Inspiring customers to fly premium with British Airways
British Airways case study
Overview
Product
At British Airways I own the product design for the commercial flight booking journey. “Inspiring customers to fly premium” was an objective set by the business to help recover from the loss of Business class sales, post-pandemic.
This case study walks through the process of continuous discovery and experimentation with data-driven and user centric solutions, underpinned by design thinking principles and methodologies.
Role
Product Designer
Outcomes
+5% increase in upsell
+7% increase of Business class sales
+8% increase in mobile bookings
Increase in interaction and engagement of premium cabin cards
🤔 Business problem
British Airways has identified a 20% drop (2023) in Business class cabin sales.
It is assumed that due to a change in attitudes towards business travel in a post-pandemic world, less people and organisations are choosing to fly across the globe for business purposes.
✨ Product opportunity
Inspire customers to fly premium
In response to the business problem, the commercial leadership team set us with an objective to inspire customers to fly premium. The objective’s success is measured by 3% increase in upsell in an effort to recover from the loss with business class sales.
HMW inspire more customers to fly premium?
Identifying knowledge gaps
In collaboration with our UX researcher, I kicked off this project by exploring what we know about attitudes and behaviours regarding premium flying, as well as what we don’t know that we feel needs answering before moving on in the process.
To understand where our gaps in knowledge are, I ran a series of different workshops with stakeholders across the business to help define assumptions and knowledge gaps.
The process
Session 1: Assumptions mapping against the Business, Customer and Technology in relation to premium flying
Session 2: Mapping out the customer journey to explore customer behaviour when upgrading/flying premium (we analysed the analytics before plotting onto the journey). And to identify possible opportunities
Session 3: Generating research questions from the assumptions formed in session 1
Discovery findings
Overview of what motivates people to upgrade, and what detracts them from upgrading
💰 Affordability is the key motivator behind a cabin upgrade
The price of a premium cabin is the key decision factor behind customers deciding whether or not to upgrade.
🎟️ BA loyalty programmes are a motivator for upgrades
Many British Airways customers are part of the Executive Club and will upgrade if they can partially pay for the upgrade with their avios points, or to earn more tier points by flying in a higher travel class.
💎 Value for money is a secondary motivator to affordability
Customers weigh up the benefits against the total price for an upgrade to determine whether it feels good value for money.
🎒 Some customers upgrade to acquire more baggage allowance
For short and long haul flights, some customers are more likely to upgrade so they can have more baggage allowance than what is available in Economy.
⏰ Time spent onboard the plane influences upgrades
Customers are more likely to upgrade for a long haul flight as they value being more comfortable onboard the aircraft.
💺 Sitting together in a passenger type of 2 or more is more important than extra benefits
If passengers are unable to sit together in Economy they may upgrade. On the other hand, if passengers upgrade and cannot sit together, they are likely to downgrade.
Next steps
Opportunity mapping
Opportunity identification
Upon receiving the discovery insights, I conducted a workshop with the Product Trio (PO, PD, EM) to define opportunity statements to be used in ideation workshops. This exercise helped establish alignment amongst the product trio in regards to what opportunities we should explore to achieve our objective.
We utilised the discovery insights and prioritised HMW statements based on the key motivators and detractors behind cabin upgrade behaviour.
Cross-functional collaboration
After identifying the key opportunity areas, I begun facilitating cross-functional workshops to ideate potential solutions and ideas to test. This helped us to accumulate an opportunity tree of ideas which correlate to the insights gained from discovery. We are continuing to grow this opportunity tree when we gain new learnings and ideas from continuous discovery and experimentation.
We ideated with various teams including Brand, Content, Nexus (Digital transformation programme), Trading, Revenue, Marketing, Engineering and Design.
We ended each workshop with a voting activity so we could define 3 specific ideas per opportunity to explore further.
EXPERIMENTATION
EXPERIMENTATION
Experimentation strategy
To set the narrative for the remainder of this case study, it is worth outlining the experimentation strategy we defined as a the team. Across each quarter, we have the opportunity to conduct 4-5 live experiments as we are constrained by releasing features/experiments on specific release dates. To understand how we could motivate customers to fly premium within the booking journey, experimentation is a key part of our process.
