QantasQantas’ flight search and booking system:
Test the usability
When I first joined the team in February 2020, an update to the booking system had just been developed. However there wasn’t a chance to run any user testing prior to publishing it, and they had therefore received a range of complaints about the new system. The digital department managing the overall experience of qantas.com was broken up into different squads to represent the different parts of the user journey experience of making a flight. I was based in the ‘Consider’ squad of Digital Direct, which owned the pages from Qantas’s homepage, any information pages and the overall experience a customer may have when ‘considering’ to book a flight. This also contained the booking system, up until the customer shares their details to make a purchase.
I was tasked with analysing customer interviews to see how they engaged with the Booking System and collect any other insights where possible through conversation.
Analysing interviews
All interviews were recorded but will not be shared for privacy reasons. 10 people from a range of different ages, genders and backgrounds were asked to complete three different tasks and then asked to rate their experiences using the Booking System out of 5. Each task was set up with the intention for users to complete them in certain steps, and if they missed a step, or were unable to complete the task, it was considered a failed outcome. While recording I analysed how they interacted with the platform and noted down any interesting observations that were apparent in multiple users.
-
You are travelling from Sydney to London for a friend’s wedding. You are wanting to depart on the cheapest flight as early as possible in March, and return on the cheapest flight as late as possible in April. There are two of you travelling in economy class.
-
You are taking a short business trip from Sydney to Brisbane. You will depart on the 19th of April and you will return on the 21st of April. You will be flying by yourself and in Business Class. You will be wanting to travel using points. Using mobile, book a trip in business class, using points, from Sydney to Brisbane for April 19-21 and change dates
-
You are wanting to travel to Bangkok for a 2 month family holiday at the end of the year. You will be departing Sydney on the 22nd of November and returning on the 17th of January, 2021. You will be flying with four people (2 adults and 2 children) in Economy class.
Problems encountered during testing
How I measured success and gathered qualitative data from user testing
Each task was broken down into very specific steps based on assumptions. If the customer engaged with any of the steps throughout the provided scenarios, it was considered a pass. If it was skipped and ignored, it was considered an error.
I then looked at the order in which each individual customer engaged with each of the steps and compared it against the other customers to see what were the most popular patterns and behaviours to expect. And additionally making notes of anything that appeared surprising or concerning.
Landscape research
In order to to create a successful product, we needed to understand what our competitors were doing, as well as any web models that exist that have successful search tools. With this I was tasked with doing landscape research using Miro, looking at a range of existing products and understanding their usability and web flow.
Scanning the behaviours and decisions behind customers deciding to purchase a flight
We wanted to understand the different reasons someone might want to book a flight, and so we broke the thought process out into three categories, “Dreaming, Planning and Shopping”. Understanding what might bring someone to a booking page for a flight would allow us to cater our designs for those particular instances.
Breaking down the stages of thinking
Using primary and secondary feedback, along with data collected from Qualtrics, I collated a large range of qualitative data into categories to identify where they fit in three overarching categories of “Dreaming”, “Planning” and “Shopping”. These three stages had previously been revealed in the Digital Direct ‘Consider’ journey mapping, and my aim was to validate these stages with the research I had found.
Dreaming, Planning and Shopping
Dreaming is about that first tug on your mind that you may want to go on a trip at some point in time. Whether you suddenly desired it, or were influenced by an ad, a conversation with a friend or seeing a destination in a TV show.
Planning looks at attitudes towards booking flights. It can start as soon as the customer makes the initial search/booking. There are a number of details of the flight that has a role in satisfying their attitudes towards booking and ultimately flying. The following impact their attitudes and decisions when planning to book and how some attitudes contrast others or connect to others.
Shopping is that final stage, where the user is encouraged to make that final purchase and can be based heavily on influences. There are a range of things that play a part in influencing a consumers decision to purchase a flight, such as price, flight details, online influence, consumer attitudes, available tools and time. They all have elements that link these areas together and can be broken down into Purchase Timeframes, Consumer attitudes and Price Influences.
