Parkdean Resorts Activities Senior Lead User Experience

Brief

Design an App for people who want to add activities to their holidays.

My Contributions

  • Research & Discover
  • Ideation
  • Information Architecture
  • Product Design
  • Interaction Design

Project Team

  • Michael Wood User Experience
  • Lauren Product Owner
  • Neil/Jamie Business Analysis
  • Jamie Testing
  • Eloise User Research
  • Dan Visual Design
  • Jodi Development Manager

Process Overview

  • Research
  • Wireframing
  • Review
  • Prototyping
  • Review
  • Design
  • Refinement
  • Development
  • User Testing
  • Refinement
  • User Testing
  • Refinement

Research & Discover

Working with a talented team at our agency Futurice I interviewed groups of people in the periods before, during and after their holidays to talk about their experience with the Activities Parkdean Resorts offer.

Often people will have been tangentially involved in Activities, having seen them around the Park, or having heard about them through world of mouth, and have started their Activities Booking journey a long time after they have finished booking their holiday.

This allowed me to discover a second, separate group of issues within that journey which were not discovered by analysis of the journey which was incorporated into the broader booking app. These were user interviews and small focus groups.

I then agitated those experiences with data analysis of journeys and paths through the existing web experience to ensure the project retained what worked well, and note the areas which people booking Activities found useful.

These learnings led us to a point where people's journeys crossed over with On Park staff to solve those issues and, by interviewing those solution providers, we were able to close the loop on the experience that people have had and suggest improvements.

Key Insights

Holidaymakers would use the Activities App but, in using it, make mistakes which would be solved by On Park Staff. Our reporting rarely traced the route from those Staff to the App.

Holidaymakers found the existing Activities booking process functional at best, but felt that it did not extend the feel of enhancing a holiday. As one respondent said, "It is as exciting as booking a parking space."

Holidaymakers were not easily able to use the existing Activities booking process on mobile devices, making the experience out of keeping with how they planned their holidays and difficult to use during a holiday when they had only mobile devices with them.

Problem Statements

  • Holidaymakers using our app could not find suitable activities for their families. This is a problem because they would make alternative plans for their family and spend their money off the park, or stay on the park and not engage with activities.
  • Holidaymakers using our app did not find the activities appealing owing to poor descriptions and bad imagery. This is a problem because they would make alternative plans and so spend their money elsewhere.
  • Holidaymakers who booked activities tended to not book further activities. This was a problem because other activities were available and booking them leads to an increase in satisfaction.

Ideation Phase

  • Card sorting priorities across user groups.
  • Built wireframes and verified them with public.
  • Built prototypes and tested with focus groups.
  • Mood group around the prototype, focusing on how The Activities App fed into the Parkdean Resorts infrastructure.
  • Designed along with brand guidelines.

The Concept

The Activities App which will give a better experience for holidaymakers during their holiday and is built to improve with feedback.

User Testing

Iterative user testing was baked into the project, with special focus was given to:

  • Conversion rates, and the question of if The Activities App made people book more.
  • Areas which On Park Staff reported people were asking them for help with.
  • The NPM scores of people who had used The Activities App.

Features

  • Improved interface for all users.
  • The Inspire Me tool.
  • Alternatives for Activities.

Outcome

There was a 1.8% usage and 3.2% revenue increase for holidaymakers using The Activities App, and a small uplift in NPS around Activities.

Final Thoughts

When a project depends on adding to an experience, rather than creating that experience, the key research is into the emotional profile of that experience. The success of the project will be tied to the broader experience, rather than on its own delivery. For The Activities App to be a success, the key research was in why Activities are a success.