“Design to test”
Ahead of each engineering sprint, I conducted a design sprint to explore hypothesis by employing design methodologies ahead of experimentation. I introduced “Design to test” to the team to help mitigate risks to KPIs such as exit rates and engagement. Design to test aims to explore what would be the most valuable and viable test solution before building an AB test, as an example. From each hypothesis, 2-3 ideas were put through a design sprint so we could identify the most optimal design concept to test our hypothesis.
The artefact above showcases my approach to tackling the business problem [20% drop in Business class sales] by employing continuous discovery activities to identify problems and opportunities before exploring ideas to test in the live environment on our quest to achieve 3% upsell.
Creating experiment briefs to drive alignment
To ensure alignment and clarity when approaching an experiment, I introduced “Experiment briefs” into our process. These briefs contain context, test metrics and method, to create a source of truth when building experiments.
Before we move into ideation for a concept to test, I create this brief and share with multiple stakeholders (Brand, Revenue, Product, Analytics, Engineering, Content, Marketing, Experimentation, Legal and others dependent on the project) to drive alignment and understanding of the problem space. There are a lot of moving parts when working on a commercial selling flow and prior to experimentation briefs, mis-communication and lack of clarity could occur.
Experimentation
Exploration into opportunity #1
Experiment 1
Highlighting the lowest premium fare
💰 Increased upsell by 5%
💰 Increased Business class sales by 7%
✨ Increased engagement with the lowest premium fare tile by 12%
Highlighting the lowest premium fare
Overview of the problem and opportunity
Problem
💰 Affordability hinders upgrades
Customers are more likely to upgrade when the price feels affordable, or is in a sale. This is because the price of a cabin determines whether customers will upsell, and is often a detractor when the price is considered to be too high.
We also know from customer insights that it can be difficult to scan through the flight list and find the “best deals”.
Product Initiative
🎟️ Highlight the lowest premium fare on the flight list
Affordability is considered the most significant motivator behind cabin upgrades and was therefore prioritised as the first opportunity to explore.
Highlighting of the lowest premium fare was a top voted idea from an ideation workshop focused on exploring affordability as an opportunity.
Next steps
Multivariant user testing
Driving an accessible and engaging experience
Colour psychology and accessibility were a key driver behind the success of this experiment. To ensure the lowest premium fare was accessible and with a high degree of findability, I ran an unmoderated multi-variant test via usertesting to assess which colour would be most appropriate.
V1
Many users with digital accessibility needs - such as challenges with focus and attention to information - struggled with find-ability when the price tile is marked in our Primary Midnight blue colour. This particular colour is from the Design System and is typically used for primary CTAs.
V2
When scanning the page, some users felt this cabin was associated with sustainable flying. This is because many users’ mental models associate green with sustainability when interacting with components across an airlines booking platform. This colour is from the Design System and is typically used for verification or success states.
V3
Most users were able to identify the lowest premium fare when comparing and customising their flight when on the flight list. The colour is also associated with feelings of luxury, evoking a premium look and feel. This colour is not part of the Design System but was advised as an appropriate colour from our existing palette.
Navigating challenges and managing stakeholder expectations
For this experiment we were going against the grain of using existing styles from the Design System. This sparked some valid arguments from stakeholders in the business. The following outlines how I managed push back and navigated those conversations to deliver a user centric design solution.
🎨 Conversing with the Design System team
At British Airways we are are very fortunate to have a team which oversees the Design System. I shared my learnings with the team to raise awareness that we were going to be experimenting with a new colour variation, and should this be successful we would want to productionise.
Starting this conversation early meant we could begin to consider rules for using this colour variation.
🔮 Collaborating with Brand to create consistent experiences
Purple has not yet been used in any collateral online or offline at British Airways. Initially the Brand team were unsure about the use of purple on our website.
I managed this concern by presenting the data from user testing research and raised the voice of accessibility and that this would be contained to the flight list only.
💬 Combatting subjective comments and feedback
When sharing the progress of this project, and proposing the experimentation concept, there were a lot of subjective comments made about the use of colour.
Again, I navigated this by ensuring that I was well equipped with data and insights from the users to support the proposed experiment concept. I also spent time delving into colour psychology to articulate the design decision.
Hypothesis
We believe that by adding a visual indicator to highlight the cheapest premium cabin on the flight list, customers will be more likely to upsell as they can easily identify the cheapest premium fare and feel motivated by the offer.
