UX Research & Audit
This is an external UX Research project and potential revamp suggestion I derived for the website, Cheapoair. (All the data in this project is external, Cheapoair/Fareportal has not provided me any data for this research project)
Here are some helpful jump links:
Defining the Goal, Market & User
The project started as the title reads, since this is an external research project, I had to define what the goal of the project was, what the market is and who the user may be.
Created the board for streamlining tasks, and getting all the research in place.
Please note that payment pages as I assume are the checkout pages, i.e. the four step journey to billing and booking your flight (Flight & Traveler details > Seats > Enhance your Trips > Review and Book)
Started with, defining the design goal ----->
Next, I do not know what the user persona(s) for CheapOAir are, and thus, I have to define one too for the purpose of my study. Before I define a user persona though, I need data. Running this on a lightweight model seems the most feasible, hence, researched the market with metrics from expedia, booking, Usatravelgov etc.
Compiling data for User Persona, keyword clustering and seeing which demographic we would want to work with.
This is what I ended up with:
Then the User Persona was created from the data collected. Please note I have only created 1 user persona due to time limitations, there can be several, and since there is only 1 persona, there are bound to be biases.
Content and UI Audit
To see where we need to go, we must first see what we have. So a content audit of what we have is necessary.
Please note that this is a concise version of the research report.
Competitive Analysis
Now that we have a clear picture of the product we have, we need to see what our competition is doing. For this, we need a competitive UX analysis. From the touchpoints noted in the audit, we will compare what we have, note down if there are any differences, and point out the efficiencies/inefficiencies in both products.
Competitive Analysis includes overview of the following OTA's:
Please note that this is a concise version of the research report.
Heuristics Analysis
Empathy and Journey
We have a clear picture of who the user is, now we need to follow an Empathy map in their shoes. Please note, real users that fit into Craig's category were not available to me personally, hence this is conjecture.
Design Hypothesis
What are we looking to solve here?
I know that the COVID information system is powered by Sherpa, however, there is no reason we cannot combine both traveller safety along with brand safety that is being provided by the airline itself, to ensure a worry free flight. What I mean by "Travel Protection" is this module:
The Design Hypothesis
Linking the travel protection, brand loyalty and area wise protection guidelines in one place would make it easier for the user to have all Covid related info in 1 place.
EMI booking outside USA citizens would not be confusing as the option would be limited.
Design Assumptions:
1. All safety related info in 1 place will make the user experience smoother and well informed
2. Booking through affirm will become a lot easier
User Interviews
I had a few people (N=5) go through the payment's process of CheapOAir, some Canadian residents, some Italian residents as well as some American, and I found some interesting insights.
Unfortunately for this process I would have liked to interview some of CheapOAir's existing clientele and asked them questions pertaining to their booking experience, but I did not have an access to them, or the target demographic.
They did not have a problem navigating through the process of choosing a flight, however they had a problem on the payments page itself.
Upon choosing traveler's protection, they were sufficed however 2 of the 5 wanted more information regarding the covid related documents they would require. 5/5 interviewed chose Traveler's protection because it covers passport theft, and wondered why that point was hidden away in the corner.
Some were baffled at the travel hours when they chose a more expensive seat option (same as Craig) which seemed to be a consistency issue.
Some skipped the "Booking with Confidence" and "Frequent Flyer" section entirely, and especially on the Booking with Confidence they said," They did not know it was a legitimate travel information, it seemed like an advertisement from the company."
This fueled the prototype models of creating a section purely dedicated to giving flight safety instructions, flight protection and flight related covers.
According to two studies:
"Such travel insurance industry trends are majorly being adopted by travel insurance providers located in the U.S. The U.S. travel insurance market size is estimated to cross USD 10 bn mark by the end of 2028. On the basis of type, the medical expense segment is anticipated to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. Medical expense coverage is crucial since it covers the cost of emergency treatment as well as any other overhead cost occurring at the time of travel. The uncertainty while travelling to foreign lands can pose health hazards and therefore, many countries have made travel insurance mandatory to issue VISA."
Source: Globnewswire
and,
"The global travel Insurance market was valued at USD 21 billion in 2019 driven by range of risks associated with travel, medical expenses, loss or theft of personal possessions, personal liability and legal expenses. However, medical expenses is a driving factor to travel insurers due to its larger costs, with increasing cost of cancellations
The consumers are more subtle towards protecting their travel investments due to higher risks of flight cancellations and delays."
from Androitmarket Research,
The bill seemed to fit for the medical heavy assistance i.e. Travel Assist Classic that is already instated in the website.
However, after my interviews, it seemed that 4/5 people preferred travel protection instead. So I made a mockup for both.
LoFi Mockups
Upon reviewing all the sketch based work, this is the section of the website in the payment's gateway that I feel I did not want to change.
The ones including the flight cards, and the price details on the right, as well as the travel
restrictions widget and the traveler form on
the bottom.
Sections flow from 1 > 2 > 3 for both models,
namely, airline's promise of security > Safety for you/your flight > safety in the area you are traveling to.
Traveler's Assist : Safety for YOU
I named this section, "Safeguard your flight" basically gives a sense of direction between what comes after the flight, is the airline's promise of security, hence the first section labelled 1, the section labeled 2 is the Traveler's Assist Section, that focuses primarily on healthcare, hence the CTA, "Safeguard me" since this particular add-on is traveler i.e. user centric.
Flight Protection: Safety for your FLIGHT
The section 1 and 3 of this section are basically the same, airline's promise of security as well as area wise restrictions policies, the section 2 is traveler's insurance, with a coverage copy of possibly "passport theft" and "accident" protection being the limelight.
LOW FIDELITY MODELS- Sitewide view
Please note that this is a concise version of the research report.