Travel Agent App Case Study
While Completing a certificate with Google, I worked on a sales management app for travel agents. This details the research and data from a moderated case study and several iterations.
During the completion of this project, I filled the role of UX researcher, UX designer, and Usability Study moderator.
Project Overview
Travel agents have used forums, which were used to uncover pain points for the apps creation, to discuss their displeasure with contacting suppliers (Hotels, Resorts, Airline services, etc). Because of this grievance, and the lack of a reliable storage platform for agents, The Travel Agent App was drafted.
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The Product
The Travel Agent App stores suppliers and records their approximate response time so agents can make informed decisions when planning trips for clients or updating their files. The app contains two search menus to allow users to select active and local suppliers or use the advanced search feature for more specific needs. From there, emails to suppliers, booked trips, customized trip packages, existing trip packages, and client records are stored on the app for later retrieval.
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The Problem
Travel agents lose clients when suppliers are unresponsive or take a long time to respond, which results in agents loosing clients to competitors like TripAdvisor and apps like it. Further, as independent businesses, Agents often use multiple external search engines and booking services to complete a trip for clients when suppliers do respond. This creates the potential issue of losing files and documents from saving to the wrong folder.
Project Goal
Create an app that allows agents to locate responsive suppliers and efficiently contact them, while storing and organizing client information all on one app.
The Persona and Her Journey
Meet Lanette!
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She's the user created in order to better understand the pain points uncovered during the discovery portion of this project.
Overall, Lanette is a dedicated mother and part time travel agent that wants to be able to contact multiple suppliers and store these correspondence in a safe and secure location.
This user journey details her experience prior to the creation of this app. Ultimately, I studied the path that Lanette would take, based on previous research and interviews, and documented the potential emotion each task brought Lanette.
Where to Start Creating?
Once Lanette and her journey were completed, I faced my first task as a designer -- creating a paper wireframe for a future prototype. I listed the pain points and desired features in the margin of my paper, wrote my goal, and begin to sketch the first five frames to get a general idea of what the app could look like. I created three paper wireframes and narrowed down to paper wire frame below.
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Out of the three paper frame designs, this one seemed the most functional for the first page. It would feature articles and blog posts if the user desires. It has two dedicated search features and buttons for the other desired features. This first design felt simple. With that, I created the digital wireframe using portions of the other screens to help build the others, which left me with the wireframe below.
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Because most traveling apps are dedicated to individuals booking their own trip, it was important to build more than just the home screen and the search menus. The goal is to create an interactive app that allows agents to build trips and store these records in one central location. Therefore, as I continued iterating and learning about building prototypes, the digital wireframe grew to this. However, the most important user flow starts on the home page. User's are introduced to the the search features, then go through the listing, next they get details about the supplier, then email the supplier of their choice.
Having details of the location and the response time helps agents pick the best supplier for their client and quickly complete a sale instead of waiting long hours or months before hearing back from companies.
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From there, the low fidelity prototype was created fro m the digital wireframe above. The usability uncovered issues with the app like confusing search menus and participants wanting to customize emails before sending.
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Once feedback was received and synthesized, I explored how to incorporate the themes found in the feedback given. This led me to create my lowfidelity app with changes to the sign in and sign up feature, and editing the search features. After building the mock up, another unmoderated usability study was conducted and led me to the final product.
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The Results
The High fidelity product answers the first rounds of pain points travel agents have by providing a space to customize emails, contact responsive suppliers by checking their response time, and storing the information n the app for later retrieval.
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Based on material.io, I chose colors that complimented each other and helped bring the app to life more. In addition, I avoided mixing too many colors to help keep the focus on the necessary buttons and information.
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The app will be edited an changed every so often, but the user flows (one for the homepage to contact suppliers, one for booking a quick package, and the last to customize a trip) are connected and interactive. Below, you can explore the user flows of my Travel Agent App or explore it on Figma.
Final Thoughts
Based on additional feedback, I want to continue to make this app better for travel agents. Ultimately, I learned a lot about the setbacks they each face and how the traveling industry can be frustrating and disappointing. However, their perseverance, and the creation of an app to help them function, can alleviate some of those issues.
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The next thing that needs to be done is creating a chat page directly in the app and create a social media management for posting trips and deals. These two features will help agents connect with more clients and share the deals they are able to create. The final feature, for now, would be a storage page for favorited suppliers and a shopping cart feature for saved suppliers that an agent plans on connecting with soon.
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