👋 Hi, If you're short on time to review my process, you can directly check out the finalised design at thetripguru.com.
Enhancing tour bookings through an Experience-Driven Approach
My Role
Product Designer
For
TripGuru Limited, HongKong
About the product
An online travel agency, TripGuru connects local tour operators with international travellers. Authentic tours are provided on the website with a focus on local experiences. In the past, TripGuru's tours were listed on platforms such as Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Klook, etc. Now that international travel is back on the rise, the founders want customers to visit their website directly.
Key Learnings
As a part of this project, I learned how to communicate with clients, finish projects on time, hand over designs to developers, and interact with stakeholders. Additionally, I gained confidence and learned how to take full responsibility for a project.
design approach
Understand the Product
Gain a deep understanding of the product's purpose, value, and overall business goals.
Industry Trends Analysis
Research and analyse the latest trends in the travel industry to stay current and informed.
Comparative Analysis
Study similar products in the market and conduct a thorough comparison to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Existing Product Evaluation
Evaluate the content structure, design system, and user flow of existing products to pinpoint areas that require enhancement.
Design Opportunities and Prioritisation
Generate potential design opportunities and prioritise them based on scalability and alignment with long-term objectives.
initial research
acknowledging the
value and purpose of the existing product
when it came to designing a product, understanding the purpose and goal was essential. It guided me every time I had the decision to make and kept me on track with the business objectives
Identifying the value of your brand
understanding the flow, experiences and structure of the existing product
to comprehensively analyze a product, it's essential to establish multiple end goals and strive to achieve them. These objectives could involve tasks like booking a tour, canceling reservations, creating a wishlist, sharing with friends, or reaching out to customer service.
by noting down user needs and identifying pain points, I've initiated the process of formulating 'How Might We' questions and brainstorming potential ideas.
Actual screenshots from the existing product
understanding latest trends in the travel
industry
Travel trends took a turn after the Covid 19 pandemic. Understanding the traveller's journey, behaviour, general idea about travel, and popular trends helped me to determine the necessary design changes to suit the current trend.
Diagram illustrates the user journey and the stages of booking a trip
38%
of bookings are happening the same day or up to two days before the activity. Many of these bookings take place “in destination”
19%
only 19% of these activities were booked more than a month in advance
Diagram illustrates when the majority of bookings occur
competitor analysis
Understanding how similar products present a tour, who is their main user, the way they sell and their unique selling point helped me to comprehend designing a product. In addition to this, doing the same goal-oriented tasks discussed above helped me to learn from their mistakes.
the process
how did I collab with the remote product team?
frequent feedback and reviews from the stakeholders were crucial in this project. To understand the tech background, business presence and overall product structure.
Most of our collaboration happens via Figma, Miro, Notion and Google Meet.
Actual Screenshots from Miro App showing how I receive feedback and comments
Snippets straight from
the notebook.
Initial wireframes
The initial wireframes I have shared with the team help them to understand the overall product flow and to imagine the experience of the product
Initial wireframes that have been shared to the stakeholder
What improved
The following redesigns, among others, could improve the overall tour booking process. The enhanced features may aid users in making informed decisions by providing necessary information upfront, grouping similar tours together, etc.
Experiences as categories are the main focus
A tour is not what travellers seek, but experience
It's important to recognize that travellers search most heavily for experiences. By categorizing the tours based on experiences, the user can browse effectively and find the tour they are seeking
Search function to enhance findability
Search functionality allows the user to find a tour or sightseeing easy and quick. Adding the search feature in the necessary flow saves time of getting lost in 'n' number of available tours.
Better help section
In many cases, travellers do not have much knowledge about a new location, so they have plenty of questions. Whenever possible, the help section is available to help them relax.
Adding 'Trips Available Today' to have a better last-minute booking experience
To help the user identify tours that are available immediately, as 38% of bookings are happening the same day or up to two days before the activity
Improved Itinerary section so users can plan better
Itineraries for multiday trips were created using an easy tab navigation system to make planning easier for travellers
Better and simpler tour cards that can be adapted to different states
Added new 'Pickup Location' option
Now that travellers can choose a pickup location from the available list, there will be no more miscommunication between customer service and them. Also, this will make it easier for users to plan their trips.
Rating section enhanced with easy, quick selection
A simple choice of questions instead of writing paragraphs encourages users to rate, and in return we get tour data
Dedicated Destination Guide to help travellers plan and stay informed
An informative guide can be very helpful to users in terms of learning about the destination and discovering what tours are available.
Added Keyword Search and Filtering options
Using keyword search and filtering makes it easy for the user to find the appropriate information and feedback without scrolling through hundreds of reviews.
