01
Project Brief
Overview
I did a coop internship at TripAdvisor for about seven months. During that time, I joined various projects and contributed to different design solutions, met a bunch of amazing people, and learned more than I could've ever imagined. I picked the “save” feature improvement project because I feel it involves a whole cycle of user research, design iteration, and launching in production.
Duration
2019/7-2019/11
Platform
Native App (iOS & Android)
Web
Role
Interaction Design
Visual Design
User Testing
Collaboration
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Design: 4
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PM: 1
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Developer: Scrum Team of 15
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Research: 1
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Content: Office Hour
02
Problem Space
QUANTITIVE FINDING 1.
Save is the core activity for TripAdvisor. But the saving rate is low, compared with other types of user activities.
Users of TripAdvisor can tap the Save button to save their interesting tourist sites, hotels, or restaurants to a trip itinerary. Save is the core activity for TripAdvisor. The research study showed that the increase in saves is positively correlated with user engagement and stickiness.
However, we found that users didn’t use the save button very frequently due to various reasons.
* Specific metrics have been blurred for NDA issues
🤔
Why the low adoption rate of the save feature is a problem?
QUANTITIVE FINDING 2.
“Save” is the “entrance” to trip itinerary feature, low adoption of “Save” caused low adoption of trip itinerary features.
It’s a problem not only because save is the core action of TripAdvisor but also because save is the “entrance” to other major features such as trip itinerary. Users need to save their interested items to create a trip itinerary.
In other words, the low adoption rate of the save feature will decrease the adoption and engagement rate of other features.
DESIGN GOAL
How might we intrigue users to adopt the Save feature?
Business Goal
Increase conversion rate
From Business to Design
People don't use the Save feature
Design Goal
Users are willing to adapt the Save feature
Why people don't use the Save feature? 🤔
Solution
03
INITIAL SOLUTION 1
Redesign Save and Trip CTAs to fit users' mental models. Move Save CTA to a new position to make the design more intuitive.
INITIAL SOLUTION 2
Delighting users with micro-interactions brings awareness to a specific action or feature around Save.
Spotlight Animation
Purpose
To bring awareness to a certain action or feature around Save.
Usage
Post onboarding, during the first few experiences of the product.
Trigger
When the user visits the product and a POI for the first time.
Interaction Animation
Purpose
Help users intuitively understand saved items can be found in trips later
Usage
After tapping the save button, an animation will appear showing the heart icon of the POI item moving from the “save” button to the “Trips” navigation menu
Trigger
When tapping the save button.
INITIAL SOLUTION 3
Provide educational information to show Save's value at the right moment.
Education during initial onboarding
Purpose
To introduce core features and benefits of the product to the user during early usage.
Usage
During initial onboarding. Can be used post-onboarding if content is not gated.
Trigger
First app open. If content is gated, this could be triggered by any core action that requires membership.
04
Result
Sucess in metrics 🤩
We conducted multiple A/B tests and follow-up user interviews on those design improvements around the save feature. And we saw some great business metric improvements.
The number of Saves significantly increased, along with some increase in trip planning rate.
We also got evidence of UX success in user feedback,
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people are actively engaged in saving
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mobile users are excited about the animation.
* Overall, saves are up 750k YoY, inclusive of product improvements and consumer activation campaigns
05
Reflection
My biggest learnings 👩🏻💻
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Always validate assumptions with users/user data.
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Maximize the collaboration with all counterparts early and often
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Innovative solutions from more than a single realm.
PROCESS
Ok, but how did I actually get there?
Thanks for reading!
I hope this gave you a little preview of what I got up. Since this project is NDA, I cannot share it publicly. If you'd like to know more, please reach out! ✨
