My Role
Product Designer
Team
Individual Project
Timeline
8 weeks
Tools
Figma User Interviews Usability Testing
INTRODUCTION
A social travel app to explore and plan unique travel experiences by connecting with like-minded travelers.
Just before the pandemic, I went on a solo trip to hike in the mountains. That single trip certainly taught me a lot and changed my life. Traveling is a huge part of my life and finding unique places to travel has always been challenging for me. This inspired me to design a product to help solo travelers discover and share unique travel experiences.
PROBLEM
Solo travelers struggle to find unique travel experiences and like-minded travelers to accompany them.
Most millennials and Gen Z solo travelers don’t like crowded and touristy places and look for unscathed travel experiences and adventures. These places are difficult to find and often need long hours of browsing or recommendation from fellow solo travelers. Moreover, even if they are able to find a unique place or adventure, finding someone to accompany them in the adventure is equally challenging.
How might I help solo travelers find unique travel experiences and like-minded travelers to accompany them?
DESIGN CHALLENGE
SOLUTION
Explorr : A social travel app that helps travelers find unique travel recommendations by other travelers.
Browse recommendations from other travelers and discover unique experiences
The users can browse recommendations added by other travelers according to their preferences like mountains, islands, or trending plans. The users can either choose their activity based on location or directly select an activity from the home page. After clicking on a particular location, the users are shown all the activities recommended with their ratings.
Join Plans created by other travelers
Once the users decide the activity that they would like to pursue, they can view plans by other travelers and join their plan to have a companion to experience the activity with them. By clicking on a particular plan, the users will be able to view plan details and join if it works for them.
Create own plans and allow other travelers to join them
If none of the plans created by other travelers work for them, they can create their own plan which is published on the app to allow other travelers to join. The users can also share the plan with friends.
How did I get there?
I first started with market research to gauge the need, I then conducted interviews to understand users needs and pain points. I then conducted a competitive analysis to analyze current products followed by ideation and design. I went through two rounds of iterations, one at low-fidelity and one at mid-fidelity prototype to come to the final design.
MARKET RESEARCH
Solo travel has risen by a massive 761.15% and 58% of millennials prefer traveling alone.
There has been a massive increase in the number of solo travelers in the past few years. Millennials are more than excited to pack their bags and hit the road alone. Solo travel is not only known to instill a sense of independence, but is also preferred to improve mental health especially after the pandemic. This research made it clear that there is a huge potential in this industry and helped me narrow down my target population to the millennials.
USER RESEARCH
This revealed 3 pain points faced by solo travelers
I conducted 6 interviews with millennials who had traveled in the past or wish to solo travel in the future to understand their journey, needs and pain points. After synthesizing the data collected, I created a journey map of solo travelers’ experience and identified 3 main pain points.
Have to spend a lot of time finding unique experiences
Don’t like going on guided tours or trips planned with a lot of people
Find it difficult to find a travel partner for some adventures
Solo travelers spend a lot of time researching to find unique traveling experiences which are mostly found by browsing or recommendations.
Millennials like to be independent and in control. They don’t like guided tours and prefer going on places that are unique, not very crowded and less travelled.
Solo travelers often find it difficult to find travel partners who would like to go on the same adventure at a time convenient to both of them.
“I seldom find good travel recommendations and when in need I am never able to find them“
“I like to take my time on spots I like, and explore around. I hate being on a schedule or time limit to visit specific locations or do specific activities”
“I can’t go on some adventures alone as they may get risky at times, but finding someone to travel with at a time convenient to both is exhausting“
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They also revealed their motivation and likes that I could use to make their experience enjoyable
Trust recommendations and reviews from other travelers
Love to share their experience with others
Like to connect with new people while traveling
Solo travelers spend a lot of time researching to find unique traveling experiences which are mostly found by browsing or recommendations.
Millennials like to be independent and in control. They don’t like guided tours and prefer going on places that are unique, not very crowded and less travelled.
Solo travelers often find it difficult to find travel partners who would like to go on the same adventure at a time convenient to both of them.
“I have mostly traveled by recommendation, it ensures that I won’t have a bad experience“
“I love sharing my travel experiences and often recommend them to everyone”
“I have come across many interesting people while traveling solo, it is nice to have a companion“
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Aha! The pain points paved a way to design opportunities
Have to spend a lot of time finding unique experiences
1
2
Don’t like going on guided tours or trips planned with a lot of people
How might I help the travelers in discovering unique experiences more efficiently?
How might I allow the travelers to have more control on their plans while traveling?
3
How might I make it easier for travelers to find other travelers interested in the same activity?
Find it difficult to find a travel partner for some adventures
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
Existing products address some of the pain points, but no one product meets all the needs of the users.
There are several products that have tried to attract solo travelers and provided a platform for travel community. I researched and analyzed three types of products - one that focused on solo travelers like Meetup and Wanderlog and products that provide some features that attract solo travelers. The third type is Instagram which is not specifically designed for travelers, but interviews revealed that it is one of the major sources for discovering and connecting with travelers.
How might I help the travelers in discovering unique experiences more efficiently?
01
DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
Interviews revealed that solo travelers trusted reviews from other travelers, so I decided to leverage that trust.
Solo travelers love sharing their experiences so that others can benefit from it. Recommendation features leverages this motivation to create a trustworthy community.
Airbnb uses rating system which is great for choosing an experience, but they are paid, planned by hosts and often feel like guided tours which are not trustworthy.
EXPLORR showcases recommendations that are added personally by the travelers along with rating system
How might I make it easier for travelers to find other travelers interested in the same activity?
02
DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
Meetup does a great job bringing people with similar interests together but focuses on a wide variety of events that are mostly local.
Meetup offers a social platform to meet people, make friends, grow a business, etc. What if I could use the same strategy to help travelers connect with other travelers with similar interests.
Explorr allows the users to discover travelers who are interested in same activities and can join their plans if interested.
How might I allow the travelers to have more control on their plans while traveling?
03
DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
Airbnb and Tripadvisor do a great job offering local experiences, but they have fixed itenerary and still feel like guided tours.
Airbnb and Tripadvisor offer experiences that are paid and planned by hosts, this gives a touristy feeling to the solo travelers who love to be independent and follow their own heart while experiencing anything.
How can I provide a more controlled experience while also providing some guidance?
Explorr offers users the ability to create their own travel plans that other travelers can join.
The users will be able to view travel tips added by the traveler who added the recommendation and reviews from other travelers who previously traveled. The users then can join any existing plan or creating their own plan giving them more control.
Now that I had addressed the pain points from users point of view, I also wanted to look at the product from Business point of view. How can I ensure it grows and benefit the business goals?
PRODUCT STRATEGY
01
Explorr could showcase sponsored advertisements
Advertising has been a major source of revenue for apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. Explorr could add sponsored adds to its homepage, keeping the trust of the users.
Oh wait, but Explorr can not do that untill it has a large user base to make an impact.
To grow its user base -
02
Explorr could draw the users to the app through notifications
Explorr could send notifications whenever a new plan is created for a place liked by them. In addition, they can also encourage the users to write a review if the user has joined any plan. This will help Explorr to increase its user base and inturn generate revenue.
NEXT STEPS
The next step would be to conduct further user testing and iterate the designs.
Analyze user behavior (power users and new users) to prioritize impactful features and develop product strategy.