OVERVIEW
Tripadvisor’s Things to Do pages are highly popular among travelers planning experiences, but primarily focus on activities and attractions within the anchor geo. This narrow focus limits discovery of nearby activities, often leading to a dead-end experience during research. It was particularly crucial to solve this issue for content thin geo pages (166,000 pages on Tripadvisor) that offer few activity options for travelers, resulting in high bounce rates.
Also, while scrolling through the Things to Do page, users often encounter similar stacks of product shelves that can make the experience feel uninspiring, leading to potential page abandonment.
It was essential to break the visual monotony by introducing a more engaging and flexible guidance module that could eventually be integrated into the Tripadvisor Design System.
MY ROLE
I led the design while collaborating cross-functionally with the Product Manager and teams in Machine Learning, Data Merchandising, and Engineering.
Approach
A/B/C tests with two design variations were conducted, ultimately rolling out the more viable option. The positive impact of this module on content-thin pages prompted its implementation across all Things to Do pages, and is now undergoing further testing in other areas of the Tripadvisor experience.
Design Explorations
Post a landscape research analysis and consideration of technical constraints, design explorations were discussed with the broader team and helped shape the project. Subsequently, two directions were explored – one that guided travelers to multiple nearby destinations, and the other spotlighting a single destination along with recommended activities. The former was chosen as the way forward, in order to guide travelers to a choice of destinations.
- The new design showcased a set of 4-6 destinations nearby, with multiple things to do based on a new machine learning model (distance from anchor geo, co-viewing similarity, number of commerce products, points of interest, reviews, etc.).
- By introducing a 2-card collage-based module, the product shelf monotony of the page was broken, refreshing it to look not only visually appealing, but also prompt users to continue their discovery.
Flexible & Accessible Designs
Since the module was designed from scratch, it was paramount to ensure that all accessibility standards were met and that it aligned with the Tripadvisor Design Principles and Design System.
- Significant thought was put into enhancing the accessibility of the module’s scrim. Collaborating closely with members of the Design System team, I proposed optimal values for the scrim, as the existing values were not suitable for scaling across various use cases. This initiative also allowed me to contribute to improving the Design System scrim, by updating the values to ensure they comply with accessibility standards.
Results
There was an increase in visitors to the product review and list pages, as well as in cover page product click uniques and active minutes, leading to an overall improvement in revenue metrics.
Given the positive outcomes of the feature in content-thin geos, the module was expanded to all geo pages, allowing travelers to continuously discover interesting nearby destinations, which also produced favorable results.
