An attempt to increase order value & reduce drop-offs by upselling last minute deals in the hotel booking flow of Expedia app
UX case study of Product design challenge done in 48 hrs.
Planning a last minute weekend trip to Goa? But the room rates are obviously pretty high! What if I say Don't worry we’ve got your back, don't hesitate to book rooms even at the last minute because we offer exclusive discounts and offers for last-minute planners like you in Expedia! feeling light hearted?
Okay so now sit back and get ready to read through my experience of how i cracked an ambiguous problem statement to brainstorm & come up with a new feature in Expedia hotel booking app for upselling last-minute deals which not only benefits the users but also the business- all in just 48 hrs!
PS special appearance AI bot! Yes you heard it right, defying the odds this time we made use of open ai chatgpt for many aspects so that we don’t remain stuck and move ahead with assumptions. Read ahead to know where Ai showed up in my project too.
Introduction
Hello, wondering what this case study is about? This is a documentation of the 48hr long Product design challenge organized by Anudeep Ayyagari as a part of the UXM community.
This is an individual project, but I belonged to a group of 10 members where each person worked on individual different features in the hotel booking flow of Expedia.
🔴Index
(👇Click on any title to directly jump to that section & read👇)
1: Quick recap on the problem & solution
- About the product Expedia- business model & its existing hotel booking flow
- Upselling last-minute deals on hotel booking app: figuring out the Problem statement
- How I introduced the feature- existing screen vs Final redesign solution
2: Dive into the details of my planning & process
- Time schedule for the challenge
- How I explored & analyzed the app initially
- The process I followed to complete the task
- Why I chose- upselling last minute deals?
- How AI (chatgpt) came into assistance!
- Forming assumptions to keep moving- use cases & location of new feature
- Where I took enough time to understand and get clarity of things-secondary research
- Brainstorming ideas for the use cases & target users
- Redesigning screens: the process & old vs new screens
- Checking if the design works for users: User testing
- Final Ui- after iterating on feedback
- Conclusion- future scope & key takeaways
1.About the project & what did I come up with in 48 hrs?
About expedia & its business model
Expedia is a hotel booking platform that allows customers to search for and book rooms at hotels around the world. The platform includes a variety of features to help customers find the best deals and make informed decisions about their bookings.
Merchant business model: in this business model, the platform buys hotel rooms & then resells them to travellers. The merchant gets the rooms cheaper by buing the rooms very early as well as in bulk. Often, the merchant bundles them with airfares, rental cars etc. Source
Existing hotel booking flow
This existing flow in Expedia when a user tries to book a hotel for very near upcoming dates/ at the last minute.
Problems identified-
- Most hotels doesn’t have refund option.
- Full payment to be done, no discounts or offers for last minute bookings.
- Gives user a feel they have to pay full amount since it’s their need to get a room in the last moment.
- Low sense of satisfaction for users.
Figuring out the problem statement
Problem statement: Add a feature to upsell last-minute deals to make users not drop off during checkout and increase revenue to the business.
Due to lack of time I could invest only limited time in research & went ahead with assumptions to move from a state of ambiguity to clarity. At a later stage I conducted primary & secondary research to validate the points I were confused about and to design with better clarity.
🤔Assumptions I considered for ideation-
- I’m assuming I have to upsell products and combine last-minute deals
- Upselling might mean to sell higher-value products to customers and increasing the order value
- Last minute deals can be discounts or offers which could appear only for last minute bookings
- Target of the feature would be to reduce drop offs, increase order value and conversions to the business.
-Use case could be: People booking in last minute might prefer hotels with discounts and offers
- Target users could be: travellers/business people who have immediate meetings & travel might look for hotel options at last minute
- Offers showing package deals/ combines different services-increases order value-also creates sense of urgency to buy.
- Feature for upselling last minute deals could be placed at checkout process- basic example being swiggy zomato
-Offers on last minute deals could be placed at the initial stage of booking, so as to attract more users from top of the funnel.
