Context
VRBO is a vacation rental platform positioned around helping families relax and reconnect, operating in a highly competitive booking landscape.
Task
Identify a high-impact opportunity to improve the VRBO booking experience.
Problem
Users hesitated to book rentals because outdated photos and misaligned reviews reduced trust in listing accuracy.
Outcome
Improved booking confidence via increasing trust by increasing listing transparency through photo upload dates and live viewing options.
TEAM
MC
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
User Interviews
Qualitative data analysis
Solo UI designer
TIMELINE
Sept '23 to Jan '23
(4 months)
Mockup: Final solutions
First steps
VRBO as a rental booking platform aims to achieve its mission to help families relax and reconnect by helping renters find vacation rentals for family getaways.
On the surface, VRBO isn't as popular as other players in the same market, such as Airbnb or booking.com.
The first step was to analyze the competitors to understand how they position themselves and what they do to become top players in the market through a competitor analysis.
Competitors
Competitor analysis
We understood a lot about the competitors, such as their offerings, strengths, weaknesses and areas where VRBO falls short or does better in relation to them.
INSIGHT
VRBO lacks a mission statement execution, whereas competitors don't.
MISSION
To create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.
FEATURE
Allows people to host and book immersive experiences where they visit
MISSION
Make it easier for everyone to experience the world.
FEATURE
Allows people to book an exhaustive set of travel and tourism services.
Finding a USP
The next step was to find a USP that lives upto VRBO's mission of helping people relax and reconnect. We decided to conduct a semi-structured interview that focused on participants’ lived experiences and needs.
CHALLENGE
Finding the right participants.
APPROACH
Used a screener survey.
METHOD
User Interviews
DURATION
45-60 minutes
PARTICIPANTS
6
Analysis
Interview data was analyzed using affinity mapping, and pain points and opportunities were visualized in the from of a journey map.
Data Analysis: Affinity Diagram
Data Visualization: Journey Map
Pain point
All our participants seemed to somewhere anticipate a bad experience as they perceived rental pictures and reviews to be outdated or fake based on their past experiences.
PAIN POINT
Low confidence in rental decisions due to expectations not being met in the past.
Solution
I came up with two feasible solutions that aimed to increase confidence by increasing trust via transparency. Both the solutions aim to avoid post-booking anxiety and truly help customers relax and focus on family and friends.
SOLUTION 1
Live Rental Viewing
SOLUTION 2
Displaying Media Upload Date
Mockup: Final solutions
Wireframes & Testing
I designed and tested wireframes through a round of moderated usability study conducted virtually over zoom and maze. Insights including usability metrics and heatmaps helped identify and address usability problems.
Wireframe: Booking a live rental viewing slot
TESTING METHOD & TECHNIQUE
Moderated Usability Study
Think-aloud Testing
SUPPORTING METRICS
Click Heatmaps
Misclick rate
Task completion time
Maze: Usability Metrics
Maze: Click Heatmap
Live rental viewing
This feature allows a potential renter to view a rentals current condition by joining a virtual meeting hosted by the rentals host.
Prototype: Booking a live rental viewing slot
Media upload date
Hosts might be unable to set up viewings due to busy rentals or other reasons, and renters might need to make a decision urgently sometimes. The platform prompts hosts to reupload new rental pictures periodically, and displays the upload date to the renters.
Prototype: Viewing rental media upload date
Potential impact
Implementation of my solutions have significantly positive business impact as it aims to prevent pain points from occurring instead of helping through post-booking support, which tends to expensive and impractical.
The solutions may also result in new user acquisition and existing user retention, due to increased trust between users and the platform.
Mockup: Final solutions
Key learnings
Interviewing the right participants helps uncover invaluable insights.
Solutions must be feasible. Aligning business goals with user needs is key.
Other projects
Toronto, Ontario, Canada