Tanzania Pride Tours
Tanzania Pride Tours Company
Project
Client
Martha Samsoni
User experience designer, I was responsible for the initial research, ideations, wireframes, mock-ups, and the website creation.
Roles
Deliverables
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User Research/ Feedback
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Established Strategy and MVP
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Fully Functional Website
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Google Analytics
The Challenge
Create a user friendly website, and improve the process of generating new leads.
Overview
Tanzania Pride Tours is a small, family owned travel agency that specializes in curating affordable travel plans for some of Tanzania's most iconic experiences. Up to this point they had been operating mainly through referrals and word of mouth, however, the lack of an online presence had really cut into their livelihood, especially during a global pandemic.
The goal of this project was to create a website that would help generate new leads for their company, while staying within the client's limited budget.
Approach
I attempted to work through this problem by understanding customer habits when researching and planning a trip to East Africa, and identify usability issues that could be changed to enhance the planning experience.
Gathering Insights
I conducted both quantitative and qualitative research to learn more about the process behind how people plan and book an African adventure. Below are some of the key findings I found through surveys and customer interviews.
Key Findings
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Over 50% of respondents were unhappy with the quality of information they could find online.
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Most questions remained unanswered until they spoke to a human representative.
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Positive reviews, Price and accommodations topped the list for what people found to be most important when booking an African excursion.
Total Responses
45
Smart Phone
44%
Desktop
56%
Problem Statement
When trying to plan their trips, most people felt that there was an overload of information and too many options to know which to choose from...
Understanding the problem.
To help me better understand the customer's needs, I included participants’ statements and my own observations and assumptions onto post-it notes and plotted them out using an empathy map.
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"Hunting for legitimacy", customers needed to be able to narrow down a thousand different options.
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Wanted to be able to speak with someone who could answer their questions.
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Affordable, within their price range
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Explain the accommodations, so that they could know what to plan for ex. (camping or a 5 star resort)
Assumptions
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People searching are typically in the early stages of planning their trip, they are in the researching phase and are not looking to book that very moment.
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Unfamiliar with the area, (N'gorongoro Crater doesn't mean much to the average visitor.)
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Looking for help/ guidance planning their trip.
Forming a Hypothesis
I believe most people have a general idea of what they would like to do, but don't know the specifics. If we connect them with someone who can explain each of the options to the customer, they will have a much easier time selecting which option is right for them.
Information Architecture
During this phase of the project I I did a lot of exploration and brainstorming on how the site could work? From my findings and assumptions I tried to map out the flow of the application from the customer's perspective.
Design
SKETCHES
I quickly sketched out multiple variations before creating any wireframes or high fidelity designs. The driving principle behind these sketches was to keep it simple, we wanted visitors to the site to be able to have a clear understanding of where to go and what was available without cognitive overload.
First of many sketches for the customer flow
Wireframes
Framing the solution
I mocked up a few different wireframes to quickly gather feedback from customers on the overall layout and structure of the site.
Based on the problems identified earlier, my solution needed to:
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Build credibility with customers.
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Be able to narrow down a thousand options. (Hick's Law)
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Be able to answer a customer's questions quickly.
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Offer affordable options.
Testing
Validating the designs.
I conducted usability testing sessions with former customers to validate whether the new designs would have helped with their problems.
I wrote a script which included a scenario where the customer was trying to get a quote for a trip they were planning, to see what they would do and what they would expect to see.
During these sessions, it revealed that the CTA form was easy noticeable. It was also easier for the user to decide on where they wanted to click, and where to to turn to for answers to their questions.
Test Results
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5/5 participants saw and interacted with the CTA
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5/5 participants were able to successfully complete the task of requesting a custom quote.
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3/5 participants said the CTA worked like they expected it to.
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4/5 participants mentioned that the site's interface seemed simple and straightforward in nature.
Developing the Design
I decided to use Wix for the creation of the site for several important reasons:
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The platform is robust enough to meet the needs of the site's design
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Could find a plan that stayed within the client's limited budget.
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Most importantly the user interface (WYSIWYG) was simple enough that I could instruct my client (Martha) on how to use the software and go in to make edits and updates after I was gone.
Results & Key Takeaways
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A functional website, & successfully launched MVP
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Generated an avg. +4 new bookings per month
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Received positive customer feedback about simplified design
Results
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Create a strategic plan to launch an MVP, in this case, a quick CTA that would connect our audience to our client. This helped cut down on potential scope creep that could possibly derail the project from meeting it's deadline.
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Regardless of your budget, finding ways to listen to your customer's feedback will always help you deliver the best experience.
Key Takeaways
What would I do ...
What Would I Do Differently?
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I would have made an effort to test my assumptions earlier by experimenting with some alternate versions of the CTA (different fields/questions) to see if they would have provided better results.
What Would I Do Next?
Shortly after returning home from Tanzania, I started work at my current position, so my role in continuing the improvement of the site was limited. However, if I were still on the project, here is what I would do next:
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Keep tracking the performance through Google Analytics, to monitor conversion & bounce rates.
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Conduct another round of interviews to understand if the new design is meeting the customer's needs.
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Build up other pages of the site, such as, the travel packages and blog posts to help with SEO.