🔴How I introduced the feature: quick look into the final solution
1. Last minute deals: incorporated as limited time offers & count down timers in the initial stage of hotel booking so as to attract users from top of the funnel to increase conversions.
2. Upselling deals: new feature introduced just before the checkout as an overlay pop up, no new screen introduced, when the user clicks on the reserve room CTA on rooms page.This location is opted so that the upgradation not only gets enough attention but also doesn't lead to drop offs if placed at checkout screen.
🔎Comparison of existing screen vs final solution with reasons
🟦Hotel selection screen
1 & 2.Limited offer tags & discount offers : Increase customer satisfaction by providing discounts like 10% off. Creates a sense of urgency. Helps business to push the sales of hotel rooms left un-purchased, try to make users buy it and increase order value.
3.Banner with timer showing limited period/ exclusive offer :”Exclusive offers” can attract more customers.
- Countdown timer can create a sense of urgency and users might agree upon opting for a higher valued hotel room at a dispayed dicount price
- Attract more customers from the top of the funnel increasing chances for conversions.- Upselling of higher valued property with discounted prices.
- Re arranged order of hotel cards with offers. After iteration all the hotels with limited time offers are provided in the top of the list for more attention.
Once the user taps on discounted hotel card, and moves ahead to the room selection page of that hotel, clicks on reserve button on any one of the room an over lay pop up appears-
🟦New upgrade-to screen-
Introducing upgrade to feature when users click on the reserve button on any of the hotel room option. This new feature is introduced to nudge the user to a premium option of the hotel room by paying an additional amount(upselling).
1. Uprade your stay heading given to the bottom sheet that pops up so that users get a context of the content being presented on screen
2. Count down timer tag to create a sense of urgency. Lesser the time lesser session length and can quickly convert.
3. Banner to positively nudge the user to upgrade paying a small amount in addition to the amount for existing chosen stay. Both the current chosen room name & additional amount to be payed for upgrade are displayed clearly so user doesnt get confused.For customer satisfaction.
4. Upgraded room type along with hotel name & basic info about additional amenities -is given so people dont get confused or forget it’s from the same hotel available for upgradation. Also nudges user to convert with igher priced product.
5. Primary CTA plus price+discount & total price to be payed-for useer to quickly relate & decide.
6. Skip option as secondary CTA with price of room selected in previous screen-so that users doesnt forget & get confused. For uick comparison & decision making.Reduce drop off- all actions can be taken from this screen.
🟦Checkout screen-when opted for upgrade
1.The amount saved by the users by opting for the limited time offer for upgrading, mentioned on top of the checkout screen inorder to increase customer satisfaction & reduce chances of drop off.
2.Expedia already has reward based system, linking it with last minute deals might give a sense of satisfaction to users and prevent them from dropping off .
3.Additional text for customer satisfaction, assuring they have opted for a limited time deal with benefits & offers.
Try out the interactive prototype of final solution👇
[ 🔙Click here to go back to Index 🔙 ]
2: Dive into the details of my planning & process
⏰Time schedule
This was the basic schedule for completing the challenge. Started the challenge on Friday 9.30pm. But it was definitely a nonlinear process dwindling back and forth between the steps to gain clarity of thoughts and iterate designs.
🔎How i explored & analyzed the app
When the challenge began, we were allotted with the expedia travel planning app where each member of the group was to choose completely different new feature to work upon.
Given only 48 hours of time we instantly focussed on the selection of problem statement, giving ourselves time to understand the app & its flow, the business impacts that could be possible with the introduction of a new feature -all these to be unearthed by Saturday dawn.
I first landed on to a fully fledged version of expedia app with lot of options on the home screen looking so overwhelming.Later came to know it was the USA version of the app. When I switched back to the indian version I landed on to a home page with major cta and a bottom nav bar which actually reduced the overwhelming confusions I had and paved a clear path to move ahead & explore.
My major focus was to understand the hotel booking flow-which generally consists of 4 screens till it takes to checkout screen- where I had to introduce a new feature for upselling.At this stage I still wasn't sure about what last minute deal was!
