BOOKING AN R.E.I. ADVENTURE
Conducting a usability study to improve the experience of booking a REI Adventure.
THE PROJECT
For 25+ years, R.E.I. Adventures have helped travelers find all-inclusive experiences around the world. The purpose of this study was to assess the web booking flow for R.E.I. Adventures to identify key usability issues and design recommendations. This work aligns with R.E.I.’s business objectives to expand their primary offerings as an outdoor retailer into the experiences space and further differentiate themselves against competitors.
THE OUTCOME
We provided recommendations on how to improve the booking flow based on the usability issues that were prioritized from most to least severe. Our findings were presented to the UX team at R.E.I. and delivered an in-depth usability report that details our process, analysis, and insights.
This work was sponsored by R.E.I. and completed as part of the Human-Centered Design & Engineering MS program at the University of Washington.
MY ROLE
UX Researcher
duration
3 Months
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Assess the effectiveness of the current booking flow for REI Adventures.
Identify design inconsistencies and usability issues in the experience.
Evaluate with representative users in environments they might typically plan travel.
Provide insights and design recommendations for REI to improve booking flow.
initial evaluation
We met with R.E.I. to learn about their goals and where they perceived users were having difficulty. Then, I performed a heuristic analysis of the current booking flow and consolidated my findings with those of my group.
HEURISTIC ANALYSIS FINDINGS
Moderate severity
No forgiveness for errors after entering information. Lack of validation and no “back” or “edit” button.
Inconsistent UI text and no saved information causes frustration and confusion about state. When selecting the Cancel button, the button then says Finished. No guardrails in place for accidental actions.
Inconsistent experience when filtering/selecting dates for a particular trip.
Minor severity
Information hierarchy. Logical groupings out of place. Payment info is broken up, guide info is by small print. Not all important info is visible at the right stage.
The default setting in the itinerary is the expanded view, making the page cluttered and difficult to parse the most important information first.
The system adds unnecessary friction before payment, asking users to agree to rules and restrictions while still on the trip details page.
No account option or way for those who have previously traveled with REI or are REI members to auto-fill their information.
Restricted exploration of trips. When browsing/filtering trips by region, users are unable to select multiple regions.
developing the scenarios
I developed research questions to guide our usability study design and scope our research. Based on the findings from our heuristic analysis, we identified three core scenarios that encompass the REI Adventure booking flow which include the key tasks for the usability study.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How easy or difficult it is for users to find the travel dates for a trip they are looking for?
How easy or difficult is it to edit previously entered booking information?
What do users do if they get stuck during the booking process?
What obstacles do users encounter while completing the booking process?
SELECT A TRIP
Find a specific trip
Learn details about the trip
Pick an available date
BOOK TRIP
Enter traveler info
Specify room preferences
Select payment plan
PAY AND MODIFY
Enter payment info
Modify booking
Double-check cancellation policy
the study & findings
I performed 2 usability studies out of a total of 8. Once completed, we compiled our findings and ranked them in severity (1 being an irritant to 4 being severe) based on number of participants affected and the ability to complete the task.
Task-based usability study of the 3 scenarios
8 Participants based on core personas provided by REI
Conducted where participants would typically book travel
Think aloud protocol + Post-task questionnaires
What worked well
All participants were able to complete all elements of booking flow tested.
Half of the participants expressed that they liked searching and viewing trip options.
All participants were pleased by type and quality of information on itinerary page.
All participants loved the map on itinerary page, suggesting interest in interactive feature.
Most participants were delighted by information getting carried forward to payment page.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK (a few highlights)
Participants were confused/not confident in roommate selection process.
Severity 3 (Moderate)
As part of the booking flow, participants were required to enter rooming preferences for their trip. This included specifying single or double occupancy, number of beds, and if applicable, the name of the roommate. Despite confusion, all participants were able to complete the task.
“Seriously!? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Recommendations to consider:
Lead with selection of number of rooms/beds instead of travelers.
Remove default room preference.
Reduce the amount of information collected at this stage of booking.
Participants experienced frustration while modifying booking information.
Severity 3 (Moderate)
As users progressed through the booking process, they were asked to go back and modify some previously entered information. Without a clear way to do this within the page, participants used the browser back button to navigate back. Upon doing so, all previously entered data was deleted.
Recommendations
Persist information between pages on navigation.
Add an ‘Edit’ button to allow users to move back/forth without fear of data loss.
Participants found it difficult to compare options when choosing a trip date.
Severity 2 (Minor)
On the trip itinerary page, there were multiple ways to view available dates for a trip, and it was difficult to compare options when comparing options between months, because it was not possible to view trips across multiple months at the same time.
Recommendations:
Add the ability to select date range to view trip options within range.
Streamline the number of ways to look at available dates.
REFLECTION
We received great feedback after presenting our usability findings to R.E.I. But for me, the biggest learning was how important a multi-disciplinary team is for a project. During our group’s individual heuristic analysis of the website, I was the only one to call out certain comprehension concerns alongside bugs or broken website features. I attribute this mostly due to my background as a content designer. It’s not enough that a user is able to click a button, do they understand what’s happening when they do or why they’re doing it? After convincing my group members that we really needed to dig into comprehension, we made sure that our usability study included tasks for changing a booking and questions regarding cancellation. I believe this is part of the reason why R.E.I. found our findings so helpful and is a great example of how team diversity can really improve a project.