Ingredients of Goibibo ‘secret-sauce’, that made customers truly ‘Happy’
How Project Happy is revitalising the Goibibo app and making it truly customer-centric.
“The best way to predict the future… is to invent it” — Alan Kay
If we had to pick a punchline for Project Happy that would be it! Simply put, #DesignersofGoibibo created a dynamic user experience that made bookings a smooth ride. Clearly, the customers were happier with the newer and fresher version.
And how exactly do we know that? Well, there was a surge in hotel room night bookings by 2000 per day!
So, what made us ponder to go fonder?
“We realized that some of our current design did not quite reflect what we stand for — youth, dynamism, travel. We wanted to make it relatable to our customers, more informative, more contextual and of course HAPPIER!”
— Faris Mohammed, #DesignersofGoibibo
Legacy designs and outdated features on the Goibibo app posed a huge challenge for the design team. This coupled with parts of native/react native architecture, refrained us from experimenting beyond a certain point. Scalability was out of question with this version in play.
The UX team at Goibibo strived to create an interface that would engage the target audience in a more personalized way. We wanted to serve users what they required to know in the most visually pleasing and fulfilling manner. Shooting two targets with one bow, this was also aimed at building a highly scalable design system that is ‘future-ready’.
Although the business need for the project was fancy enough, how it impacted our teams working on it, was like the cherry-on-the-cake! Project Happy helped us collaborate seamlessly and in the process learn a lot from each other. This collaborative learning was and still is a great opportunity for all our engineers and project managers.
“Technology is like fish. The longer it stays on the shelf, the less desirable it becomes” — Andrew Heller, IBM
Project Happy, in many ways, was etched on similar lines.
How the teams aced the ‘game of foxes and chromes’?
The teams zealously shouted “lights, camera, action!’’ with the following objectives in mind:
- Move the entire Goibibo app into a Happy design system
- Personalize navigation experience for each user
- Craft a design library with reusable and scalable components that can be used across different verticals.
Small anchors aided this ambitious journey. Persuasive elements (offers, traveller info, text inputs, alert messages) were unified across different verticals. The search blocks were redesigned with similar look-n-feel. The colour palette was brightened and design elements enhanced to make them look more…what’s the technical word for it…yeah, cheerful!
Here’s a closer look at how we did it…
Teams had put in significant effort to revamp the Goibibo hotel’s app funnels over the last year. This has been done with a focus on context and personalization. Scroll down to catch a glimpse of the funnel enhancements with Happy changes.
STEP 1: Homepage is lot like a door that leads to all the further actions and interactions by user. As a critical part of our agenda, we focussed on making the page truly ‘explorative’. The page now provides easy access to recent searches and relevant offers. The existing colour palette was enhanced to a brighter, smoother and an impactful one.
STEP 2: SRP or as it is commonly known as ‘Search Results Page’
In its newer version it became more action-packed and brought customers closer to decision-making. How was that done? We increased focus on persuasion visibility, contextualization of the funnel, offers’ discoverability and yes, segment (couples, business travellers etc) consistency. This made the page quite wholesome and informative.
Sample Persuasion Snippets on SRP
Contextual to Segments — Rating by target customer segment (business, couple, individual) or distance from a landmark, deals and offers on the property or visibility to room inventory — thereby leading to faster and more informed decisions.
“Project Happy was not just driving a visual change but also transforming the way we made the app more contextual and personalized to our users.”
— Arun Ravi, #DesignersofGoibibo
Step 3: Hotels’ details page — Image gallery was made more vibrant with better display features by inter-leafing hotel images with guest images. Detailed hotel amenities and deals were aesthetically incorporated. Again, customer segment (business, couple, individual) customization was made applicable to ensure that we were talking to the customers about what exactly they are looking for.
STEP 4: Select room revamp — Rightly said, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little ‘extra’. The new layout ensured better visibility of all the key features via strategic placement of room amenities, meal inclusive rate plans, on the page. Scalability was another principle incorporated for showcasing additional content on premium properties and other areas. Here’s how…
Step 5: ‘Review’ and ‘Traveller’ screens were merged. Don Draper, the fictional character of the TV series, Mad Men, said, “Make it simple, but significant”. We couldn’t agree more! In the older version of the app, there were two steps between room selection and payment. These were — Review and Traveller Details screen. In the new version, these two pages were merged into one, making the screen more informative and reducing steps in the transaction. The same screen now showcases the fare jump, price consistency, traveller details and other essential information.
Multiple refinements on each screen backed by user group studies have helped us in improving the booking experience. Overall, we could see a 0.8% uptake attributable to this initiative on Domestic Hotels, translating to 10% overall improvement in conversion on Android and 1% uptake, translating to 12.5% overall improvement in conversion on iOS.
The success of Project Happy for the app version has built a strong case for modifications on the desktop version. Currently, the team is working on desktop revamp across different lines of business (Hotels, Cabs and Flights). The priorities include personalized experience for each user and of course crafting a design resource library with reusable and scalable components that can be leveraged across different verticals.
Besides the appreciable metrics to applaud the credibility of the project, several intangible accolades added to its success. The collaborative environment fuelled by Project ‘Happy’ brought with it a ‘can-do’ approach amongst the teams.
Above all, customer-centricity became the starting point for all our considerations — that truly is an attitude that made all the difference!