Experimentation methodology
🧪
Method
A/B test with control and variant (of the purple highlighted fare)
✈️
Traffic
Across all BA return journeys, and for Premium Economy, Business and First class fares
🎟️
Logic
The price tile is only to be highlighted if it is unique i.e. only one low premium fare on the flight list
Experiment outcome
By highlighting the lowest premium fare we saw an increase in upsell, validating our hypothesis.
💰⬆️ 5% increase in upsell
💰⬆️ 7% increase in business class sales
Learnings & next steps
Experiment learnings
💰 Customers are motivated by the idea of flying premium at a lower cost
🎟️ 12.9% of customers engaged with the lowest premium tile
💺 7% of customers upsold into Business class
Next steps
👷 Due to the success, we productionised this experiment
🤝 I have been collaborating with other teams focusing on upsell to share learnings and help support decision making across ba.com and Nexus (digital transformation project)
📝 Learnings have been shared with Nexus to support future developments
🔍 We are regrouping to explore how we can encourage customers to upsell where they interact with the lowest premium fare tile but do not commit to upgrading
Next steps
Exploring other opportunities
Upsell behaviour and attitudes in the booking journey
Alongside the discovery and hypothesis testing, I began exploring attitudes towards the travel classes within the online flight booking journey.
The earlier discovery suggested that value for money is a key motivator behind customers deciding whether to upgrade. To understand how this applies to BA customers, I conducted a benchmarking test of the existing flight booking journey.
Discovery question
What are users’ attitudes towards premium travel classes, when booking a BA flight online?
Benchmark test
This benchmark test aims to understand whether the existing representation of the travel class propositions provide enough information to help inform users’ decision making of what cabin to fly in.
💬 Research questions
What are users’ perceptions of the travel class propositions based on what they can see of the flight list?
Are users able to make an informed decision of what cabin to fly in with the content available on the flight list?
How appealing are the representations of different travel classes?
Are users able to seemlessly compare and customise travel classes with the current design pattern?
🪄 Methodology
24 participants recruited via usertesting
12 participants to book a short haul flight using the live website
12 participants to book a long haul flight using the live website
Split participants into 2 groups, to meet the criteria of users who have upgraded their cabin before.
Participants were provided with various tasks and questions to answer the research questions.
Benchmark test
Findings
Key insights
What are users’ attitudes towards the BA short haul travel classes?
✈️ Short haul
💺 Economy Plus is considered the most compelling proposition because it’s only £12 more to upgrade from Basic and have a free seat and checked baggage
💰 Business class is considered far too expensive as there is not a lot of valuable benefits listed - it is not clear of the value in flying premium for short haul
🖼️ Participants feel it would be most useful to see what the cabins look like, to see the difference in quality across each cabin
Key insights
What are users’ attitudes towards the BA long haul travel classes?
✈️ Long haul
🧳 When choosing a cabin for a long haul flight, many customers opted for Economy Standard. This is because the baggage allowance felt sufficient and that the differences between Premium Economy and Economy were very unclear
💎 Users would expect more differences between the premium travel classes in comparison to Economy. It is very unclear of the value in flying premium
🖼️ Users would like to visually see the differences across cabins so there is more clarity on what makes the premium travel classes “premium”
Key opportunities
Where are the opportunities to increase upsell within the booking journey?
🖼️ Visual content
Most users feel that adding an image into the booking journey of the different travel classes would help aid decision making. This is because it is very unclear as to the differences between each cabin type.
🔍 Improving the comparison experience
Many users found it difficult to compare cabins and see the differences between each proposition, particularly between Economy and Premium Economy.
💡 The insights from this benchmark test further validate some of the findings we identified in the earlier qual discovery. Many customers conduct their own research to see what the BA cabins look like through social media and YouTube. It was also identified in the discovery that it is important for customers to know all all of the benefits they are gaining for pre-flight and onboard experience.
✨ Enhancing the premium proposition representation
Most users felt that the attributes used to describe the premium travel classes did not evoke feelings of premium travel. Some regular BA flyers recognise we are not showcasing all of the benefits to each travel class within the booking journey.
Strategic thinking
Recognising and driving opportunities for change
Influencing wider commercial strategy
Cabin proposition overhaul
Through sharing insights from this continuous discovery and experimentation process, we were able to influence and help inform the wider commercial strategy.
The Brand team oversee the cabin propositions, and were able to make better decisions with the knowledge we shared.
