About

The Kayak app allows users to find the cheapest flights, hotels, and rental cars by compiling searching travel sites. Users can set up price alerts and be notified when Kayak predicts lower fares.

Challenge

To improve usability and user engagement of the Kayak app.

Process

Amy, 28

Location: Los Angeles

Occupation: Ads Account Manager

Income: $75K

Behaviors

• Travels internationally 2x a year
• Social butterfly: daily communication with 3 college friends
• Attends a wedding events every other month
• Frequent (2-3x a week) Instagram posts with hashtag overload

Needs and Goals

• Seeks attention from peers
• Does not want to spend too long planning trips— would rather focus on planning activities
• Wants more spending money for shopping and going out
• Likes to be the first to discover, trendsetter

I assumed Amy's biggest concerns were:

• To compare prices in order to feel like she was getting the best deal

• To reduce time spent browsing and have a “one-stop shop” for travel arrangements

Guerilla Usability Tests

I conducted interviews and usability tests with six participants, many of whom were familiar with travel booking sites and apps. This step would affirm or reject my assumptions about the typical user, and it would provide insight as to what information people needed to make travel decisions.

Users were asked to perform a series of tasks based on scenarios ‘Amy’ would find herself in (ex: planning a last-minute trip to New York with 2 friends). I noted what questions users had and observed what information they looked at to make decisions.

Synthesis

User testing led to new questions:

How does Kayak measure success? 

What is important to the business?

Kayak's business model relies on click-through advertising and referrals to travel suppliers. Kayak wants users to make it to the individual flight or hotel pages. How they organize and present the list of flights and hotels was important.

I mapped out pain points based on what was important to the business vs. what was important to the user. This allowed me to prioritize the changes needed and define my objectives for the remainder of the project. 

I created a task flow to understand how users search for the best flights, and at what point they were making certain decisions. (Ex: when would they consider looking at nearby airports?) I brainstormed how to include a flexible fares calendar, similar to what Kayak had on their website.

I sketched out ideas to address pain points from the hotels and flights sections. I decided to focus on flights. 

Users expressed wanting to see a flexible fares calendar. Kayak's website had this feature, and I chose to add one here. I adapted elements from the mobile app's 'Flight' and 'Price Forecast' screens to create the calendar.

Current Kayak Screens

My Addition

I conducted a round of testing for my design recommendations. Users easily understood the flexible fare calendar as this was common feature from other booking sites.

I listed out common pain points and reiterated my designs to create Version 2.0.

Pain Point #1: Users were not sure how to adjust the days. They thought 'Depart' was associated with 'Show days before' and 'Return' was associated with 'Show days after,' due to the placement. I removed the Depart and Return buttons, as these were not adding too much value, and I included a drop-down option to adjust the dates. 

Additional Days v 1.0

Pain Point #2: The flight list showed a lot of information. Users did not notice the icons even with the labels as there was "too much to look at."

Pain Point#3: Users still were not inclined to select 'Price Forecast,' despite it being listed out. 

I decided to remove the share icon. After speaking to users, they were more likely to share one specific flight, rather than the whole flight list.  The share function was not needed at this point, and I wanted to draw more attention to the other features. I also edited the description for the price forecast to provide users with more context.

I learned it takes a lot of concentration to select a flight or hotel. Most users preferred to make travel plans using their computers since they were comparing several options. The real challenge was ensuring a seamless experience— providing users with enough information and control without a heavy cognitive load. The UX was really important to give users a sense that the app was providing the best deals. 

Understanding the different contexts the app would be used in and validating designs with users was my process to improving Kayak's mobile app. Research confirmed that users wanted to see all of the information in a customizable way. Usability testing provided insight on the different contexts the app was used in (planning for trips a few weeks in advance or booking hotels a night or two beforehand while traveling). Testing my first version allowed me to quickly tell if a suggested interaction made sense.

Speaking to different users and understanding what gives them confidence to make a booking is necessary to improve user engagement.