Etihad Airways

Next Generation App Design
JUN — DEC 2018

Etihad has several Apps and websites serving its customers from booking flight tickets to loyalty program benefits. They had identified a need to create one holistic system to manage the visual identity of Etihad across multiple channels started from creating the next generation Etihad App. Our team was honored to be a partner for Etihad on this project.

MY ROLE
Designer and workshop facilitator – discovery, user research, design, testing, providing unobtrusive and objective guidance to a group

Our Approach

We believed that the success of this project lies in involving the right people, educating the organization and focusing on structuring the foundation on which Etihad Airways will be able to build on and evolve through time.


We propose to divide the project into five phases:
1. Discovery & Audit
2. Stakeholders Alignment
3. Design Principle Workshop
4. Prototype
5. Handover


Discovery & Audit

We did researches on Etihad’s:
Situation at the time
  • Platforms, Channels, Touchpoints
  • Different platform characteristics
  • Screen sizes
  • Heuristic Analysis
  • Usability Assessment
  • Visual Design Audit
  • Content & Copy

User researches
  • Identified Potential Users
  • Mapped Internal Stakeholders
  • Engaged 3rd Party Companies
  • Identified Pain Points/Gaps/Opportunities to Improve

Hardware Limitations
  • Identified touchpoint's limitations
  • Planned for Graceful degradation
  • Web, Apps, IFE, Self Service Kiosks


Stakeholders Alignment

We began with meeting with stakeholders from different disciplines, product design, project management, marketing, and customer service. It was to show our findings and gather more information on everyone's expectations. We explained what is a design system, how to develop it and implement it, which could remove stakeholders' fear of the unknown and helped realize how the Design system could be beneficial to them. Above all, we aligned the desire workshop outcome–set the direction of the next-generation Etihad app.


Design Principle Workshop


A systematic approach to problem solving, idea validation and in-house innovation.

This workshop took place in Etihad’s flight model studio, where the crew train in a 1-to-1 flight cabin set model. The purpose of selecting this location was to take people out of their office so that they could be physically and mentally free from day to day duty. Hopefully, leading to a fruitful and enjoyable workshop that brought collaboration and a shared vision.


Facilitated Innovation

Grounding the vision in reality and emphasizing tangible next steps.

                        
Align on Business Drivers
Made sure investments in customer experience generate as much business value as possible.

Explore Ideas & Define Core Concepts
Maximized the opportunity of building on a new technological foundation by combining rudimentary functionalities with new forward-thinking ideas.
Prototype Selected Future Journey
Explored initial UX choices and look-and-feel for context-aware travelers’ companion.


This workshop was a great success. It brought people working together rather than working silo. Through the activities, people learned the needs and concerns of other teams. Most importantly, this workshop taught the Etihad team the knowledge that helped them align the product value and vision in the future.

The Vision

Creating future Etihad Airways mobile services.

Re-platforming
Allowing re-imagining, from rudimentary functionalities to forward-thinking new concepts. Make efficient use of the new technological foundation

Possible synergies
Flows of this endeavor, and flows delivered for etihad.com, will be used across the ecosystem where applicable.

Secure ownership by Etihad
Assume complete control over the platform, to reduce costs and increase the flexibility of delivery. 

Find new value drivers
Take a step back and rethink mobile features from a customer-first perspective.

Current Digital Behavior

Creating future Etihad Airways mobile services

Project Key Drivers

Customer Experience
Improving the traveler’s journey with a context-aware user interface.
  • Understanding guests holistically, in context, and providing them with the right choices at the right times.
  • Turning negatives into positives by helping guests when something goes wrong.
  • Differentiating through realizing the unique opportunities of Midfield Airport.


Self-Service
Giving guests control, convenience, and transparency.
  • Providing passengers with easy to use tools to solve problems independently.
  • Optimizing call centers, check-in desks, and overall ground staff operations accordingly.


Incremental Revenue
Selling the right thing at the right time, for the right price.
  • Create opportunities to improve the travel experience by promoting the right offer at the right time. 
  • Remove all obstacles for a seamless buying and paying experience.

Core Concept of Future Mobile Services

A proactive travel companion, from post-booking and throughout the journey.


Rationale
  • Focus on post-booking flow–Increase customer satisfaction and created better ancillary sales opportunities.
  • Onboard guests who have booked elsewhere–Establish a direct channel and customer experience controls by Etihad. 
  • Create the means for a greater frequency of engagements–Nurture a meaningful dialogue with guests, from post-booking to flying.
  • Augment the physical journey–Be a guest’s travel companion, to provide convenience and peace of mind.
  • Feeling in control–Provide transparency and reliable information throughout the journey that removes the worry and creates trust. The right tools for self-service provide control and confidence.
  • Turn negatives into positives–Provide solutions when unexpected problems happen during travel.

150 Hours of Prototyping

We started with explore possible solutions to integrate some of the important features from Etihad Guest, Etihad Guest Walletplus and Etihad Reward Card app, into the next-gen Etihad Airways app. We also incorporated the new services ideas from the workshop to design the concept of a context-aware travel companion and key screens.

Concepts Explored
  • Getting ready for the flight
  • Flight preparations
  • IFE embedded in the travel companion
  • Midfield Airport experience embedded
  • My trips
  • My account



User-tested end-to-end journey
Etihad invited three types of customers who match its target audience profiles, a couple traveler, a business traveler, and a resident traveler to test the new services brought by “Travel companion” in disrupted scenarios.

Use cases
The passenger has a tight connection, which creates anxiety. As a result of the tight connection, the passenger’s luggage is left behind.

  • How might we make sure they make the connection?
  • How might we make the experience of retrieving lost luggage smooth?
  • How might we help passengers recover from a negative experience?

Turning a frown upside down :)
The prototype explores new solutions in receiving timely information, navigating the airport, reporting lost luggage, receiving complimentary beverages, and being compensated with extra miles.

Revise and Iterate
Our team refined concepts, validated choices and extracted insights and reactions from users to guide further improvement. After exploring initial UX choices, and look-and-feel we create the clickable context-aware Travel Companion prototype.

Outcome

Context-aware: The right screen and data at the right time
Provide a seamless travel companion experience. Drive self-service and guest engagement the service adapts to the guest’s current situation in the journey. Direct interactions and relevant choices are presented, according to time and location.
  • Essentials: Flight information, check-in, boarding pass
  • Ancillary sales: Seat and meal upgrades, Wifi purchases, in-flight tax-free sales, IFE playlist maker
Midfield Airport Experience
Create differentiation and ease the passenger’s journey by utilizing the capabilities and services of the new terminal.

  • Wayfinding for fast connections and locating services
  • Informing about queue times in security and immigration
  • Promoting services throughout the terminal, with digital discounts
  • Loyalty program, frequent flyer miles and promotions
My Trip
Relevant travel information.

  • Travel documents in digital format
  • Payment methods

Next Step

To start builing...

Ge Into Alignment
Agree on approache and business cases to build.

Onboard Resources
Build in-house teams to work as per Scaled Agile.

Build Detailed Roadmap
Consolidate workshop output into tangible product backlog.

Kickstart and Accelerate   
Align teams as Agile Release Train and facilitate optimal ways of working.
eospanpan@gmail.com