RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:
The successful travel company has been a top seller for the past 10 years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's sales have dropped significantly. The company decided to reorganize its business and asked an IT company to develop an application for its travel agency.
PROJECT GOALS:
MY ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES: UX/ UI designer (Individual Project). Explore the needs of tourists after the pandemic, their fears and wishes. Add the necessary services to increase sales. Develop a user-friendly application. Create a pleasing design.
MOBILE PROTOTYPE: “MDtravel.com”.
TOOLS: Miro, InVision, Google Drive.
TIME LINE: 5 weeks.
INTERVIEW PLAN
SURVEYING USERS
I interviewed 5 people by conducting a live interview, 13 people filled out Google forms. The survey was conducted in the age group (25-75 years old) and three categories of tourists:
Note: families with and without children are considered separately in order to make a more accurate analysis and find out the factor that affects families when buying a tour. It can be a financial factor or a moral one, like responsibility for children.
The research consists of semi-structured questions and is supplemented with quantitative data. Quantitative data (age, social status, and in which period before or after the pandemic there were more visits to the site) were obtained using the analytics counter on the site. Analytics counter data was taken for the period December 2018 to December 2021 to see the demand trend.
USER PERSONA
The research conducted among regular and potential customers, show that our user persona is a middle-aged man with a family and children, a busy and active person. Elderly people are increasingly refusing to travel to other countries.
RESULT OF THE RESEARCH
Research conducted with regular and potential customers, show that the demand for tours has decreased. People really began to travel less.
We found that the majority of clients were infected with the covid virus or had sick people in their environment. People are afraid of getting sick again, avoid large crowds, worry about frequent plane cancellations, untimely medical care and sanitary standards.We see that the majority of potential clients, in the future, are considering individual tours, medical tours, country tours. They want to improve their immunity, recover, relax. This information will allow the company to expand the list of offers and increase sales.
We also found out that that people don't usually rent a car on vacation, but the pandemic has changed their preferences. This once again shows how people are afraid of unnecessary contacts.
What might we do to remove the "pain points" of our customers?
Expand the types of tours. Add such tours as medical, individual, country tours. There is a demand for tours with meditation. These are all the same individual tours, for example, to Kerala, Thailand, where tourists relax alone and mentally cleanse themselves.
Check, study, sort out the database of hotels with which the agency works. Add to the description of hotels information about the sanitary measures that they carry out on the territory of the hotel, in rooms, on excursions (if they are allowed).
Since MDtravel also offers sightseeing tours, it was decided to purchase personal protective equipment for each tourist, arrange seating before the trip, place fewer people on the bus, shorten the route, make more stops. (or is this unnecessary information for the presentation?).
Offer insurance services when buying a tour. Take out medical and cancellation insurance. So tourists will be calm about their health and the money they have paid for the tour.
Add a car rental service and car delivery to the airport.
Add a "reminder" tab for each country, a "news" tab, a "check documents" tab, where the tourist himself can check the requirements for entering the country.
THE WORLD CHANGES, DESIRES REMAIN…
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
We analyzed two New York travel companies that are in the top 10 in demand in the travel market and two well-known travel platforms: Booking, Expedia.
Having made a comparative analysis of competitors, we are convinced sure that we are on the right track. There is every chance to regain the leading position in the tourism market. As we can see, well-known travel agencies have only an information site, which is not very effective. I would say business card site. Independent travel platforms like Expedia and Booking have a competitive edge. Expedia and Booking have different sales methods than a travel agent, although their services overlap. Travel agencies occupy a separate segment in the market and have every chance to offer the client more services. And the main advantage of a travel agency is an individual approach. The client can rely on the professionalism of the manager and not worry about ordering the wrong services.
The travel company is satisfied with the MDtravel application. Tourists leave positive feedback about the convenience of the application. There are more tourist services and added additional services, which increased the profit of the company, it is also more convenient for tourists to buy and watch all the necessary services in one place. Also, brand awareness was helped by the participation of customers themselves in testing the product. Sales have increased. Clients entrust their vacation to the travel company "MDtravel." In the future, the goal of developing the application is to add more services for the company's customers, for example, add more thematic tours.
FINAL THOUGHTS
To develop a convenient and selling application, all stages are important. It is important to study your potential customers. Who are they? What do they want? What do they need? This is a deep analysis of a large number of people. Analysis of the needs and desires of the client. It is also important to transfer all this information to electronic form. To keep the structure of the application intuitive, the color perception of the design was unobtrusive, and the information was sufficient without being overwhelming. All this, in general, is an art behind which there are many people (IT company).
I did not have any difficulties with the development of the application, because. the leading manager of the MDtravel company participated in the development of the application. Her experience and knowledge helped to develop the right product in a short time. Her communication skills and long list of repeat tourists helped clear up questions as they arose. For myself, I marked myself. In development, it's important to talk to potential users. Empathy and attentiveness to their desires are important. It is also good to involve a specialist in the field for which the application is being developed.
In details...
