Creative Direction, UX Architect and Designer, Agency Owner
United Airlines and Ted Billups had a long-standing relationship after building numerous successful products and services together. A new product was envisioned and Billups was selected as the design and implementation partner.
United Air Lines discovered a marketing insight that showed upscale consumers looking for a more convenient method to get their bags from point A to B. An internal market and product strategy was born, and with it a call to Billups Design to help realize this vision alongside United’s shipping partner FedEx. The goal of the project was to make the service as easy to use for travelers booking their bags with Door to Door Baggage. The product was to be architected, designed, usability tested, built and launched in 3 months. Did we make the deadline? Read more to find out.
The project began with further researching the behavior of travelers when they check bags and larger items and when they ship packages with FedEx. We found that some consumers were willing to purchase and ship their bags during post-checkout if the system was easy to use and reasonably priced. Further white board sessions dug deep into United’s ecommerce and loyalty systems, and FedEx’s freshly updated Shipping and ecommerce API to ensure seamless integration.
The Door-to-Door Baggage product was designed carefully designed to allow users to bookWe worked closely with United and FedEx on-site to architect and design the web app for multiple personas, ranging from first-timers to advanced 1K travelers. Door to Door Baggage was reviewed weekly by the United Air Lines User Experience Board (UEB), usability tested in stages prior to full development, and refined through a careful process of managing multiple decision-makers.
The product was launched within the 3 month deadline and finished under budget. Signed-in travelers who went beyond the product pricing page had a high purchase conversion rate. Site analytics, further user testing and customer service reporting showed low bounce rates and positive customer experience when planning, purchasing and checking status of their baggage shipments. The only big hurdle that remained was the pricing model, and that’s in another chapter of Door-to-Door Baggage!