🔁Process I followed to complete the task within 48hrs
Add a feature to upsell last minute deals to make users not drop off during checkout and increase revenue to bussiness.
This is where I begun with, at 1.30 am on Saturday morning I was at no clarity on which direction to research, design & where to land.
Given the time constraints, the process I took to move ahead with the problem statement at an ambiguous state was-
to diverge my thoughts to all sorts of ideas and assumptions that can lead me to different possibilities of how I can create this feature & how a feature for last minute deals can look like,
the different ways it can affect business of hotel booking flow.
Brainstorm and analyse all sort of use cases & target users I can think of at the moment
afterwards to converge from all the information and assumptions to workable crisp solutions and narrow down to specific target users, use case possible for me to work in this time limit, the viable location to place a feature for upselling last minute deal and focus on few business metrics for it.
❓Why I chose- upselling last-minute deals?
From the list of problem statements given I could make some sense out of last minute deals and my assumption/bias about what it could be as the first thing came to my mind was amazon deals.But I had no idea what upselling was.So I wanted to choose this area to understand what it was and learn how to impact business with upselling & deals. This definitely was an exploratory ride beginning from nowhere, opening new pathways along with the process & ending up with a new feature in hand. Trust the process it is!
How AI (chatgpt) came into assistance !
Ai need not be a threat for designers, despite an added advantage to make our jobs easier!.
By this time with all the confusions going on about upselling & deals I defined my problem statement for myself using chatgpt which definitely did give me a direction to move ahead. Here’s a problem statement that I made using chatgpt :
- Context: Expedia is a hotel booking platform that allows customers to search for and book rooms at hotels around the world with variety of features to help customers find the best deals and make informed decisions about their bookings.
- Core Idea of the Feature: To allow hotels to offer special deals and promotions to customers who are in the process of booking a room on the Expedia platform. Could be in the form of discounted rates / package deals that include additional amenities or services. Goal is to encourage customers to upgrade their bookings and pay more for their stays, which can increase revenue for the hotels and the overall platform.
- Impact on Business Metrics: revenue and customer satisfaction. By encouraging customers to upgrade their bookings and pay more for their stays, the feature can increase revenue for the hotels and the overall platform.
- How it Helps Users: by providing them with access to special deals and promotions that they may not have been aware of otherwise, to save money on their bookings and get more value for their money, to make more informed decisions about their bookings by providing them with information about different options and pricing.
- Constraints: limited availability of the deals, as they are typically only available for a limited time. The feature may also be subject to limitations in terms of the types of deals that can be offered and the specific hotels or rooms that are eligible for the promotions.
- Assumptions: there is demand for last-minute deals among Expedia users, that hotels are willing to offer discounts on their rooms to encourage bookings. It may also be assumed that the feature will not negatively impact the overall user experience on the platform.
Isnt that mind blowing! I was also able to gather few assumptions on the upselling feature from chat gpt.
🧠Forming assumptions to keep moving
From around 2am i decided not to waste time and started moving ahead with the assumptions i could form from the key words of problem statement-
- Focus of Expedia is on high end users
-people booking at last minute can get attracted to discounts
-travelers/ business people who have immediate meetings & travel might book immediately too
-or higher income couples / families when booking could come in this category - Last minute & time constrained deals might urge users to buy the offer faster before the time ends increasing conversions, & average order value.
-assume that providing last minute deal to make users book faster might not affect customer satisfaction
-I assume that if given limited time deal it is better to provide them at a stage where people have already chosen a hotel/in between the process of booking rooms from the hotel-so noticing a limited time offer might trigger them to proceed with buying the offer faster.
My assumptions on use cases & target users:
As per my assumption situations where people might benefit of last minute deals and the business might benefit of upselling are-
people booking at last minute:
business people going for meetings
youngsters / young couple booking at last minute
youngsters/family booking trips for weekend at last minuteupselling cases:
better room for business class people
rooms with added on amenities for couple/familieslast minute deals:
-provide offers for booking at last minute to sell out the left over rooms booked by the company at the hotel.At this moment i’m not clear about many things hence I need to focus on researching on these for better clarity-
what are the edge cases that might happen while a person is booking and sees a limited offer deal?
situations where user might get attracted to last minute deal?
which clients to target?
which would be the exact position for upselling feature in flow to get attention of users?
how to make sure they dont drop off?
which would be a feature that trigger user more to purchase immediately with limited time deal?