The research thus far helped to indicate that our current offerings are not fulfilling customer’s needs. This learning provoked the Principal Insights team to conduct a mass survey with 820 participants to further validate our learnings.
Experimentation
Exploration into opportunity #2
Experiment 2
Adding cabin imagery to the flight list
💎 Increased upsell by 3.42%
📱 Increased Mobile bookings by 8%
💰 Avg £450,000 extra revenue per month
Adding cabin imagery to the flight card
Overview of the problem and opportunity
Problem
🤔 It is unclear of the differences between each travel class
Discovery insights indicate that many customers go to YouTube and social media to find visual content of the BA cabins, to help inform decision making of what cabin to fly in.
Most users express that imagery of the different cabins would help to portray the difference in quality and comfort across each cabin type.
Product Initiative
🖼️ Add an image of each cabin to the expanded flight card
When exploring this particular problem space as a team, we decided the best first step would be to explore adding an image of the cabin onto the different travel classes.
I worked very closely with various stakeholders to source the most appropriate imagery as there are various constraints and complexities to adding imagery within a selling flow.
What imagery can we use?
In collaboration with the media assets team, I was able to source several different images that are applicable to each cabin type.
Complexities
Within the selling flow, it is advised to refrain from using certain imagery. The legal team advised against using imagery that showcases the old Cabin Crew BA uniform (when working on this project BA cabin staff were provided with a new uniform), to not show imagery where plastic is shown as it conflicts with the sustainability initiative and it is important not to show imagery with branded food and drink as it’s not available across all aircrafts.
As you can see from the image, we had very limited options of imagery we could use. The photography style at the time was to be more “abstract”.
Cabin image preference test
🎯 Objective
The aim of this test was to identify which imagery best reflects the different BA cabins, to help inform decision making of which ones best compliment the different travel classes.
💬 Research questions
Which images best reflect the main benefits to each cabin?
Are the images helping to showcase the value in flying premium?
🪄 Methodology
50 users recruited via usertesting:
25 users to vote on which image best reflects the different short haul cabins
25 users to vote on which image best reflects the different long haul cabins
Short haul image preference test - findings
Long haul image preference test - findings
Key insights
Besides gaining an understanding of which images best represent each cabin, we were also able to discover more about what users need to see in order to make an informed decision of what cabin to choose.
✈️ Better overview of the cabin setup
Most users would like to see how each cabin is configured on the plane. This so they can compare the cabins to assess the difference in space and privacy.
🛋️ Overview of the pre-flight benefits for premium travel classes
With users who typically upgrade or fly in premium cabins, some mentioned it would be useful to see what the pre-flight benefits look like such as the lounge and dedicated check in desks. This is because they want to see if the lounges would be worth the price to upgrade.
💺 See the difference in seat quality across cabins
Most users would like to see the difference in quality between each seat. This is so they can assess which cabin would suit their needs most. For example, seeing the difference in width between an Economy and Premium Economy seat as some users have mobility issues such as hip pain and would need a wider seat.
📺 Preview of the entertainment options onboard the aircraft
Some users were particularly keen to see what entertainment options are available onboard. This includes the TV screen size but also an overview of the different media options and whether it includes up-to-date films.
🥙 Visibility of different snack and meal options
Many users commented on how it would be useful to see the difference in quality of food and drink between each cabin. Users feel it would be most beneficial to have multiple images to showcase the benefits of each cabin.
Next steps
Usability testing
Test question
How does imagery impact the compare and customise experience?
🎯 Test objective
To assess whether adding an image helps inform user’s decision making
To explore whether adding imagery impacts the compare and customise experience when searching for a flight
💬 Research questions
Are the images accurately representing the main benefits to each cabin?
Do the images used for premium cabins best reflect the value in flying premium?
Does adding an image encourage users to upsell?
Does adding an image improve the compare and customise experience?
