Mobile Application Launch – Learning Launch Tool

Challenge

I work in an IT consulting organization which works with global enterprise clients on providing technology  solutions for the business challenges. This particular customer is a leading travel and tour operator in  Europe and was faced with declining sales specially due to competition from new age websites such as  AirBnB. The client did not have their Digital strategy in place and were no longer appealing to customers  as their primary destination for travel bookings. They did have a presence both online and physical stores  as well.

What do we not know: Why are end customers moving away from this operator which has till date  enjoyed a large market share and loyalty.

What do we need to know: How we can get these clients back, attract a few segment of customers and  improve sales

How do we learn what we need to know: By approaching the customers themselves who would be the  best people to tell us what are the challenges that need to be addressed.

Selection

There were multiple rounds of discussions with the client to understand their exact business problem  (because many a time the stated problem is not the exact business problem). After identifying that the  business problem was declining sales, we went about identifying the various causes for the same. What  we came up with was that increasingly, people across all age groups and income backgrounds are turning  to the internet (either web or mobile) for their travel needs which include researching about a destination  and subsequently going ahead and making the travel bookings.

We did a deep dive into the client’s existing sales channels and identified many places where the process  and subsequently the customer experience was broken. The prime amongst these was that the existing  mobile application and website were not user friendly and there were many process flow failures as well  as integration across the client’s various services didn’t exist.

We decided to go ahead with Learning Launch as our tool of choice since it offered us the platform to  find out what the end customers challenges were and why were they not turning to this operator for their  travel bookings. Learning launch would provide us a mechanism to test our assumptions, uncover what  the customers were really looking for in their digital experience with the operator and also have a small  beta roll out which could be tested before a larger roll out.

Application

To initiate the Learning Launch process we discussed with the client and called for focus group discussions  with their existing as well as potential customers. We worked on a mix of customers from the clients  target markets cutting across age, gender, income background and travel preferences. These discussions  were moderated by our design and business experts. Conducted in small groups of approximately 10

people each, there were multiple such sessions help. The format was open discussion as well as guided  but yet open ended questions.

We used a table to gather all the important points and over a period of time refine and categorize them  in order to find patterns.

Insight

There were tremendous insights that were gained which reiterated our base hypothesis around providing  a better digital experience for the end customers.

Some of these insights (amongst many) were:

1. Business process driven – the various offerings from the operator were not integrated and a

customer had to go through multiple separate bookings to complete a full tour booking

2. Technology process – some of the web pages were defunct and did not provide the updated

information

3. Operational – there were no integration between the online bookings and the store. Hence if a

customer wanted to complete an in process online booking in the store, they would have to start  all over again

4. Different customers had different travel needs and they all need customization for their

requirements

Approach

Based on this feedback we assembled a team which consisted of business analysts, developers, UX experts  to come up with what would be the re-designed workflow for the entire customer experience which  would address the business, technology and operational challenges of the end customers.

Based on that workflow and best user experience design practices, we went in for creating a few mock  screens and a few working screens based on different personas of travelers (business traveler, single  traveler, family traveler, elderly traveler). These were once again taken back to the focus groups to elicit  their feedback. Their feedback was captured and incorporated into the updated design. This application  was then released to a small group of clients and got positive feedback on all the parameters which were  initially identified as challenges. Based on this there was a large scale roll out of the application done which  was adequately supported by marketing and publicity.

The success of this project helped us realize the benefits of developing ideas, testing them out and  subsequently releasing them. The insights also confirmed that the customer knows best and any product  or service which has the customer input during the design phase itself has a higher probability of success.


Mobile Application Launch – Learning Launch Tool Challenge I work in an IT consulting organization which works with global enterprise clients on providing technology solutions for the business challenges . This particular customer is a leading travel and tour operator in Europe and was faced with declining sales specially due to competition from new age websites such as AirBnB. The client did not have their Digital strategy in place and were no longer appealing to customers as their primary destination for travel bookings . They did have a presence both online and physical stores as well . What do we not know : Why are end customers moving away from this operator which has till date enjoyed a large market share and loyalty . What do we need to know : How we can get these clients back , attract a few segment of customers and improve sales How do we learn what we need to know : By approaching the customers themselves who would be the best people to tell us what are the challenges that need to be addressed . Selection There were multiple rounds of discussions with the client to understand their exact business problem ( because many a time the stated problem is not the exact business problem ) . After identifying that the business problem was declining sales , we went about identifying the various causes for the same . What we came up with was that increasingly , people across all age groups and income backgrounds are turning to the internet ( either web or mobile ) for their travel needs which include researching about a destination and subsequently going ahead and making the travel bookings . We did a deep dive into the client ’s existing sales channels and identified many places where the process and subsequently the customer experience was broken . The prime amongst these was that the existing mobile application and website were not user friendly and there were many process flow failures as well as integration across the client ’s various services did n’t exist . We decided to go ahead with Learning Launch as our tool of choice since it offered us the platform to find out what the end customers challenges were and why were they not turning to this operator for their travel bookings . Learning launch would provide us a mechanism to test our assumptions , uncover what the customers were really looking for in their digital experience with the operator and also have a small beta roll out which could be tested before a larger roll out . Application To initiate the Learning Launch process we discussed with the client and called for focus group discussions with their existing as well as potential customers . We worked on a mix of customers from the clients target markets cutting across age , gender , income background and travel preferences . These discussions were moderated by our design and business experts . Conducted in small groups of approximately 10 people each , there were multiple such sessions help . The format was open discussion as well as guided but yet open ended questions . We used a table to gather all the important points and over a period of time refine and categorize them in order to find patterns . Insight There were tremendous insights that were gained which reiterated our base hypothesis around providing a better digital experience for the end customers . Some of these insights ( amongst many ) were : 1 . Business process driven – the various offerings from the operator were not integrated and a customer had to go through multiple separate bookings to complete a full tour booking 2 . Technology process – some of the web pages were defunct and did not provide the updated information 3 . Operational – there were no integration between the online bookings and the store . Hence if a customer wanted to complete an in process online booking in the store , they would have to start all over again 4 . Different customers had different travel needs and they all need customization for their requirements Approach Based on this feedback we assembled a team which consisted of business analysts , developers , UX experts to come up with what would be the re - designed workflow for the entire customer experience which would address the business , technology and operational challenges of the end customers . Based on that workflow and best user experience design practices , we went in for creating a few mock screens and a few working screens based on different personas of travelers ( business traveler , single traveler , family traveler , elderly traveler ) . These were once again taken back to the focus groups to elicit their feedback . Their feedback was captured and incorporated into the updated design . This application was then released to a small group of clients and got positive feedback on all the parameters which were initially identified as challenges . Based on this there was a large scale roll out of the application done which was adequately supported by marketing and publicity . The success of this project helped us realize the benefits of developing ideas , testing them out and subsequently releasing them . The insights also confirmed that the customer knows best and any product or service which has the customer input during the design phase itself has a higher probability of success .