June-August 2023
Jira, Miro, Figma, FigJam, Photoshop
Visit London, the official visitor guide to London, serves millions of users worldwide through its website, mobile app, email, and social media channels. The platform had not kept pace with evolving user needs and market trends since its last major update nine years ago. Recognising the need for transformation, our team embarked on a journey to revamp Visit London into an e-commerce-first website for today’s users.
The September launch of the redesigned Visit London platform marked a significant milestone. The conversion rate of the website increased by 21%, leading to a 97% reduction in the time it takes for a customer to make a purchasing decision. Consequently, revenue from mobile devices surged by an impressive 83%, boosting total revenue by 30%. The user journey was optimised to enhance user experience and overall usability, resulting in a substantial 7% increase in average order value. Additionally, the design system ensured consistency and efficiency across the platform, facilitating streamlined development and maintenance.
Visit London is the official visitor guide to the city, offering information and inspiration to millions of domestic and international users. The platform provides convenient ticket booking services and engages with users across its website, mobile app, newsletters, and social media channels.
The Visit London Growth team is responsible for driving income and profit from e-commerce ticket sales, sponsorship and advertising. The profit is reinvested in supporting London & Partners’ mission of creating economic growth for London, with a focus on resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity.Visit London represents the highest-value revenue stream for London & Partners (£1.1m), with approximately 90% of London & Partners’ income currently generated from ticket sales on Visit London.
Visit London’s main objective with this project is to increase its performance by redirecting more of its users towards ticket purchasing and booking platforms. This will not only increase traffic to Visit London, but also increase conversion rates for those who visit Tickets.London.
Business expectations anticipate Visit London returning to profitability in 2024-2025, amounting to £0.7m, and becoming increasingly profitable in subsequent years, delivering £1.1m.
Using a prioritisation matrix, the relative importance of an idea is determined based on two factors: user and business impact, and business effort.
As a result of our ideation session, we concluded that positioning Visit London as the official guide for London travel, emphasising trust and expertise, will boost user confidence in purchasing tickets through our platform. We would effectively communicate our credibility by prominently featuring Visit London's unique selling points on the homepage. These include being London's Official Visitor Guide, inspiring 26 million visitors annually, promoting the best of London since 2011, and offering easy booking through trusted partners.
To optimise clarity and user experience, it's essential to streamline and reduce the number of options and categories on the Visit London website. For example, positioning high-traffic categories on the homepage: such as "Best Musicals," alongside other popular options like "Things to Do," "What's On," "Tickets and Offers," and "Most Popular Now" within a dedicated "Must Sees" section, and replicating this organization on the category page. This will ensure users could quickly access relevant information without feeling overwhelmed by excessive choices. By consolidating these key categories into a "Must Sees" section, users can easily find the most popular and relevant information at a glance. This approach minimizes the need for extensive navigation and reduces the likelihood of users feeling confused or lost on the site. Simplifying the homepage and category pages in this way enhances the overall user experience, potentially increasing user engagement and conversion rates.
In order to reduce cognitive load and improve user experience, content should be made easily accessible through a prominent display, which will allow users to explore related items within a category. Following Hick's Law, which states that complexity and options increase decision time, clarity would be prioritised over a plethora of choices. For example, organising subcategory pages within broader categories, such as "Theater," enables users to easily access drill-down subcategory pages like "Comedy," "Kids Shows," "Open-Air Theater," "Improvisation," and more. This organised structure facilitates user navigation, leading to quicker decision-making and improved user satisfaction.
Highlighting high-value products strategically can significantly boost user conversion rates. For example, showcasing exclusive guided tours of iconic landmarks such as the Tower of London or Buckingham Palace, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, or The London Eye prominently on the homepage and category pages can capture users' attention and encourage them to make a purchase. Additionally, offering limited-time discounts further enhances their popularity and conversion potential.
If comprehensive product information is provided above the fold, including reviews, ratings, price, cancellation policy, location, duration, age restrictions, directions, nearest tube station, map, and accessibility information, it becomes easier for users to make informed decisions about the main products. For example, when searching for a guided tour of the British Museum, users could immediately access essential details like customer reviews, tour price, cancellation policy, location, duration, age restrictions, accessibility info, and directions. They can also quickly find the nearest tube station and view a map of the tour's starting point. This clear presentation helps users assess the product quickly and confidently, enhancing their browsing experience and improving conversion rates.
When I created the user journey, I focused on providing a seamless and intuitive experience that takes into account the user’s motivations and preferences. Also, I optimised the user journey to ensure users were guided to the Tickets.London website and completed their purchase.
I also focused on improving user trust and loyalty by providing them with the right information and a user interface that is both attractive and easy to use.
Nielsen Norman Group
Based on the wireframes, I created a clickable prototype for user testing. This test was done by 10 people.
After synthesising the data from the interviews, we were able to take out some key insights.
I opted for a tab-based interface in Prototype B to address the challenges users encountered in Prototype A. In Prototype A, users found it difficult to navigate and locate essential information such as ticket options, pricing, and venue location due to the need for continuous scrolling.
Tabs offer a clear and organized way to present different categories or sections of content, allowing users to easily switch between them without feeling overwhelmed or lost.
The prototype B was chosen due to its ease of finding relevant information, shorter scrolling time, and clearer navigation.
I used an atomic design approach, breaking down the user interface into fundamental building blocks. Leveraging the UI Components Library enabled us to quickly assemble high-fidelity designs.
The data shows that people make purchasing decisions 97% faster compared to previous metrics.
There’s been a notable 21% increase in the number of people who make purchases on the website.
Revenue has increased by 30%, with a remarkable 83% spike in revenue specifically from mobile device users.
The average order value has risen by 7%, indicating that customers are spending more per transaction.
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