eDreams ODIGEO is a Spanish online travel company that was formed in 2011 with the merger of online travel agencies eDreams and GO Voyages, and the acquisition of Opodo and Travellink. It is the largest online travel group in Europe and the largest online distributor of flights in the world, occupying a leading position in the competitive and rapidly evolving online travel industry.
The client’s situation
Although the company has a large internal team of UX Researchers and UX Designers, their focus was on product development and evaluative research. This left little time available for generative research to identify opportunities to innovate and to look more holistically at the experience. Working in an agile environment they also struggled to respond quickly enough to product and development team needs.
Creating a solution to meet their needs
We took a two-pronged approach to meet eDreams needs, this involved conducting generative research to holistically understand the travel experience and creating a customer panel to provide instant feedback.
We designed, administered, and monitored a longitudinal study, capturing the thoughts, actions and feelings of a set of travellers as they moved through the travel process. Implemented online and supported by supplementary interviewing, the extended study ran for four months to ensure that we captured all of the stages of the process. This was followed by a detailed expert analysis of the information captured in the diaries and production of a comprehensive report.
The panel was established to gain instant online feedback from a wide range of customers. This is now used for a wide range of purposes, from quick interviews and focus groups through to card sorting and gathering creative feedback.
The benefits of our approach
We uncovered key motivations and influences around end-to-end customer behaviour in the travel space, including such factors as budgeting, destination research, decision-making, brand loyalty, and emotional drivers.
Key insights into traveller behaviour patterns were revealed that challenged many of the assumptions underpinning Odigeo’s current business model. These insights drove strategic decision-making and informed product teams about which areas, features and improvements to focus resources and budgets on.
We worked closely with the internal team to develop the panel and ensure that it met their needs. This involved selecting the most appropriate platform to meet their requirements, creating the environment and engaging panel members. We then worked closely with the team using the most appropriate techniques and methodology to deliver repeatable successes for multiple projects. The panel continues to generate quick insights to the product teams, installing a stream of continuous innovation that is faster, and with lower risk.
Taking immediate action to drive innovation
We designed a plan that worked effectively with the organisation’s capabilities and resource availability. Working alongside the internal team helped us to ensure that we were driving real change and meeting the needs for a holistic view of the traveller in addition to the ability to gain instant customer feedback. Gone are the days of taking 2-4 weeks to turnaround insights, these could now be gathered instantly and fed directly
Working closely with the eDreams ODIGEO team enabled us to deliver solutions that provide real customer value and exceed their business objectives.
The results of our approach
Generative research has stopped eDreams ODIGEO from wasting time and money by ensuring developments have real customer benefit. This has helped to mitigate risk by ensuring that new innovations help to develop their customer relationships and generate revenue. The panel has grown significantly and is being used by teams across the business to support a rapid UX process to generate insights, opportunities and test concepts through a repeatable, reliable and controlled method.
The generative insights that The UX Agency have provided have been invaluable to the organisation, helping us to focus on what really matters.
How eDreams ODIGEO have changed after working with The UX Agency
We continue to work closely with eDreams ODIGEO as an extension to their internal team, this enables the team to gather generative insights to drive the product roadmap and also support the management of the online panel. We also work as a sounding board for their internal to get a fresh perspective on projects and ideas.
