EXOTICCA
March 2022 - 4 weeks project
We will redesign the calendar from the product page of Exoticca, a 100% online travel agency. This project was the final work of Ironhack bootcamp where we collaborated with a real company
ABOUT EXOTICCA
“Our mission is to make the trip of your dreams come true”
100% online travel agency with presence in different countries: the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain.
Sell affordable and luxury package tours to exotic destinations.
Eliminate intermediaries and negotiate with suppliers directly, thus achieving discounts of up to 30%.
Its users are people over 55 with a high purchasing power.
01. THE CHALLENGE
PROJECT BRIEF
The Exoticca product team is giving us the challenge of including the pricing calendar under the product page and not through a modal window like they currently have:
THE CALENDAR
As per product team requirements, the calendar should include the below info:
Best Price and Second Best Price
Discounted price and previous price
Spots left
Group Tour and Private Tour Prices
Before kicking off the project, we defined the below two elements under the MVP mindset
RESEARCH GOAL
Test and identify the problems in the product page, specifically in the calendar, in order to redesign a better experience in the selection of dates and prices
Understand the mental map of users
Know more about what influences them the most when buying a tour
HYPOTHESIS
Multiple price colors might confuse the user
Text sizes are very small
The main offer price is not visible when you enter the calendar
02. RESEARCH
We agreed the target we could reach and the best two methods to be use for the proposed challenge
DESKTOP RESEARCH
Direct and Indirect Competitors
With this method we wanted to learn what the calendar and search engine of direct and indirect competitors are like
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY 1:1 IN PERSON AND REMOTELY
Part I: Interview
Part II: Usability Test
We wanted to use this method to learn qualitative data from users and understand their mental map when buying a trip. The test would give us feedback on the pain points found on the product page and calendar
TARGET USER
We interviewed 10 users (6 men and 4 women)
Users between 44 and 72 years old who have bought trips on the internet or through a Travel Agency
DESKTOP RESEARCH
We have looked at the Direct and Indirect competitors to see what their travel package search process is like and especially how their calendar works
CONTIKI
Direct competitor
You can see round trip day with prices and discount quickly, list mode
GO AHEAD TOURS
Direct competitor
They select start and end date. They include the calendar under the product page and the search tab in horizontal
HALCÓN VIAJES
Indirect competitor
The calendar shows a single color, an asterisk marks the lowest price and you can also see the lowest price of the previous and next month
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Part I - Interview
What is the most important thing for you when looking for a trip?
What is the most important thing when buying a trip?
What information do you hope to find when you search for a trip?
Other places where they look for a trip:
Skyscanner
Lastminute
Atrápalo
Booking.com
Expedia
Traditional Travel Agency
The users prioritize:
Destination
Price
Flights
Hotels
Part II - Usability test
With the usability testing method we wanted to extract detailed data from users to focus on the paint points of the product page and specifically the calendar. Below are the main insigths from users
MULTIPLE COLORS
Users do not understand the difference between colors
They see the Best Price but do not understand the other green color
Furthermore, the scratched-off price is difficult to see
UX RECOMMENDATION: explain what each color means
TRIP START AND END DATE
Users would like to be clear on the start and end date of the trip
They can only select the start date without visual information about the end date. They also think that the greyed out dates are not available trip dates
UX RECOMMENDATION: interactive calendar where the end date is pre-selected
PRICE OFFER
Users don't get to see the initial offer in the calendar
When they first see the product page, there is an offer that is difficult to find under the calendar. User have to go back and for through the calendar to reach the offer
UX RECOMMENDATION: Button to go straight to the offer in the calendar
CATEGORIES AND AVAILABILITY
Product page
Availability and Categories info are confusing. Users think that the Category refers to the trip, when it actually refers to the hotel. They also can't tell the difference between Private Tour or Solo Traveller
The phone call is highly accepted by all users
UX RECOMMENDATION: be more specific on what the client is purchasing
JOBS TO BE DONE
Based on prior research we defined what our user is expected to find in the website
"When I see an offer at the beginning of the web I would like to be able to find it easily in the calendar"
"When I enter the calendar I would like to be able to understand the colors of the prices"
"When I am buying a trip, I would like to know the total price from the beginning, no tricks"
03. IDEATION
Following the feedback from our users we created the below calendar as an initial idea
We added the color description underneath
We changed the second best price color to separate it from the best price offer color
We added two months format, so the user can visualize the go and return travel dates
We redesigned the search tab from the vertical box (left image) to the horizontal search tab redesigned page (right image)
04. PROTOTYPE
Our final prototype is a redesigned product page with the calendar included on it
SEARCH BAR includes the below information:
Travel month, because along with the Departure city, this is a variable that will influece the final price. This way the user can see the lowest monthly price where the offer applies
Under Type of trip dropdown (Group tours, Private tour or Solo traveler) we added a detailed explanation on what each type of tryp means
We have clarified that "Category" refers to the hotel and also clarified what each category means and the supplement per person
The CALENDAR:
We have left one month calendar as per the feedback from users. "Too many colors confuse myself"
We have also increased the font size as per the feedback "I can't read the prices properly"
NEXT STEPS
Keep testing the final prototype to identify the pain points
Test the prototype in mobile version
Keep working on other pain point related to the product page
NEXT PROJECT