🪄 Methodology
Recruited users via usertesting:
10 users to book a long haul flight (5 desktop, 5 mobile)
10 users to book a short haul flight (5 desktop, 5 mobile)
The same test task and questions to be used from the benchmark test
Findings
Adding an image of the cabin to an expanded flight card improves the long haul compare and customise experience
Booking a short haul flight
Findings
🖼️ Most participants did not feel the imagery helped improve their decision making. They felt the difference between Economy and Business was very unclear
🤔 Adding an image did not affect participants experience of comparing and customising cabins
🔍 Most participants feel there needs to be more information listed about each cabin
💡 The image for Business class did not feel premium to most participants in the test
Booking a long haul flight
Findings
🖼️ Most participants felt the imagery helps compliment the attributes and improves the cabin comparison experience
🤔 Adding an image did not affect participants experience of comparing and customising cabins
🔍 Most participants felt the listed benefits between Economy and Premium Economy, as well as between Business and First were very unclear
💡 The image for Business class was considered the most premium and compelling
Next steps
Knowledge sharing
Raising awareness and shaping the future direction
🎨 Feeding requirements through to upcoming cabin photoshoots
I shared insights with the Media Assets team who oversee the media library and licensing of imagery. I informed the team that the imagery we currently have for cabins is not sufficient nor fulfilling users’ needs when choosing a cabin.
As a result of this knowledge sharing, I have been able to feed requirements through to the upcoming cabin photoshoots to ensure there are images we can use within the booking journey.
💡 Improvements to the travel class propositions need improving
With each test and research discovery activity that has been conducted thus far, there is a consistent theme around the travel class propositions not appearing very compelling. These insights are continuously fed through to wider commercial teams to help shape and define future strategies. An example is with the Brand team who are currently reshaping the cabin propositions, to create a more enticing product for customers.
This insight further validates and strengthens the need to hone in on improving the travel class representation within the booking journey.
Next steps
Defining experimentation scope
Data-driven and user centric experimentation
How we utilised insights to drive a design concept for experimentation.
✈️ Long haul, BA routes only
User testing results imply that imagery would be most effective in driving upsell for long haul routes. This is because the images represent the cabins in an enticing way and helped users in the test to decide on a cabin.
For short haul, the images did not appear to make any impact on upsell or cabin decision making behaviour. We have advised that once we receive updated imagery, we will experiment on short haul routes.
Therefore, our experiment will focus on long haul, BA routes only.
Another complexity we had with this proposed concept - and is why we focused on Long Haul - is due to a digital transformation project which now acquires all short haul traffic.
Hypothesis to test
We believe that by adding images of BA cabins into the flight cards, we will see an increase in upsell to premium cabins. This is because customers will be able to more easily visualise their on-board experience and feel inspired to fly premium.
Proposed design concept for an A/B experiment with images of the cabin added onto the expanded flight card.
Experimentation methodology
🧪
Methodology
A/B test with control and variant (of the purple highlighted fare)
✈️
Logic
Across all long haul BA return journeys
50% of traffic shown control, 50% shown variant
✨
Success metrics
% increase in upsell
% increase in AOV
Conversion remains stable
Experiment outcome
By adding imagery of the different cabins onto an expanded flight card, we see an increase in upsell.
💰⬆️ 3.42% increase in upsell
Across mobile and desktop we saw an increase in upsell of 3.42% which equates to around £450k in additional revenue per month.
💰⬆️ 8% increase in mobile bookings
This particular finding was quite a pleasant surprise. We saw a 8% increase in bookings across mobile. It has been assumed that when using a mobile device, imagery of the cabins helps to improve decision making and encourages users to commit to booking on their mobile as they feel inspired and motivated to book. Traditionally we see people search on a mobile and then purchase on desktop.
Learnings & next steps
Experiment learnings
💰 Customers are inspired to fly premium when they’re able to visually see what the cabins look like
💺 Customers want to see more of the cabin setup, and what the difference of seat comfort and quality looks like across cabins
📱Mobile users are more likely to book a cabin when imagery is presented on the expanded flight card
💬 Since productionising, we have received positive feedback from customers that it is nice and helpful to see imagery of the cabins
Next steps
👷 Due to the success, we productionised this experiment
🤝 From our learnings, we have inspired other teams to run a similar experiment in their flows where it concerns upgrading. They were able to use the same imagery and saw equally positive results.
📸 I have been able to feed requirements through to the media assets team who will be taking new pictures of the cabins. With the insights I gained, I have been able to influence the vision for an upcoming cabin photoshoot
Experimentation
Exploration into opportunity #3
Experiment 3
Improving the representation of premium travel classes
TBC from experimentation results
Improving the representation of premium travel classes
Overview of the problem and opportunity
Problem
🤔 Users struggle to see the value in flying premium when comparing and customising cabins on the flight list
Many users feel that the current cabin representation does not clearly communicate the value in upgrading to a premium cabin. This serves as a detractor to upgrading.
