Project

A travel media client is looking to redesign their responsive website that they haven’t redesigned in over 12 years. They have been recently bought by their competitor who has given them funding and time for the redesign.

Stakeholder Interviews

Preparation Questions:
What is the purpose of the site?
Who is your audience? What are their demographics?
What would you like to achieve with a redesign?
What challenges have you faced?
What challenges do your users have with the site?
What value does the site bring to your audience?
Do you have other ways of delivering content other than your site?
What digital experiences do you enjoy and why?

CEO interview:
What is the purpose of the site?
We provide the latest and most up to date information on all things travel related

Who is your audience? What are their demographics?
Mainly travel agents and suppliers. Travel agents tend to be over 45 years old.

What would you like to achieve with a redesign? <
Would like our audience to stay on the site longer so we can bring in more advertising revenue

What challenges have you faced?
We were recently bought by our competitor

What challenges do your users have with the site?
I don’t think they are finding the content they are looking for

What value does the site bring to your audience?
We bring the latest travel news to the users faster than anyone else

Do you have other ways of delivering content other than your site?
We have a small social media presence and an email newsletter. Thinking about starting a podcast.

What digital experiences do you enjoy and why?
I enjoy the ESPN site because I can search content related to the sports I like easily

User Analytics Review

Demographics:
60% of users - Age 25 - 44
30% users - Age 45+

Devices:
60% Mobile
30% Desktop
10% Tablet

Pages:
60% Articles
30% News
2% Opinions

Sessions:
2 Pages
1 minute Duration

Top Referrals:
90% Organic Search

Users:
25% Repeat Users

User Interviews

Preparation Questions:
Are you familiar with this site?
What do you like about it?
What would you like changed if this site was redesigned?
What content are you most interested in?
Do you have a passion for travel?
Do you work in the travel business? If so, are you interested in partnering with the company?
Do you find the content valuable for your business?
Do you consume their content via their email newsletter or social media?
Do you share their content with anyone?
Do you want other ways of consuming content?

Travel Agent Adam, 55 years old:
Are you familiar with this site?
Yes

What do you like about it?
Love getting the insider scoop on my specialty, which is travel to Mexico

What would you like changed if this site was redesigned?
I would love to have content tailored more towards my needs. Right now, I have to search quite a bit to find what I’m looking for

Are you interested in any other content not related to Mexico?
Not at the moment

Are you interested in partnering with the company?
Maybe

Would you be interested in advertising on the website if they built up their traveler base?
I would but I own a small travel agency and can only afford so much

Do you consume their content via their email newsletter or social media?
To be honest, I only consume the content via their email newsletter. The website is too difficult to navigate

Do you share their content with anyone?
One of my responsibilities is to gather the news every morning and share it with the agency

Do you want other ways of consuming content?
I’m satisfied with reading the newsletter but wish it was more tailored to me

Do you feel the travel agent community is a tight knit community?
Yes

What are the demographics of most travel agents?
We tend to be older

Do you feel the site is travel agent focused?
It isn’t always clear

Travel Agent Ayva, 50 years old:
Are you familiar with this site?
Yes

What do you like about it?
I like being a guest writer and able to use it to promote myself

What would you like changed if this site was redesigned?
I would like to be able to search for the latest news easier

What content are you most interested in?
My travel agency specializes in wedding and honeymoon travel

Do you find the content valuable for your business?
Some of it. We have great relationships with our travel partners and they keep us up to date

Do you consume their content via their email newsletter or social media?
I only read the newsletter but things have picked up tremendously. It would be nice if I could listen to a daily podcast for the latest so I can multi-task

Do you share their content with anyone?
I share it with my team

Would you be interested in promoting yourself in a travel agent spotlight section in an article related to wedding and honeymoon travel?
Absolutely

Do you feel the travel agent community is a tight knit community?
Yes and I love it but I would love more opportunities for us to connect

What are the demographics of most travel agents?
Over 40

Do you feel the site is travel agent focused?
Not all the time

Travel Enthusiast Ethan, 30 years old:
Are you familiar with this site?
I’m not very familiar

How did you hear about this site?
I Googled Travel to Mexico and tapped on one of their articles

Did you enjoy the article?
It was interesting

Were you interested in reading other articles about Mexico on their site?
Yes, but it wasn’t clear how to find those articles

Do you usually read travel articles on your phone?
Yes

Do you read other content not related to travel?
Yes, the news

What news sites or apps do you prefer?
I have the NY Times and Washington Post apps on my phone and open them almost daily

What other travel sites or apps do you enjoy?
AirBnB, AllTrails, Tripadvisor, Lonely Planet

Do you have a passion for travel?
I do. I try to travel as much as I can

Do you work in the travel business?
No

Would you subscribe to their email newsletter or follow them on social media?
I would check out their social media

If you found an interesting travel article would you share it on social media or with a travel partner?
I would share with a travel partner

Do you want other ways of consuming content?
I enjoy watching travel documentaries

Do you feel the site is focused mainly on travelers?
No, I saw some language that involved travel agents and they have a ton of ads for companies

Travel Supplier Susie, Riviera Maya Tourism:
Are you familiar with this site?
Yes

What do you like about it?
I like being able to advertise to the travel community

Who specifically are you wanting to advertise to in the travel community?
For us, it is both the traveler and travel agent

Do you feel like you are connecting with both?
Not as efficiently as I would like

What would you like changed if this site was redesigned?
I would like the ability to have custom experiences for Riviera Maya Tourism versus standard ad placements and to know who is clicking or tapping on the ads. Is it a traveler or an agent?

