How could you use Design Thinking to find a compromise between users and business needs? How do you balance craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness, managing external stakeholders?
In this talk, Roberta, Senior UX Designer and Team Leader at Booking.com, will walk you through her strategy to implement a challenging new product that defined her growth as leader in one of the world’s leading digital travel companies.
5. THE PROBLEM
The Hotel Star System doesn’t apply to vacation
rentals (apartments, homes, B&Bs etc.).
'Stars' is one of the most used filter on our platforms.
When guests filter by stars, they are unknowingly missing a wide
variety of accommodation types available on Booking.com
A new product: Booking.com Quality Rating
6. THE PROBLEM
The Hotel Star System doesn’t apply to vacation
rentals (apartments, homes, B&Bs etc.).
'Stars' is one of the most used filter on our platforms.
When guests filter by stars, they are unknowingly missing a wide
variety of accommodation types available on Booking.com
A NEW PRODUCT
My team created a first of its kind machine learning
system that defines the Quality of Vacation Rentals.
This rating considers important factors for the guest
(including facilities, size, location, services) based
on user research and guests’ booking behaviours.
A new product: Booking.com Quality Rating
11. The pain-points
Not able to compare
Vacation Rentals based
on a quality indicator.
Get excluded for our
search results page when
guests filter for “Stars”.
GUESTS
THE
BUSINESS
PARTNERS
12. The pain-points
Not able to compare
Vacation Rentals based
on a quality indicator.
Get excluded for our
search results page when
guests filter for “Stars”.
Misses the opportunity to
get a booking by not
showing the full range of
accommodations.
GUESTS
THE
BUSINESS
PARTNERS
13. Challenges from me:
I challenged the product because the guest pain
point wasn’t defined at the beginning
The communication challenges and the UX strategy
Going back in time...
14. Challenges from me:
I challenged the product because the guest pain
point wasn’t defined at the beginning
I defined and identified:
• Win-win-win framework
• Questions, risks and challenges
The communication challenges and the UX strategy
Going back in time...
15. Challenges from me:
I challenged the product because the guest pain
point wasn’t defined at the beginning
I defined and identified:
• Win-win-win framework
• Questions, risks and challenges
Challenges from outside the
department:
I faced hard conversations with peers
The communication challenges and the UX strategy
Going back in time...
16. Challenges from me:
I challenged the product because the guest pain
point wasn’t defined at the beginning
I defined and identified:
• Win-win-win framework
• Questions, risks and challenges
Challenges from outside the
department:
I faced hard conversations with peers
I took the lead:
• Flexed my communication style
• Took a holistic point view
• Gathered feedback
• Steered the team plan in the right direction
• Kept them updated
The communication challenges and the UX strategy
Going back in time...
18. Competitor analysis:
Do other companies have a similar challenge?
If yes, what are doing to solve it?
Understand - the challenges
(In)validate the value for guests:
What is the guest mental model regarding quality?
What are they associating quality with?
Where in the user journey quality is a decision
making factor?
(In)validate the value for partners:
How would the partner perceive this feature?
What do they expect to be based upon?
What concerns do they have?
There wasn’t something that existed globally in the
market the way we thinked about it.
We ran a focus groups and we found out that quality
is associated with different factors, such as specific
amenities and services. Guests would find valuable
to have an objective system in place.
Partners were excited to have a similar system of
hotels and we understood that they wanted to know
how to improve their assigned rating.
19. UNDERSTAND
• Competitor analysis
• (In)validate value for guests
• (In)validate value for partners
EXPLORE
Our design process
• Product definition
• Explore options
• Feedback and alignment
20. Product definition:
How do we base the machine learning model upon?
How do we build something scalable globally?
Explore - the challenges
Explore options:
What other icon that is not stars can be associated
with quality and matching guests expectations?
Where and how might we show the guests and the
partners the explanation of the system?
Feedback and alignment:
What teams do we need to coordinate with?
How might we make sure that we collect feedback?
Our algorithm weighs factors (including facilities
and amenities) differently depending on location.
We didn't want to use stars for transparency so we
tested out different icons and different placements
utilizing unmoderated user research. Later on, we
validated the winning icon through A/B tests.
We made a list of stakeholders to keep posted and
we ran several UX critique sessions to gather
feedback from other designers.
21. UNDERSTAND
• Competitor analysis
• (In)validate value for guests
• (In)validate value for partners
• Product definition
• Explore options
• Feedback and alignment
• Define the strategy
• Guest-facing implementation
• Partner-facing implementation
EXPLORE CREATE
Our design process
22. UNDERSTAND
• Competitor analysis
• (In)validate value for guests
• (In)validate value for partners
• Collect learnings
• Iterate
• Define long-term vision
EXPLORE CREATE LEARN
Our design process
• Product definition
• Explore options
• Feedback and alignment
• Define the strategy
• Guest-facing implementation
• Partner-facing implementation
23. Product strategy: the roadmap
Guest-facing pilot
in one country
for specific property types
24. Product strategy: the roadmap
Guest-facing expansion
in all countries
for specific property types
Guest-facing pilot
in one country
for specific property types
25. Product strategy: the roadmap
Guest-facing expansion
in all countries
for specific property types
Guest-facing pilot
in one country
for specific property types
Partner-facing
explanations
26. Product strategy: the roadmap
Guest-facing expansion
in all countries
for specific property types
Guest-facing pilot
in one country
for specific property types
Guest-facing expansion
to all vacation rentals
Partner-facing
explanations
27. Product strategy: the roadmap
Guest-facing expansion
in all countries
for specific property types
Guest-facing pilot
in one country
for specific property types
Guest-facing expansion
to all vacation rentals
Partner-facing
explanations
Suggestions for partners
about how to improve their rating
*Everything mentioned in this roadmap has already been achieved and it’s live
28. Behind a simple icon
• Based on 400 factors
• Driven by machine learning
• Frequently updated
29. The impact
• Guest find it useful
• Partners have visibility
• Match expectations
30. 5 learnings in the 3C’s:
Craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness
31. 5 learnings in the 3C’s:
Craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness
Take a holistic point of view and adapt your design process to your product
32. 5 learnings in the 3C’s:
Craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness
Take a holistic point of view and adapt your design process to your product
Advocate for the users but balance their needs with those of the business
33. 5 learnings in the 3C’s:
Craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness
Take a holistic point of view and adapt your design process to your product
Advocate for the users but balance their needs with those of the business
Flex your communication style, be humble and ask for feedback
34. 5 learnings in the 3C’s:
Craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness
Take a holistic point of view and adapt your design process to your product
Advocate for the users but balance their needs with those of the business
Flex your communication style, be humble and ask for feedback
Make sure to be involved in your team strategy, even if it’s not your responsibility
35. 5 learnings in the 3C’s:
Craftsmanship, communication and commercial awareness
Take a holistic point of view and adapt your design process to your product
Advocate for the users but balance their needs with those of the business
Flex your communication style, be humble and ask for feedback
Make sure to be involved in your team strategy, even if it’s not your responsibility
Demonstrate impact according to what’s important for the company
