Design for Delightful Customer Experience

Yatra.com is one of the biggest travel related services provider in India. We conducted an in-depth design research of their retail outlets called, Yatra Holiday Lounge, to explore possibilities to improve customer experience through design.

Yatra has taken the service of travel planning and booking one step further form it’s competitors and come up with unique Holiday Lounges. At present there are 11 Yatra Holiday Lounges in the major cities in India.( http://www.yatra.com/yatra-lounges.html).

Aim
No Formulae carried out an in-depth design research for Yatra Holiday Lounge which was aimed to  bring out a lucid picture of the service model, the customers experience and expectation from the Lounge and the outlook and experiences of the service providers in the Lounge (i.e. the Yatra team).

Methodology
To get a clear view from all the perspectives in the picture, No Formulae employed a mix of quantitative and unconventional qualitative methods of research. The research was directed both at the Yatra Holiday Lounge customers and the Yatra Holiday Lounge employees.

Customer Research
Along with taking a first hand experience of the service, in which the No Formulae team members impersonated actual customers to get a true picture, No Formulae devised a unique mix of tools. The team developed questionnaires to probe the customers, along with in-depth interviews.

A list of parameters was developed which relate to the lounge experience. Maximum Difference Scaling technique was used to find out the relative relevance of these parameters as judged by the customers.


Visual Ethnography was employed to observe the customer and the minute details of his interaction with the various touch points of the Yatra Holiday Lounge. This was conducted in a non-intrusive manner which ensured that the customer behaved in a natural way. In-depth interviews were also conducted to get a better insight into the customer’s mind and his experience with the lounge.
Metaphor Elicitation technique to bring out the subconscious thoughts and feelings of the customer about Yatra.

Yatra Team Research
The most crucial part of the Yatra Holiday Lounge Service are the people involved in delivering the service. Understanding them was absolutely important in getting a true picture of the service model. No Formulae interviewed all the employees at the Yatra Holiday Lounge. They were asked to share their understanding of Yatra and the customer.Metaphor Elicitation was used to bring out their experience with Yatra and their definition of the Yatra Holiday Lounge service model.


Analysis of the current Service Model

Mapping the customer Journey
All the steps involved in a customer's journey with the Yatra Holiday Lounge were closely observed and noted down.This helped us isolating the opportunity areas.


Analyzing the touch-points.
Every step of the customer's journey had some interaction happening, These touch-points and the points of service delivery and communicate the Brand of the Company.

Findings

For the benefit of our clients the details of findings from the research have been kept confidential. What emerged from the research was a clear picture of the present service model with the gaps and opportunity areas.