Fig 01: Treebo, a hotel booking app

Hey there! I am an aspiring UX designer. As a designer at heart, I have always been passionate about understanding users behavior, their day to day problems and why they behave the way they do. My journey so far has taught me that any design that is obvious and easy to use are considered as a great experience by users.

👉The Challenge

This case study focuses on adding a new feature to “Treebo” mobile app which is an outcome of a 48 Hour long Product Design Challenge mentored by

along with my groupmates.

The challenge focused on understanding problem statements and working towards building a new feature or redesigning existing feature keeping in mind the business metrics of the product. I would like to take you with me on the journey of receiving problem statements to building a new feature in Treebo mobile app.

👉What is Treebo?

Treebo is a hotel booking and accommodation platform that provides budget-friendly hotels in India. The company was founded in 2015 and its headquarters is located in Bengaluru, India. The Treebo app allows customers to book rooms at Treebo hotels and also offers other features such as real-time room availability, rate information, hotel details, and the ability to manage bookings.

Fig 02 : Product Design Challenge Roadmap

👉Problem statement

“Adding an influencer curation feature based on Influencer itineraries, discounts and travel tips”

Core idea — The Influencer Curation feature is designed to showcase itineraries, discounts, and travel tips from popular influencers on social media. By collaborating with influencers, Treebo hopes to tap into their large and engaged following, as well as gain valuable insights into current travel trends and preferences.

Currently, Treebo app doesn’t offer a personalized curation feature based on influencer itineraries, discounts, and travel tips. This makes it difficult for customers to plan their travel itinerary in accordance with their interests and budget.

👉Assumptions

1. The Influencer Curation feature will not negatively impact the user experience or the overall performance of the Treebo website or mobile app.
2. The Influencer Curation feature will be well-received by users and will not result in any negative feedback or backlash.
3. The Influencer Curation feature will be easy for users to access and use, and will not cause any issues with the Treebo website or mobile app.
4. Influencers have a significant following and are able to effectively promote products or services to their audience.
5. Collaborating with influencers will be cost-effective and provide a good return on investment for Treebo.

👉How will it help our users?

1. It could provide users with access to personalized travel recommendations from influencers that they follow and trust. This could make it easier for users to plan their travels and discover new destinations and experiences.
2. It could help users save money on their travels by featuring discounts from influencers. This could make travel more affordable for users, which could be especially appealing during times when budgets are tight.
3. It could provide users with helpful travel tips and advice from influencers, which could make their travels more enjoyable and stress-free.
4. It could help users discover new destinations and experiences that they may not have considered before, which could broaden their travel horizons and help them make the most of their trips.

👉How the business gets impacted?

1. Increased traffic and sales: By featuring influencer itineraries, discounts, and travel tips, we might be able to attract more visitors to our website and convert more of those visitors into customers. This could lead to increased traffic and sales for your business.
2. Enhanced reputation and credibility: Partnering with influencers can help to enhance the reputation and credibility of your business.
3. Improved customer engagement: By providing your customers with access to influencer itineraries, discounts, and travel tips, you may be able to improve customer engagement with your brand.
4. Greater reach and visibility: Influencers often have large followings on social media and other platforms.

👉Secondary research

As a part of the research for this challenge, I studied how various other brands are creating influencer itineraries to improve customer engagement.

Fig 03 : Researched brands

By studying and analyzing these apps, I got an idea of what has worked well and what could be adapted or improved upon for the new feature. It’s important to keep in mind that the new feature should be tailored to the specific needs of the platform and its target audience.

👉Ideation

1. Create a page or section on the existing app with curated list of influencer-approved travel itineraries.
2. Adde a rating system or reviews from other users who have taken the influencer-recommended itineraries. This can help other users get a sense of the quality and reliability of the recommendations.
3. Offer exclusive discounts to users who book travel itineraries or activities recommended by influencers.
4. Provide videos of users enjoying the trip with the help of Treebo itinerary.
Highlighting influencers who specialize in different types of travel, such as solo travel, luxury travel, adventure travel, or family travel.
5. Adding a feature where users can message influencers directly with questions about their itineraries or recommendations.

👉User flow within the app

The flow for the feature starts from user checking the influencer curation section, influencer itinerary, recommended Treebo hotels, plans and ends with influencer travel tips.

