‘Airbnb Feature Integration’
General Assembly UXDI — Project 2
Project Overview
The scope of the project was to integrate a new feature to Airbnb’s platform:
Airbnb would like to create a first-class means to increase the ability of event hosts and guests to find one another through its mobile app.
The Problem
Users find the event planning process time-consuming and stressful. Users planning events are busy and usually search for venues online or get recommendations from people they know.
Business Goals
- Guests should be able to find prospective event spaces and reach out to their point of contact.
• Hosts should be able to promote their event spaces to guests.
• Guests and hosts may be able to identify one another based on shared interests Airbnb.
• Venue Guests are event space bookers, and Venue Hosts are event space owners/managers.
Roles
Lexi Malouta, Erika Friend, Manan Shah, and Pablo Papasidero shared all research, synthesis, design, and testing responsibilities. I was the lead UI designer.
Timing: 2 Weeks
Tools
Pen and paper, Google Forms (survey), Sketch, Illustrator, InVision.
User Research
Mind Map
Our first step was to conduct a mind map to identify primary users and see how they interact with the app, as well as identify secondary users and understand their relationship with primary users.
Screener Survey
We sent out a screener survey to find Airbnb users who are or had been either guests, hosts (or both), and to find secondary users as well. We received 99 replies:
- Ages 18–35
- 80% use or had used Airbnb
- 12% do not wish to use Airbnb
- Only one reply from a user who hosts or had hosted in the past.
We decided to focus our research on guest users since they constituted 98.7% of all the positive replies.
User Interviews
We interviewed 9 active Airbnb users. We looked into how do users plan/book events and we found similarities among them all.
From these user interviews, we gathered the following key insights:
• Users wanted more venue information available online.
• Users wanted the ability to visualize venues without visiting them (Virtual Tour, 360˚ photos/videos, space layout).
• Users wanted to track venues they like (Bookmark/Favorite).
• Users wanted the ability to efficiently search and find suitable venues (Filter by interests).
• Users needed to know what the venue will provide and what they may need to bring.
Synthesis — Affinity Mapping
We organized and synthesized our key insights into an affinity map. Each of the 9 interviewees was represented by a different post-it and ink color for easier identification.
We discovered that there were two types of events. Our users were planning for professional and personal events.
Our users mostly relied on Google and Yelp! to find venue information but were not satisfied with its quality and quantity available online. They demanded more media and information on payment methods before contacting the venue. Communication with the venue owner/managers had to be fast since they had busy.
Personas
Rachel Black, a Psychology graduate working as a Student Researcher at Ann Arbor University who is planning a student showcase for her department.
Nancy Barbs, a mother from Long Island who commutes to New York every day and is planning her son’s high school graduation party.
Problem Statement
Users planning events are busy and usually search for venues online or get recommendations from people they know. Users find the event planning process time-consuming and stressful.
How might we help users to efficiently find and book event-appropriate venues?
Ideation — Design Studio
After creating our personas, we completed the synthesis phase and began on the ideation stage.
Our first step was to sketch ideas for Rachel and Nancy. We ran two rounds of Design Studio where we each had 6 minutes to sketch 6 ideas based on our their needs. We then gave each other feedback and started another round. In this last round, we incorporated (read: ‘Stole’) each other’s ideas into our sketches.
At the end of this process, we listed all the potential features for each persona:
Rachel
• 360 Photos & Walk-through guided tour (Space Layout Map)
• Bookmark feature — saved venues
• Venue recommendations or notes
• Calendar icon — should include times open and availability
• Price range shown on venue page
• Venue details/amenities/extra costs
• Map
• Must-haves: filtering
• “Compare Venues” feature
Nancy
• RSVP (scan import option, too?)
• Swiping photos while searching
• Customization and suggestions
• Stories feature on homepage
Delivery — Ideation Implementation
MoSCoW Method — Feature Prioritization
Once we had the list of potential features, we prioritize which ones were going to be included in the app using the MoSCow method shown on the image above.
We narrowed it down to five features:
- 360º photos/videos & virtual tour to visualize venue space without leaving home.
- Robust filtering options to find event-appropriate venues.
- Venue link on home page and promotions. (Business goal)
- Guest give permission to be contacted by venues based on their search criteria. (Business goal)
User Flow
To help the process move from sketching to wireframing, we decided that a user flow would help us to understand what screens we would need to sketch.
Rachel’s User Journey
1. Rachel has to find a venue for an event.
2. Rachel finds out that airbnb has a venue booking feature.
3. Rachel accesses Airbnb to look for venues.
4. She finds the venue tab and clicks it. [Entry Point]
5. Puts in a date and filters, Rachel allows hosts to contact her.
6. Sees search results.
7. Clicks on a venue and sees details.
8. Favorites venue.
9. Contacts host. [Exit Point]
Build — Wireframing
We built the wireframes based on the sketches, feature prioritization, and the user journey created above as well as what Airbnb already had in their app.
Testing
User Scenario:
In this scenario you are Rachel Black, a Graduate Student Researcher trying to plan a student showcase, and you need to find a venue for the event.
Task #1:
Use Airbnb to find a venue you would be interested in and favorite it.
Task #2:
Now that you’ve favorited the venue, please go ahead and contact the host.
Both users completed the tasks, but we realized major iterations were needed to make the experience easier for the users.
These are the results after conducting 5 additional tests, with some iterations in between:
◦ Insights:
▪ Completed task 1 [6/7]
▪ Completed task 2 [7/7]
▪ Clicked “Book Now” instead of “Contact Host” to contact host [6/7]
▪ Scared of “Book Now” button [5/7]
▪ Confused by pre-selected attributes/themes [3/7]
▪ Wanted to favorite venue from results page [2/7]
Annotated Wireframes & Interations Notes
1. Added venues on app’s home screen (Entry point)
2. Promoting venues through sponsored stories (Business goal)
3. Robust Filtering
4. Allow venues find guests based on similar interests (Business goal)
5. Venue Promotion (Business goal)
6. Bookmark
7. Detailed list of amenities and attributes
[First Row]
Results Screen
• Got rid of the map symbol in the search results because users did not know how to use it and confused them. Map is on the venue page only.
[Second Row]
Promoted Venues
• Added Sponsored Venues to the top of the results screen (similar to most hotel booking/travel websites) to address business goals.
Calendar
• Redesign the calendar screen so dates would show highlighted.
Venue Filtering
• “Done” button changed to “See 300+ venues”. This not only makes the CTA more clear for the users, it’s also how it currently is on Airbnb.
Venue Screen
• Discarding check availability because dates were already selected in filter screen.
[Third Row]
Search Results Screen
• Users did not trust the word “Promoted” or “Sponsored”. We changed “Features Venues” to Stories in the Explore screen. These stories give users ideas of what they can do in these venues. Venues have a chance to promote themselves through content that speaks to the user more than a simple advertisement.
Venue Filtering
• Moved Attributes filter to the top because some users skipped it.
• We added a check box for guests to give hosts permission to contact them based on their search criteria. (Meeting business goal)
Contact Host Screen
• Added a “Message Sent” confirmation pop-up.
Finalize — Finished Prototype
Next Steps
- Agree upon KPIs with stakeholders so we have more ways to measure results.
• Run more usability tests of hi-fi Prototype.
• Further develop venue promotions through sponsored content and “Stories”.
• Improve messaging between hosts and guests.
• Recruit and interview venue hosts.