🚩Where to place the new feature
At this point I was not clear where to introduce the new feature
My assumptions on the positioning of new feature in the booking flow were
-i assume upselling could be at checkout flow before payment
-but after a team mate’s suggestion i felt it could be provided after checkout so that user’s booking flow doesnt get hampered, after booking they can be given an option to upsell by paying the additional amount at hotel?-so the different options I have are before checkout page,on checkout page & after checkout page.
🔎I took enough time to understand and gain clarity of things-Secondary research
- Understanding about expedia & business model
Expedia attracts a variety of demographic groups, one of which happens to be the luxury segment. In fact the company has recently found that 21% of its audience fit into this category, ranging in age from 25–54 with an income of more than $100,000.
- Sourcing inspiration for upselling & last minute deals
Upselling
Upselling is encouraging the purchase of anything that would make a customer’s additional purchase more expensive with an upgrade, enhancement, or premium option
With upselling, you’re not offering lateral products to complement your customer’s initial purchase — you’re offering an upgraded or premium version of the product they’ve just agreed to buy.
HubSpot research says that 88% of surveyed salespeople try to upsell their customers. 49% of that group say that understanding customers’ needs and goals is a key strategy- Guests are more likely to book a more expensive option if it’s clear what they’ll get for the extra money
When you highlight particular attributes or amenities, your property may also be more visible in search results for travellers who are looking for those features.
Clarifying the differences between your rooms and units may also encourage more guests to choose a paid upgrade to a more expensive option between booking and checking in
There is a greater opportunity to increase revenue and reduce errors by automating and offering room upgrades to guests before they reach your property.
The reservation is made on flexible or non-refundable policies where the partner has set up a grace period, and the guest accepts the upsell offer within that specific grace period
- Last minute deals for hotels
Hotels with last-minute deals can easily reduce the chances of losses occurring from rooms remaining unoccupied and vacant.
- Inspiration for location of new feature
The perfect time to upsell your room upgrades is during the booking process.
You can include room photo slideshows to visually represent the advantages of more desirable rooms on the room search result page in your online booking engine.
You should display standard rates and package rates alongside each other to show the added value and let your customers choose what fits their needs best.
- Reduce drop offs while upselling
It would be better to be upfront with the costs. Eg:You can indicate the amount a guest needs to add in case they want to enjoy other services like laundry or full-body massage service.
I also looked into competitor apps like booking.com ,make mytrip, air bnb.
1. I was able to find a similar feature to last minute offers on make my trip, with a discount offer with a timer tag on hotel cards.
2. Inspiration for countdown timer deals from amazon website
But couldn't draw any example from direct competitors for upselling features.
3. Was able to find out an example for upselling from desk research, Pro flowers-a flower bouquet website, by nudging user to pay a small amount to upgrade to buy a better bouquet.
🤔Brainstorming ideas for the new feature
Once i got the clarity and validation for the methods to bring about upselling & limited time deals i proceeded to ideating on pen & paper by around 7 am.
Since the clock was ticking and we cannot solve for every use case I decided to prioritize on targeting young couple/families booking hotels at last minutes — in order to easily source users for testing at next stage.
1. Last minute deal/offers grab attention of users
2. Prompt to upgrade to permium options with better amenities- smaller pay difference, limited offer
3. Provide customer satisfaction on showing the offers they gained- free facilities got for premium option- reduce drop off
But after 1 round of ideation I had more alternate ideas coming into my mind. So I created wireframes of new ideas with a better vision.
4.upgrade popup on hotel rooms page, can be a viable option since this already used in the app for payment option- the user is not made to choose payment from checkout screen
-considering similar design upselling pop up can also be given here.
