My Role
Task
To create a landing page for a holiday booking website for skiing and snowboarding holidays
Users should be able to easily book and track holidays
Users are free to ask questions to the client's specialised travel agents when necessary
The client focuses on providing luxurious quality, combined with achieving the best possible price for the customer
The client wanted a landing page inspired by that of Expedia.com
Must include
Inspiring photos (e.g. skiers, mountains) and a cool-toned colour palette to fit the winter sports theme
The heading "Plan the perfect winter trip", followed by the text "Easily plan your ideal ski trip from home with the help of professionals"
Four options on the landing page: Regions, Lodging, Resorts, Passes
A call-to-action in a bold colour, saying "Book Now" under the heading and again under the aforementioned four options
Constraints
8 week timeline
Desktop
iOS
Research Findings
Market research
I went to the Expedia, Booking.com and Kayak websites, to understand how they were operating, as some of the market leaders.
Noting the common features of the three websites (prioritising Expedia as per the brief), I created a list of features to prioritise on the Arctic Travels site.
Minimalist feel, focussing on essential information and destination photos.
A multi-tab booking window- allowing some combination of stays, flights, car hire, events and cruises to be booked above the fold.
The user can scroll and see a variety of trips, helpful information and attractive destination imagery.
I identified two main objectives for the landing page:
High-quality multi-tab booking window
Well laid-out information architecture
To taylor my landing page content to Arctic Travels, I reviewed winter sports holiday statistics.
In the post-pandemic world, consumer habits have changed, as outlined below.
I added an Extended Stays section to the site
A Business Trips tab was added to the site, with a UI suited to corporate bookings
8% of above-average earners use travel experts to book holidays
I included frequent CTAs for contacting agents on every link to another area of the site
User research
I set out my research goals:
I set questions for user interviews and a focus group
What features of a winter sports destination excite users most?
Who do users want to go on a winter sports holiday with?
How does who users want to go on a winter sports holiday with impact method of booking?
How do users decide how to book their winter sports holidays?
What issues have users run into when booking previous winter sports holidays?
What info do users want easy access to?
How do users decide where to go on winter sports holidays?
What do users most want to arrange ahead of time on a winter sports holiday?
The main findings are outlined below
Users have high demand for a travel agent/expert for winter sports trips
Users rely on word of mouth and reviews, particularly for higher-cost holidays
Users seek out interesting activities on winter sports holidays
Users want to limit the complexity of the booking process for winter sports holidays
Users show high interest in taking winter sports trips with friends, family and work
Users anticipation of scenery, sport, socialising and accommodation are peaked by imagery
To design the sitemap, I conducted a card sorting session
Personas
I created personas based on the user research
Iteration
Multi-tab booking window
I created a booking window based on Expedia.com and my user research
User demand for a travel agent/expert and concern over the complexity of booking the trip
Bold CTAs with options to email or call
'Business Trips' and 'Tours/Excursions' pages
'Insurance' page
User reliance on word of mouth and reviews
'Highest Rated' section on landing page
'Join Winter Sporting Events' page, providing connections to event organisers, charities, sponsors and trainers, highlighting site's ability to cater to seasoned skiers
User desire to find interesting activities
'Spectator Sporting Events' and 'Winter Wellness Retreats' pages
'Tours/Excursions' page and ability to book trips from the booking window
User concern over the complexity of the booking process
Multi-tab booking window, similar to that of Expedia.com
User interest in taking trips with friends, family and work
Landscape photographs, allowing users to imagine their desired travel companions without guidance
User anticipation of scenery, sport, socialising and accommodation
Inspiring photographs
Social events listed under 'Tours & Excursions'
'Stays' section, to filter accommodation type
Usability testing
When navigating through the landing page, users felt that the "Business Trips" section felt like an afterthought, given that it would be a substantial section, carrying out a complex task.
Users wanted a UI which inspired more trust in the site's corporate services.
Two of the users had previously been involved in organising company trips, so I interviewed them to gain more detail.
I created a separate page for business trips, to facilitate corporate trip bookings.
Prototype
Visual Design
Colour palette
The client requested cool-toned colours to fit in with the vibe of the winter locations on the site.
I took two blue tones directly from winter landscape photographs and added a contrasting green, along with a dark grey-blue and some monochrome shades.
Imagery
I wanted users to see as many images as possible. Above the fold, the viewport is covered in a large image of a snowy landscape
Images are used at every opportunity to inspire users to book their trip.
Reflections
The user and industry research show that the client's USP is strong, as winter sports holidays are complex, increasing the demand for expert agents and personal assistance.
However, more usability testing is needed to judge whether users have been over-encouraged to get in touch. It is important to avoid overwhelming the client with unnecessary communication.
Increased direct communication with users will increase the client's opportunity to make conversions, however I would like to do further research on how to optimise some interractive parts of the process, through automation.
Once the client has launched the new site, monitoring the volume of users making contact should be monitored, to ensure that there is not an overflow of demand to speak to agents from users who are not serious about booking a holiday.
