the user flow to add the trip planner as a step between personalization and itinerary creation helped reduce the FOMO. In addition, by putting the travel preference controls in the same space as the recommendations, users could see recommendations update in real time as they engage with the tool. Because the POI grid re-ordered to put the most recommended items on top instead of only showing recommended items, the user didn't feel like their choices were being taken away.
This put the control back into the user's hands, and empowered them to adjust and readjust as preferred. This both helped to build trust in the recommendation engine.
- Increased average time on page by 56%
- Increased data collection by 3x
The Utrip's core users were Planners, they type of traveler who prefers to research a destination before the trip and won't leave home without at least a few recommendations. But only a fraction of those users actually required a day-to-day itinerary. Many of the Planners we spoke to simply wanted a list of recommendations.
We emphasized wishlist creation by:
- Making the favoriting functionality (hearts) more prominent on the item cards
- Adding Your Favorites as a section to the grid navigation with Things to Do, Lodging and Local Experts
- Adding a favorites call to action
This helped to reinforce the importance of favoriting, which was being factored into the recommendation engine, and also gave users more freedom to create wishlists independent of itinerary creation.
- During a 6 month pilot we demonstrated an increase of 260% over TUI Group's revenue per user, an increase of 234% over TUI Group's user conversion rate, and enabled their Destinations Services Team to optimize their inventory mix based on Utrip's cohort analysis
Utrip had a vast array of wonderful trip planning content and functionality, the bulk of which most user's never accessed because it was either hidden or confusing to use.
Changing the site's architecture allowed us to bring the content and features onto the same page. This removed some friction from the trip planning process. However, turning a multi-page experience into a quasi single page experience meant every element needed to earn each pixel on the page.
Each piece of functionality represented another decision for the user. Too many decisions created an overwhelming experience. Too few decisions and the personalization suffered. We needed to find the sweet spot in the middle, which led to dozens of iterations just to improve page hierarchy alone.
Ultimately, the research process dictated which functionality was essential and which was simply nice to have. One example, the number of interest sliders.
- Clearer Functionality
- Eliminate clicks and friction between arriving on page and seeing personalized recommendations