5.Ideated an upgrade to carousel with options for rooms to upgrade to-after checkout.But later I felt this option might not attract young people who are about to checkout.They might have already made up their mind to proceed with payment while fixing a room in the rooom selection screen itself .
Assumptions I made at this stage
- to give customers a prompt to try/ see features available for upgraded option to attract them towards it.
-provide a similar cta for upgrading same as to reserving a room.-showing the discounts at a step while browsing hotels might be necessary to grab attention of user rather than providing only at checkout — this can bring more users to the funnel
-emphasise the offer - user must be made to recognise the offer will fade away, sense of urgency created for faster conversion
-also customer satisfaction giving things are shown as prominent like “you will make this much saving if booked with this time ”
-provide user control by providing option to skip
-write copy: upgrade the option for only Rs 5k more etc.
Redesigning screens: the process & old vs new screens
🔄Recreating the design system & the new elements added
Once the basic layout for new feature was outlines I started making the base for recreating Ui of expedia. I created the colour styles, text styles and the basic components needed for my screen and upgrading feature. A big thanks to my team mates Madhan and Gopicca too for working together in this part for creating the necessary CTA and icon libraries for expedia.
📲Creating re designed screens
By Saturday evening I started preparing the re designed screens for expedia incorporating the new feature.
- i redesigned the hotel cards incorporating offers for last minute deal
- added a new screen for upselling- when people click on reserve button while choosing a room, an option to upgrade their stay with better amenities appear.
📍Comparing original and revised Ui screens with reasonings
In the original screen only original prices are shown,no discounts and no cancellation/refund policy provided for last minute bookings.
1.Limited offer tags
- Helps users booking hotels at last minute/ in a hurry to easily pick & find hotel options at better prices. Increase customer satisfaction by providing discounts .
- Helps business to push the sales of hotel rooms left un-purchased, try to make users buy it and increase order value.2.Banner with timer showing limited period/ exclusive offer on the hotel card
- Instead of the general way of increasing the rates of hotels in last minute bookings, showing discounts can create more customer satisfaction.”Exclusive offers” can attract more customers.
- Giving a countdown timer can create a sense of urgency
- Trying to attract more customers from the top of the funnel
- increases revenue if more people tend to book hotel within the limited time given
- Upselling of higher valued property with discounted prices- Retained the ad for hotel at the top & introduced discounted/ hotels with offers, in between the list so people notice the difference in prices compared to normal price of other available hotels.
Introducing upgrade to feature when users click on the reserve button on any of the hotel room option. This new feature is introduced to nudge the user to a premium option of the hotel room by paying an additional amount(upselling).
From the re designed screen-
1. Uprade your stay heading gives users a context of the content being presented on screen
2. Count down timer tag of 1hr so that user gets a sense of urgency to quickly decide whether to upgrade by providing additional amount or not. The 1 hr count down time might also help user for an option to discuss with family and proceed with booking.
3. Banner to positively nudge the user to upgrade to a higher valued premium stay and convince the user to pay a small amount in addition to the amount for existing chosen stay.
-Both the current chosen room name & additional amount to be payed for upgrade are displayed clearly so user doesnt get confused.
4. Upgraded room type along with hotel name is given so people dont get confused or forget it’s from the same hotel available for upgradation. The price is written along with the name for easily noticing & comprehending it.
5. Additional amenities that user can get if upgraded, can also be suggested based on previous user data.Personalisation can help in nudging users to buy the option & convert.
6. Offer price located at bottom of card so users notice it again, after scanning the whole card & when attention reaches the bottom.
This feature for upselling is provided as a bottomsheet pop up
-so user doesn’t feel forced and has an option to go back to previous selection of room so that they dont drop off.
- user doesn’t miss out the option for upgradation compared to an option when displayed on checkout screen.Hence the reasoning for location of this new feature.
-The feature is kept before checkout since users are booking rooms at last minute so once they decide on a room to go forward with & proceed to checkout- seeing an option to upgrade at checkout might not get succesful & users might not consider upgrading to higher value rooms.