Do you find the content valuable for your business?
Yes, it is interesting to see what is happening in our industry

Do you consume their content via their email newsletter or social media?
Yes

Do you share their content with anyone?
I share content and ad data with my team

Site Audit

This is normally where I would do an audit of the current product/s or feature/s with visuals. It would identify potential pain points, gaps, accessibility, and strengths. Below is an example of findings from an audit.

- In this case, the website is extremely outdated visually and functionally.
- There isn’t a way to save articles, deals, etc. However, there is a way to share articles when you are in the article.
- There is nowhere to self-identify or a place to create a profile where saved content can live.
- Ads are appearing all over the site with content sometimes directed at travel agents and sometimes travelers.
- The ads aren’t always relevant to the specific content, for example, a Riviera Maya tourism ad appearing in an article about Europe.
- The volume of ads make the site come off as a spam site.
- The site isn’t fully passing accessibility guidelines.
- It is hard to find relevant articles to the article I was reading.
- There is a massive amount of travel content

Competitive Analysis

The Lonely Planet Profile: Direct competitor
Overall easy to navigate and page interactions feel modern
Visually delightful
Ability to search, save, and share content
Ability to create profile for quick access to saved content
Various revenue streams: ads, books, guides, gifts, kids books, internal travel agency
Uses cookies to surface searched content
Attempt to surface related content in an article
Mostly legible and accessible (a few background images are too busy)
Has a social presence
The traveler is the targeted audience

Instagram Profile: Social app commonly used by the travel media users
Overall easy to navigate and page interactions feel modern
Visually delightful
Ability to create, search, save, and share content
Ability to comment, private message, and receive notifications
Profiles contain dashboards with helpful information
Ads feel integrated into the experience however not always relevant
Provide suggestions of other profiles that produce content
Robust search functionality

Airbnb Profile: A common tool that travelers use
Overall easy to navigate and page interactions feel modern
Visually delightful
Robust search and filter system
Beautiful tab system with interesting categories
A good use of a map
Ability to create wishlists and save places of interest
Ability to share wishlists and collaborate with others
Ability to message hosts and leave reviews
Nice use of a toggle to see price per night versus total price with fees
Ability to see past trips
Profile offers a long list of items that might be of interest

Defining Users

Travelers:
Travelers mostly range from 25-44 years old. They likely find the site through organic search via their mobile phone and land on an article page. They are likely 60% of the users that visit the site.

Travel Agents:
Travel agencies are likely made up of people 45 and older and they use the site to subscribe to the newsletter where they consume most of the content. They are likely 30% of the users that visit the site. Travel agents tend to specialize in different areas of travel.

Travel Suppliers:
Travel suppliers use the site to advertise to the travel community which includes travelers and travel agents.

Defining Key Problems

Navigation:
All users are having a hard time finding desired content in a short amount of time.

Personalization:
Travelers and travel agents don’t feel the content is tailored to them. Suppliers are unsure who the audience is.

Cohesion:
Travelers, travel agents, and writers feel the site is visually overwhelming the content with the amount of ads versus supporting the content or relevant to the content.

Flexibility:
Travelers and travel agents would like additional ways of consuming content on the site like podcasts and videos. Suppliers would like more ways to connect with the travelers and travel agents.

Defining Business Goal

User Retention:
Would like to improve the volume of repeat users and have all users stay on the site longer.

Defining Strategy

In order to increase repeated users and have users stay longer, we need to create a modern and easy to navigate experience that appeals to the majority of users who are likely travelers from ages 25-44 as well as create a flexible and personalized experience for all users. The ability to save, share, and search content are very important features for the traveler and travel agent. The ability to identify users is important for the travel supplier so they can customize ads for the intended audience. We can add value and potential revenue income by creating opportunities to connect the travelers with relevant travel agents and suppliers. What we know through research, people who are 25-44 value good experiences and will likely return if their needs are met.

User Storyboards

Goal:
User storyboards help visualize the user's starting journey, goals, emotions and is a great exercise to keep all stakeholders and UX teams focused on who the user is and what we are trying to accomplish.

Traveler Storyboard (Pictured below; tap or click to expand)
Scene 1: Eric has the traveling itch after returning from Europe
Scene 2: He opens his phone and Google searches Travel to Mexico
Scene 3: He taps on an article titled Top Places to Eat Fish Tacos in Mexico
Scene 4: He reads the article and now wants to go to Mexico
Scene 5: He is unsure how to plan it but saw a travel agent below the article that specializes in travel to Mexico
Scene 6: He taps on the message icon and is prompted to create a profile
Scene 7: After creating his profile he communicates with the travel agent on the site and books his trip
Scene 8: Eric enjoys a wonderful trip to Mexico