NexTravel
Guide new users in completing their profile on business travel platform for a more personalized booking experience
Client |
Platform |
Role |
Date |
NexTravel offers small- and medium-sized companies an easier way to manage business travel through a centralized travel-booking platform.
Their data revealed a huge drop off for new user activation and they approached us to improve the onboarding experience with the goal of increasing the activation rate.
As the lead product designer, I worked with the Head of Product and engineers at NexTravel and redesigned the onboarding experience to encourage new users to complete their travel profile so they could get more relevant search results.
Travel Manager selecting partner software to integrate with NexTravel (note: actual partners pictured are fictional)
Business traveler entering in preferred airlines and associated loyalty numbers
Outcome
After nine weeks, we redesigned the onboarding experience for the two primary user groups: travel managers and business travelers. We prioritized collecting users’ profile information and travel preferences during the onboarding process, so that we could create more value for them when searching travel for the first time. View business traveler prototype
If users search for travel before setting up their profile and travel preferences, it may take them longer to find an appropriate booking.
Collecting information to complete a user's travel profile will ensure they will have a more personalized experience when searching travel.
Research
Comparators
Our team reviewed competitors in the business travel space, but were unable to gain insight on the onboarding process through the product demo alone. We instead relied on comparators to discover onboarding best practices and get inspiration from UI patterns.
Personas
Product analytics revealed that NexTravel had multiple user archetypes. We were able to distill them into three major roles: admin, non-admin, and guest. This helped us focus on designing an experience that addresses a user's core needs and behaviors. Knowing that onboarding was only necessary for recurring users, two separate experiences were needed: admin (travel manager) and non-admin (business traveler).
Design
I facilitated a whiteboard session that included the NexTravel Head of Product and engineers and my design team to brainstorm the ideal onboarding experience and what was feasible within the timeframe.
User Flows
The purpose of the onboarding process is to get users to complete their (company or personal) profile and set their travel preferences so once they start searching for travel, relevant results will be tailored for them.
How do you make onboarding not too overwhelming?
The following shows an idea where I explored splitting onboarding into two parts: multi-step process and checklist feature.
- Multi-step process: will ask for information from users that is relevant to completing their profile and make search results relevant
- Checklist feature: after onboarding is complete, users can click a checklist icon at the bottom of the web app to launch a modal showing a list of tasks users can do (Ex: a travel manager will possibly see the need to set a travel policy)
Design, test, iterate, and repeat
During testing, we found that users wanted to add more of their information earlier on in the onboarding process instead of later on. For Travel Managers, this included adding in travel preferences with loyalty numbers and discount codes. Business Travelers reported that they were willing to add their passport information, known traveler number, preferred travel vendors and associated loyalty numbers up front.
“I’m looking for passport information, traveler info for TSA.”
“I fly into really small airports a lot so it helps to have loyalty numbers on everything.”
“In initial setup it would be helpful to see this entire FLOW.”
“The process required the least amount of clicks needed and gives you enough info.”
“I like that on each field, there was a place for frequent flyer miles, hotel, loyalty - I want to make sure I earn my points.”
“I think [notifications are] good, as long as it’s things that need to be done or things that are imperative to move forward when booking things.”
Reflection
Through user testing with actual customers, we were able to validate our designs and get feedback to improve the experience for them. They were also willing to share with us other pain points of the product, which enlightened me on the larger picture of balancing business objectives with improving the customer experience.
Design System