1.The amount saved by the users by opting for the limited time offer for upgrading, mentioned on top of the checkout screen inorder to increase customer satisfaction & reduce chances of drop off.
2.Expedia already has reward based system, so linking it with last minute deals might give a sense of satisfaction to users and prevent them from dropping off and make them complete the checkout process so they can redeem the rewards.
🕵️♂️Checking if the design works for users: User testing
The time was Saturday night when I went ahead for usability testing of revised UI. Since I was running short of time by this stage I decided to move forward with comprehension based usability testing with users by showing them the re designed screens, to analyse their understanding of the new features.
I was able to connect with real users and conducted testing through zoom meets. Within the limitations of the testing & time, the points I tried to keep a note of before usability testing were-
- Priority on trying to analyze user’s understanding of the offers/ time limited discounts given.
- Does it create a sense of urgency in people to book it fast at the last minute bookings?
- Also to find which feature/offer user gives importance to -while booking a hotel at the last minute.
- Points to observe for testing: note whether the user gives importance/take time to read & process information within the upgrade pop up?/ do they quit it?
Questions to ask the users
- Are you used to booking in hotel booking apps?
- You are planning a trip to Goa at the last minute- consider you have to book a room for it
- What did they understand/ feel when seeing the tags on images of hotel cards?(discount/offer tags)
- What did they understand by limited time- hrs in the banner?
- What did they feel- to select the card with an offer/ not?
- What do you feel when you see the upgrade pop up after proceeding with a room to stay?
- Do you feel like buying it/ do u prefer the old room itself? Why?
Task given to user
- To look at the screen and tell what they can comprehend from it.
- Talk out loud how would they feel to navigate through it?
🧐Insights
Final UI - made after iterating on feedbacks
Based on the insights gained from real users I made changes to the screens.
1.increased size of banner for more attention & legibility
changed the order of hotel cards with ofers, Earlier it was merged along with the list. But after iteration all the hotels with limited time offers are provided in the top of the list for more attention.
1.more emphasis on the banner-increased its size for more attention to go towards the price difference
2.Made the name of room and hotel similar to the design system off app to avoid confusion
3.Pricing and CTA button- according to the format of the app to avoid confusion
4.removed the close button on the pop up modal, made the layout of card similar to design system of app
2.Added an additional text for customer satisfaction, assuring they have opted for a limited time deal with benefits & offers.
After the iteration i also did a prototype based user testing with few real users.This was mainly because i wanted to understand the feasibility of new design i did for the upgrade screen, whether users could proceed or does it lead to drop off was a major thing that worried me.Also i could learn the difference/ impact both the type of usability testing can give.
Incorporating points from usability test 2.0
3.Earlier the reserve button created a misconception among users that it was for reserving their previously selected room & not for the upgrade.Which could create mis trust.
4.It was happy to see that users could easily get the idea the secondary CTA, here their low became smooth and they could easily select the upgrade option or skip to payment for their existing stay option. Hence eliminating chances for drop offs.
Here I adopted a pattern similar to the pay now page modal- so this can be a known pattern for users, primary and secondary cta design inspiration from that screen.
👉Click here:check out all the solutions at a glance with Final prototype👈
Conclusion-Take aways
This challenge was an attempt to create an MVP for a new feature within 48hrs, which definitely taught me the different approach in designing giving importance to various sections based on priorities & time constraints.
When on a time crunch don't stick to perfection and set methods, explore the way the project leads us, keeping time in mind and adjusting the length of processes
Thinking of possible use cases can give clarity while designing a new feature.
While designing screens, the information & even pictures provided is as important as the interaction on the screens for comprehension of users.
I have learned how to use AI to my advantage and design better.
It is important to internalize the feedback and suggestions
Future scope
If more time was given I would like to explore and work on this feature in detail, considering different use cases & edge cases that could happen in the flow and possibilities for upselling last minute deals.
Thank you for reading till the end!!!
Clap and comment if you found it interesting and helpful 😄
You can reach me at banupama7@gmail.com and connect with me on Linked in.
