VANDERVIE PRODUCT

UX // User Testing // Customer Interviews // Marketing Strategy

UX

There are so many considerations and details that go into creating a great travel experience for a user. Information I needed to initially collect from the user included desired destination, where the user lives, mode of travel, budget, number of travelers and ages, preferences for accommodations, other places the user has been before and/or is not interested in, travel dates, dining preferences including dietary restrictions, preferences for activities, and overall desired goals or purpose of the trip.

The information provided by a young, adventurous couple who wants to go hiking, camping, and visit some breweries is much different than the information provided by a family with kids from Texas who wants to ski on a budget. Would the user want to stay in an Airbnb or primitive yurt? Would she be up for more difficult mountain bike trails or just a leisurely ride? Does she want tacos or Thai food? Is he bringing a dog?

After I spent considerable time mapping out a logical order of questions and building out various decision trees, I created several survey versions in Typeform to start testing. I spent many hours testing the survey myself to determine both the most important questions to ask, and the format in which to ask them in order to make the experience easy on the user. I settled on a combination of multiple choice, yes/no questions, picture choices, and rating scales. I timed myself completing the form for various travel scenarios, and the average time to complete was about five minutes. After having a few friends complete the survey to check for clarity or any glaring mistakes, it was time to test with real users.

User Testing and Customer Interviews

I recruited 10 friends as Vandervie beta users and designed a process to anonymously collect feedback:

• Upon each user's completion of the initial trip request form

• After the user received her Vandervie Travel Plan

• After the user returned from her trip

My goal was to quantitatively measure satisfaction with the product in each phase of the experience. I also conducted an open-ended interview with each user on the phone or in person to discuss the overall experience. This lead to numerous important insights and new ideas that were worked into the next product iteration.

After feedback from beta users was implemented, I pursued the next round of users who were mostly people I had recently met through various startup and tech events around Denver. I followed the same testing process with these users in hopes of more candid input from people who had nothing to lose in providing honest feedback.

I made one more big push for feedback at a "Testing Party" I hosted at my house. I bought several six packs and bottles of wine and invited 20 friends over to complete the Vandervie online trip request with an assigned persona. On a stack of notecards, I wrote out characteristics and scenarios for imaginary users whose use cases I wanted to make sure were covered. As my friends completed their trip requests, I interviewed them in the character of their personas to see how well specific tasks were completed. This lead to a treasure trove of insights, and it seemed much easier for users to make suggestions for a very specific scenario rather than coming up with their own future travel plans. I incorporated further changes and improvements based on this feedback, produced a new iteration, and softly launched the product.

Marketing Strategy

Modern marketing starts with an amazing product that users are genuinely excited to share with others. My goal with Vandervie's product was to create an exceptional experience that users would be vocal about with like-minded friends. As customer reviews and social sharing by users increasingly overpowers ads, the importance of building a product that truly solves a problem and connects with customers in a novel way is the foundation of any good marketing strategy.