Product Initiative
✨ Enhance the representation of premium travel classes on the flight list
When exploring this opportunity space as a team, we felt that improving the representation of premium travel classes could generate the highest impact for customers, and the business. This is because the current representation is incredibly outdated, and insights suggest we are not showcasing all the benefits to each travel class.
Problem identification
How did we learn of this problem?
Continuous discovery
Benchmark testing
As referenced earlier on in this case study, I decided to conduct a benchmark test using the live site. The aim of this test was to better understand attitudes towards upgrading and decision making when booking a flight.
It was during this test we discovered that most users feel the current representation of the cabin cards is not considered appealing nor communicating the value in flying premium.
We believe this particular problem could be hindering our ability to inspire customers to fly premium as the value is not very clear.
Opportunity exploration
Identifying opportunities to bring more value to our customer and business
HMW improve value comprehension of BA’s premium travel classes?
Opportunity identification
Needing to know more about the value to flying premium, and feeling inspired to fly premium when booking choosing a cabin is a consistent theme which has come through from our continuous discovery.
With an identified problem, validated by many insights, I decided to move into ideation with a cross-functional team. The workshop team included brand, content, marketing, product, engineering, legal and customer experience.
The following opportunities were prioritised according to impact for the business and evidence supporting the opportunity.
Key initiatives to test
The following opportunities were prioritised according to perceived impact for the business & customer, and risk to the business if we did not test
✨
Improve comprehension of the premium travel classes by ensuring all benefits are listed and portrayed in an enticing way
✨
Enhance the ease of comparison between travel classes, so it’s easier to identify the benefits to flying in a premium cabin
Understanding what’s useful to know when looking to upgrade
Attributes ranking exercise
Our ideation workshop outcomes highlighted the opportunity to ensure valued benefits are showcased on the flight list.
To understand what is considered most important for customers to know, I ran an attributes ranking exercise with users. The findings from this test helped to drive an outcome to be put through experimentation. We wanted to make sure that the most valued attributes are displayed on the travel classes, to help aid the compare and customise experience of travel classes.
Test overview
Attributes ranking exercise
🎯 Objective
To identify which cabin attributes are considered the most valuable to users, and why
💪🏻 Impact
We are looking to measure the impact on understandability and desirability
💬 Research questions
What would a user expect from a premium travel experience?
What attributes are most important for people to see when reviewing premium travel classes across short haul and long haul?
What attributes would help to portray the value in flying premium?
Overview of findings
✈️ Most users’ understanding and expectations of premium travel classes aligns with BA’s product offering
Users’ understanding of each travel class aligns with the proposition of BA’s travel classes. Users can understand what might be different between each travel class.
Most users’ expectations align with what is offered for premium cabins. It was suggested that they would expect the seat comfort and meal quality to be greater in higher travel classes, and that there would be more pre-flight benefits available.
🔍 Additional insights
It was mentioned by some users that it would be useful to see what entertainment options are available onboard, particularly for those who are nervous flyers.
Some users would like to see the menu options for food and drink, so they could compare the differences across each travel class. A few users suggested some more blue sky ideas with unique experiences such as a cockpit tour if flying in a premium travel class.
Most users would expect Wi-Fi for free, particularly within the premium travel classes.
For premium flyers, it would be useful to have awareness of tier points earnings.
Ideation
Generating concepts to test
Wireframing
Exploring potential solutions
Having identified two opportunities to explore, I started to generate some concepts to put through user testing.
The understanding of what is considered most important to users also helped to set the direction for the benefits we should emphasise in the designs.
Design challenge
There were two main design challenges to tackle:
1️⃣ How the benefits are represented, to draw attention to what is unique about each premium travel class
For how the benefits are communicated, I worked very closely in collaboration with Brand and Content. Brand oversees the benefits to each travel class and Content helped to phrase the benefits whilst ensuring it aligns with BA’s tone of voice.
2️⃣ Ensure ease of comparison between cabins when adding extra benefits
To tackle the first challenge, I collaborated with a couple other designers working across different teams and looped in the design system designer.
We also reviewed competitor’s flight card pattern to understand typical conventions and identify areas of opportunity for BA.
Hypothesis to test
If we make it easier for customers to see the value in flying premium when comparing and customising on the flight list, we will see an increase in upsell. This is because customers will have greater visibility of the premium benefits and feel inspired to travel in a premium travel class.
