Cancelation Without Penalty In Domestic Flight
Users had concerns about domestic flight ticket cancellations due to high fees, often 35% or more. To address this, we introduced a free cancellation feature last year, resulting in positive feedback and significantly higher sales.
Alibaba Travel
UX Designer
Research & Analysis
Wireframing and Ideation
A/B testing
Results
Figma
Challenge
The issue of high fee for flight ticket refunds gained attention during the review of a one-year report on NPS open questions. The report consistently highlighted growing user concerns about excessive ticket refund penalties and requests for reductions, including free refunds. However, due to significant financial constraints, providing entirely free refunds was not feasible. Nonetheless, we initiated the exploration of alternative solutions to address these concerns.
Results
Our solution to the problem was introducing a penalty-free cancellation feature. Following implementation, our post-investigations revealed that roughly 23% of users opted for this feature in their purchases. Despite a minor 3% drop in the conversion rate, we experienced a remarkable 20% increase in revenue. Importantly, there was a noticeable reduction in requests to lower refund limits during the six months following the feature's launch. Furthermore, users expressed their gratitude for this addition in the promoters' section of the NPS questionnaire.
20.5%
Revenue growth
3%
ConversionDrop
23%
Feature purchase
Process
Research & Analysis
As part of our user experience research efforts, we regularly collected and analyzed user feedback from the open-ended questions in the NPS (Net Promoter Score) questionnaire. Each month, we diligently reviewed user responses, categorized them into three groups—promoters, passives, and detractors—and identified recurring themes and processes. This approach allowed us to proactively address user concerns and gain valuable insights from their feedback, guiding us in prioritizing actions that catered to user needs.
"Among the most frequently recurring themes in user comments in NPS, the issue of ticket cancellations and the associated high penalties stood out prominently"
Ticket Cancellation Rate
Ideation
Users were subjected to a 35% penalty for ticket cancellations. In discussions with the product manager and other stakeholders, we collectively decided to introduce a cancellation feature as a pilot program. This allowed users to purchase flight insurance beyond the ticket cost by paying a percentage of the ticket price when booking their flights.
A/B Testing
Hypothesis:
Users will pay more to reduce probable losses
The cancelation behavior will not change dramatically when selling the cancellation feature
Results
Features like this do not change user behavior
Users will pay more to reduce risks
Next steps
Run a test to find the optimum price
Run a test to find the optimum presentation
Results
The introduction of penalty-free flight ticket cancellations resulted in a remarkable revenue increase of over 20%, a highly significant achievement.
“ This experience underscored the value of thinking creatively and innovatively to address user concerns, demonstrating that solutions benefiting both the company and users can be found by exploring unconventional approaches. ”