One of the great ironies of the web is that researching and booking a relaxing holiday can be one of the most stressful things you can do online. Before you can flop yourself on a beach in a far-away clime you need to consider and navigate through a choice of options that all begin to look the same and hope that you get through the long booking process without making a critical mistake. We have worked with airlines, luxury hotel chains and regional tourism bodies performing usability testing, user needs research and iterative user centred design. We’ve seen and heard usability test participants do everything from looking dreamily at gorgeous foreign beach hotels to clenching their fists in frustration at barriers they hit booking their flight. We’d like to share these experiences with you and identify what are the key elements that make or break the user experience in researching, booking and managing travel & leisure online. This talk will cover  The psychology of booking travel : known unknowns and unknown unknowns  Primary and secondary choice parameters in travel, tourism and leisure  Typical barriers in researching and booking travel  The role of mobile UX in the complete travel customer experience  Innovative ways of presenting information for the travel & leisure context  International aspects – what works for one audience may not work for another

1. Session A5
Chris Rourke
Make it easy to take it easy : User experience in the Travel,
Tourism and Leisure industry
chris@uservision.co.uk
@crourke @uservision
@ucduk #ucd2013
Supporters
Sponsors
Organiser
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2. What the user expects
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3. ..and more pages
for payment
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4. The UX challenge for travel, tourism & leisure
 Travel is emotional - expectations are high
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Relaxation
Entertainment – self & family
Service
Catering for special circumstances
 Travel booking is complex - many parties involved
 Flight operations & parameters
 Third parties & partners
 Site and booking process may not be fully controlled
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6. Control, confidence and come back
 High
 Medium
 Low
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7. Main usability and UX challenge areas
 First impressions
 Workflow of the search & book process
 Page level interactions
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IA and categorisation
Search
Date selector
Form interactions
Smart defaults
Geolocation (mobile)

8. Choice Parameters - flights
Secondary parameters
Loyalty points
Service level
Connections
Date/ time
Price
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9. Choice Parameters – hotels, holidays, leisure
Location
Date
Price
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Secondary parameters
Quality, Service level
Room size
Images
Facilities (gym etc)
Restaurants
Kids?
Loyalty points
Accessibility
Dietary needs

10. Workflow – Flights
Previously
 Put in some info
 And some more
 And more to specify
 Press submit
 Scroll through huge
results list
 Start again or revise
Not in control
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Now
 Put in little info
 Submit
 See the results
 Filter & refine
In control & confident

11. Workflow – Hotels, holidays & leisure
 Offer options to let customer learn & decide by
what matters to them
 Price – location – hotel – room
 Hotel – price – room
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Location information
Inspiring photos
Clear differences between room options
Facilities

12. Browsers
Browsers
Not sure what they want
Seek inspiration as much as information
Open minded
Visuals and offers
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13. Hunters
Hunters
Know roughly what they want
Compare and contrast to convince
Analytical
Use sort and compare tools
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14. Buyers
Buyers
Know exactly what they want
Get it as quickly as possible
Speed and minimal distractions
Use search
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15. First impressions matter
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16. First Impressions Count
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18. 18

19. Simple Date Selector
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20. Welcome indecision and offer options
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21. Welcome indecision and offer options
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22. Allow graceful revelations and previews
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23. Allow graceful revelations and previews
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24. Innovate & exceed expectations
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25. Innovate & simplify
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26. Innovate & simplify
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27. Take advantage of maps
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28. Satisfice your customer
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29. Satisfice your customer
If no results,
query
relaxation
allows me to
choose options
slightly outside
my original
search.
www.newzealand.com.
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30. Be Persuasive
 Reciprocity – If you do something for them (offer a
discount, give a free sample, add in an optional extra)
people are more likely to do something for you
 Commitment and Consistency – If people commit in
writing to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honour
that commitment. So the more people type in details,
the more invested they are in proceeding
 Social Proof – If other people are doing it, people
become much more confident that they too are doing
the right thing
 Authority – People will tend to obey authoritative
figures. These can be classic authority figures, celebrities,
or official ratings and scales
 Liking – People are easily persuaded by people “just like
me”, as demonstrated by the power of viral marketing
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 Scarcity – If something is short supply, or time-limited
supply, it will generate demand and pressure to buy in
case you lose out on a bargain

31. Persuasion in Action (2)
Reciprocity
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Commitment and Consistency
Social Proof
Authority
Liking
Scarcity

32. Be honest
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33. Be mobile
 Mobile is the glue for the
user experience
 Can make – or break experience
 Allow customisation in
settings
 Usual airport
 Usual payment card
 Usual seat etc
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34. UX Research for the sector
 Recruit specifically for credibility
 Experience - What people bring with
them is important
 More “let off the leash” tests – let the
user set their own parameters
 Remote
 moderated testing
 self moderated testing
 unmoderated testing
 A/B & Multivariate testing for
conversion funnels
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35. Content & journey inventory
Chart describes a typical research journey and where the information needs are met
INFORMATION NEED
Price
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Weather
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Latest deals?
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What is included in price?
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How does XXXXX compare?
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What is there to do for kids?
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What is there to do locally?
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What’s new with XXXXX ?
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Special deals for customers?
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36. Key takeaways
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Recognise – and foster – the emotional aspect of travel
Discover your target users’ parameters
Let the user play by their own rules, be in control
Allow previews, avoid pogosticks
Research in context

37. Thank you
Chris Rourke
Managing Director
0131 225 0850
chris@uservision.co.uk
@uservision
@crourke
www.uservision.co.uk
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