User testing
Usability and desirability
Assessing desirability of potential solutions
Cabin summaries
Providing a short, concise overview which highlights the key benefits to each unique cabin
I identified 3 key concepts to test. Each concept aims to reflect the value in flying premium, whilst ensuring users can easily compare across cabins.
To explore our hypothesis on improving the travel class representation, I conducted a prototype comparison test to assess value and desirability across 3 different design concepts through usertesting. Each concept is driven by an idea from the cross-functional ideation workshop and encompasses the learnings from the attributes ranking exercise.
Exclusive benefits
Framing the benefits which are specific and unique to each cabin. Providing a more comprehensive overview of what is available within the premium travel classes
Quality differentiators
Elaborating on the differences to each benefit, to provide more context to the user
Multivariant user testing
Users were recruited via usertesting with the scenario to book a return, long haul flight using a prototype. We honed in on long haul as this particular route type has more traffic, and a greater ROI when experimenting. 70% of our customers use a desktop device to book a flight, hence the first test focused on desktop.
30 users were recruited for this test, with 3 groups of 10 testing a different variation.
Once the users had booked their return flights with the prototype, they were then asked a series of questions where they had to rank their experience on a rating scale within several different categories. The categories included attitudes towards travel classes, ease of comparison, comprehension of value prop, expectations and likelihood of upsell.
What did we learn?
It was identified that two specific concepts performed the “best”, with the highest overall ratings within each category.
During this exploration we had not yet released the cabin image experiment so we received further validation and suggestions to add an image to help compliment the cabin benefits. We also learnt that the side-by-side comparison pattern is most effective, and that seeing all the content across each travel class across the same horizontal line is most optimal for comparing the benefits.
A/B user testing
To further understand which variation would be most effective with inspiring customers to upsell, I conducted an A/B test in usertesting. 20 participants took part in a comparison test and were asked to choose the variant which they feel was the most helpful for them when making a decision.
Why did users prefer Concept B?
13/20 users felt this concept best informed their decision making when choosing a cabin.
They felt the highlighted section made it easy to understand the value and compare between options. The added information helped customers to see what extra value they would be gaining when paying to upgrade.
Final test
Mobile usability test
Whilst the vast majority of customers use a desktop device to book a flight, it was equally as important to ensure the exclusive benefits design concept on a mobile device.
Following a similar testing process, we asked 10 participants to book a flight using their mobile device. After completing this task, participants were then asked several questions using a rating scale so we could assess impact across different categories.
Mobile usability findings
✨ Exclusive benefits are beneficial
Seeing the exclusive benefits and imagery helped support decision making for most users. The exclusive benefits information was considered very informative and helped to showcase the benefits well.
Most users felt there was clear comprehension of the travel class value proposition
🤔 Challenges with small devices
For users using a small device (370px or less), we identified a usability issue with comparison of travel classes as the users did not realise they could scroll across to compare more cabins. This is because there is no visual cue of there being more cabins to compare
📊 Conversion not impacted
One of the concerns outlined by the team was whether the extension of the cabin card would affect flight card to selection rate. During this test we did not observe any issues with this conversion.
Experimentation
Confidence to A/B test
Experimentation
As a result of a positive design sprint; being able to define the opportunity and identify a key initiative to test, we felt confident as a team to proceed into experimentation on the live site. When experimenting with the flight cards we have to proceed with caution. This is because, in the past, we have seen detrimental impact to KPIs from a lack of exploration and user testing before experimenting on the live site.
🪄 Method
A/B test
✈️ Logic
BA Long haul, direct flights only
✨ Success metrics
Primary metric
% increase in upsell
Secondary metrics
Flight card click > selection rate
% increase in conversion
Experiment outcome
We are now awaiting the results from this experiment. If a success, we will look to productionise. We also intend on exploring a second iteration with the brand team who have recently conducted a strategy overhaul of the long haul cabins.
Next steps
Defining the future vision of British Ariways
To close this case study overview, I wanted to showcase a piece of co-existence work which has been occurring alongside the continuous discovery and experimentation process.
The organisation have been undergoing a digital transformation during this time and as a result, I have been working in collaboration with the entire product design and design system team to define what the future vision could look like for BA. This transformation is allowing us the opportunity to elevate the UI, bringing it closer to the brand experience and redefine processes.