Fig 04 : User flow

👉Low -fidelity wireframe

Fig 05 : Hand drawn wireframe

👉Product design and prototyping

Keeping in mind the existing fonts and design of the app, I tried my best to add a new feature considering the existing flow of the app. The design is done focusing on the android OS.

👉Comparison screens

Fig 06 : Screen 1 — Influencer curation feature

Screen 1 — We have introduced a new feature to the app — Treebo Influencer. With the help of this feature, user can watch influencers experience with the help of reel, scroll through the influencer experience with the help of itinerary as well as book hotels wrt the influencer recommendation.

Fig 06 : Screen 2 — Travel Tips

Screen 2 — The app currently does not provide Travel Tips feature. Travel tips are used by users which will help them in having the best experience throughout the trip.

In the initial screen, I have tried to Provide tips based on weather. Influencer would be listing down the tips they can give based on their experience.

Fig 07 : Screen 3 — Show All

Screen 3 — Influencer curation feature with show all button helps users view all the influencers and their preferred itinerary -package and hotel details are shown in these screens.

I have personalized the recommendations and itineraries displayed to each user based on their past bookings, preferences, and behavior on the platform.

In show all section of the app, Users get to view — For you curated for the users, Popularinfluencers on Treebo and get to Chat with the influencers regarding details on itinerary if required.

👉Usability testing

The concerns that users reported during the testing were:

1. users were unable to understand the complexity in each cards in Treebo influencer section of homepage. They were not able to distinguish the different options available — Packages and hotel booking. Even the button was not noticable.

2. Users are intrigued by discounts and promo codes provided by the influencers which will help in reducing the cost of the package which will in turn help Treebo with Conversion metrics of business.

3. users were not interested in scrolling down to find out what they wanted to look at for tips to travel.

4. Users wanted to know more about the influencer and how they enjoyed the travel with the help of itinerary.

👉Screens after usability testing

Fig 08 : Screen 1.1— Iterated Homepage

Screen 1.1 — After usability testing, I found out that user was unable to understand the complexity in each cards. They were not able to distinguish the different options available — Packages and hotel booking. Even the button was not noticeable. So I have made the card more readable and the button is more noticeable now.

Fig 09 : Screen 2.1 — Iterated Travel tips page

Screen 2.1 — After usability testing, I noticed that users were not interested in scrolling down to find out what they wanted to look at for tips to travel. So I have added a tab bar where users can easily click on their preferred tip they are looking for and reach to the exact tip description.

Users wanted to know more about the influencer and how they enjoyed the travel with the help of itinerary. So i have provided few clicks by influencers to re assure users.

The tips are indicated in pointers to help users read through them without getting overwhelmed by the content.

👉Figma file

https://www.figma.com/file/6SPbR4lTdpzptSGRv9JvyI/Treebo?node-id=0%3A1&t=eEPXSlxSlMZs3Nhf-1

👉Prototype link

https://www.figma.com/proto/vEL9BK4ZL86fiJ9opO9ITn/2048--THE-Product-Design-Challenge---Jan-'23?page-id=104%3A14380&node-id=423%3A432441&viewport=341%2C-2619%2C0.1&scaling=scale-down&starting-point-node-id=423%3A432441

👉Future scope

1. Provide tips in the form of multiple selection based on user needs instead of selecting one option. (ex: Summer, Solo travel)
2. Incorporating virtual reality technology to allow users to experience the destinations and itineraries in a more immersive way, this will also be of great help to influencer to promote their curated itineraries.
3. Enabling influencers to share real-time updates, photos, and videos from their trips on the platform.

👉My key learnings

• I learned the importance of time management and prioritizing things to work within a timeline.
• I learned how to cross-navigate between different flows. Impacting one impacts the other.
• Keeping things simple. Complexity has no value in design.
• I also learned the importance of asking questions. Questioning everything allows us to dive into a deeper state of understanding. A deeper understanding leads to deeper insights, and more profound insights lead to better solutions.

Thank you for being a part of this journey. If you liked it, do let me know in the comments. All feedback is welcome. You can reach me at Gmail or on LinkedIn

If you want to read more content regarding user experience design, don’t forget to follow me on Medium!

Thank you once again!🙏