Skyscanner — Usability Test and Redesign
The third Ironhack Challenge
The goal of this challenge was to put into practice one of the skills learned during the pre-work of Ironhack Bootcamp UX/UI Design. Testing my ability to perform qualitative research, I had to analyze the usability of an application and find the main constraints a user encounters when using it.
Why did I choose Skyscanner?
Skyscanner is a travel company that has created a simple way to offer all types of service in one place. Instead of having to search in different places with different information, the traveler can find everything from flights to car rental in the same app or website. Making the whole experience of planning and booking enjoyable, easy, and convenient.
When I started working with the app I was quite impressed by how streamlined and easy it was to search or find the best rates and offers for a trip. The application makes it easy for you to go through the entire flow in an intuitive way and without hassle.
Who is my focus user?
Before starting to test the usability and look for the pain points I needed to know who was the user I was performing the usability test for. This was one of the crucial points during the work as I had to find out how that user behaved using the application when performing certain tasks. So here’s the profile.
The Skyscanner App
As I mentioned, my first impression of the app was very good. The main screen is clean with the three call-to-action buttons of searching flights, hotels and car rental. Which follows the purpose of the business that is to guide the user to purchase these three products. In the footer you have the navigation bar in which you can navigate among the other functions of the app such as explore, trip and profile. One feature that caught my attention was the Travel Smarter, in Beta version, where the user can receive insights about best dates to buy a flight ticket and get price predictions.
After analyzing the application a little deeply, I found some points of attention that are blocking the user to have happy results or the expected experience.
Usability Test
I interviewed 4 different users who matched with the focus user profile I mentioned before. At the beginning of the interview I gave the user 5 seconds to look at the home screen and then I asked the following questions:
- What did you see?
- What does this tool do for you?
With a clear and consistent appearance the interface achieved the main goal. All interviewees were able to remember the 3 main application functions: search for flights, hotels and car hire, and some of them highlighted other features they could see. In addition, two people mentioned that the application offers the best options and prices for their trips.
So I gave them two tasks to be performed which allowed me to analyze which flow they would follow using the app and any difficulty they could find.
- You and 3 friends are planning a trip to Machu Picchu one year in advance. You really want this trip to happen, so you have to find the best option to accommodate everyone’s schedule. Find 3 flight and hotel options and share them with your friends.
- Now that you know the budget to book the flight and hotel you have realized that you can add an extra activity to do together. Find an activity that is cool for your group of friends who are looking for fun and culture.
I screen recorded the way each user interacted with the app and collected a variety of observations on sticky notes to compare the difference process that each one followed to achieve the tasks.
Pain Points and Solutions
When running the above tasks the first pain point users faced was to search for flights to Machu Picchu. Located on top of a mountain, at 2400 meters of altitude in Peru, the city has no airport. Therefore, to get to Machu Picchu the closest airport is the city of Cusco. When searching for flights to Machu Picchu the system only shows the message “no flights found”. Other applications already suggest to the traveler the closest airport in this situation.
Some users when faced with this situation tried to change the flight dates, thinking that there were no flights on the searched date, and when trying to search again with a new date, they thought that the application was not working and that it would not be possible to continue the search. Therefore, the best solution for this topic is to offer flights to the nearest airport and inform the customer that there is no airport in the searched city.
In the first task the user needed to share 3 flight and hotel options with friends, as he was planning a group trip. Here it is the second pain point: it is not possible to share the hotel options. The “share” button only exists on the flight feature: on the results and single flight information screens.
I discovered the third pain point running the second task. The user had to find activities to do in Machu Picchu and the four interviewees were frustrated when trying to find a good attraction in the city. The attractions are tagged by categories such as History, Family, etc. also has classification according to the reviews, but it is not possible to filter and the navigation between the services is not easy.
Conclusion
When I started the usability test a lot of information and ideas came into my mind. Every moment I had to remember the mantra “I’m not the user of the product I’m creating and evaluating”. But when I started the interviews and empathizing with the users I realized that there are different experiences and feelings than mine regarding the product.
After knowing the users, identifying their difficulties, motivated me to solve the problems and bring an option that would guarantee good results and that would be easy to use.
