Increasing the use and engagement of London's tourism website
London's
Less Visited
Tourism websites have evolved into a story-telling experience enabling users to gain a greater understanding of their cities, engage more with the sites and spend longer browsing them.
These tourism sites now have improved content focusing on their unique dispositions such as the character and culture of their cities, connecting with people who have an interest in what these cities are offering.
At the time of writing, London’s official tourism site doesn’t deviate from its typical attractions, despite the city having so much more to offer.
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My project was to design an experience that links from London’s official tourism site, with the aim of enabling users to gain a broader and richer understanding of London's architecture.
Project Type
Website
Project
Concept
Role
UX, UI
CHAPTER 1
Research and User Experience
Research goals - Understanding users’ behaviours on official tourism sites
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Define why people go on official tourism sites.
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Understand why people leave the site for an alternative.
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Find out what people like and dislike about the site.
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Competition
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Nashville’s tourism website has a page dedicated to its legendary music scene.
New York’s tourism website delves into its unique boroughs.
Los Angeles has an interactive map to get to know the sprawling city.
Finland has an event named Tour De Relax, which prompts the reader to explore the country and its culture in a relaxed manner.
Oregon has fun 20 second videos to promote its natural areas of beauty.
Learning from success stories
Visit California - strategy on converting strangers to website visitors
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“To find and attract potential travellers, we used static images, video units in link ads, and page like ads directed at people who like the activities California is famous for, such as entertainment and outdoors”.
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- Media strategy used by hyfn (advertising agency)
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In October 2013, visitcalifornia.com had 150,000 views for the month. In May 2016, the site had 1.5 million views.
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- SimilarWeb.com
Primary research – Interviews
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I surveyed 25 people aged between 25 – 65, all of whom travelled abroad at least once a year, to find out their behaviours and thoughts on tourism websites, using both face-to-face interviews and an online questionnaire.
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An overview of some key points and quotes from the interviewees are:
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Tourism websites are used as an official source to gain information about travel, tipping, culture, crime, maps etc.
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"Tourism sites have a reputation of not feeling fun or engaging. I like modern looking tourism sites or ones that get me excited about going, for example with visually pleasing images".
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"I won't stay on a site if the content is very typically touristy, I want things off the beaten track or more unusual. I like visiting local areas, many of which don't seem to be promoted or shown on official sites".​
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Users don’t want too much detail about an attraction, but just enough to entice them to visit and learn more once there.
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Most users are interested in unique areas of the city which aren’t replicated in other places, such as architecture and history. People try and seek this with particular tours if they don't have friends in that city.​
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"I enjoy seeing other people’s images rather than official ones".
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90% of the people surveyed would visit little-known attractions, provided that they have some information from reputable sources that would entice them to go
User needs​
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Compiling interview responses allowed me to discover trends and patterns, which would help guide me to understand the needs of the users.
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A majority of users would like to be presented with information about ‘raw and authentic’ locations rather than reading about well-known attractions.
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Most users enjoy browsing visually stimulating websites which are more engaging and less generic.
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Details of the attractions needs to be informative, but brief, in order for users to be enticed to visit.
User persona
Following this, I created Luis, a curious 20-something who is looking to visit London for the first time.
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CHAPTER 2
Product Vision, Wireframes and Usability Testing
Whilst viewing London’s tourism website, it seemed to me to be missing out on promoting London's fascinating architecture and ever-changing landscape. The only architectural-type areas it focused on were well-known attractions such as Buckingham Palace.
The site I aim to create will focus on the architecture around London, to promote visiting lesser-known areas which are rich in culture and history.
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Elements to feature from the user research and user needs:
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Iconic architecture around London.
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Bite-size information relating to the buildings.
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A map showing each building's location.
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A guided tour.
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Tour reviews.
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Instagram feed.
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A contemporary and visually engaging site.
Wireframes and usability testing
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I asked 6 people from those surveyed to test out the low-fi wireframes' usability from the selected style I decided to use.
All 6 of the users tested the low-fi prototype in person.
Due to the simplicity of my site I had them only find the brutalist section and book a tour.
Findings
100% of the users found navigating the site and booking the tour easy.
The ‘book now' tab was liked by most users who found it handy to book a tour instantly. The tab follows your moments without getting in the way.
Some users thought the tab was distracting and requested a button to close it.
A variety of layout approaches
CHAPTER 3
Design
After taking in comments from user-testing I designed the high-fidelity prototype you can see below. I used Sketch to design the site and Principle for the animations.
Homepage
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A scrolling-page with visually appealing images and smooth title animations to stop the page being too static.
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The colour scheme is linked to the red branding of London's Tourism page. The muted colour tone is more relaxing and less dominant - a positive response from users interviewed.
Book a tour
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An easy way to book a tour, the 'book now' tab follows you as you scroll up and down the page.
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This can be used to quickly see if the dates and times you want are available and how much your tour would cost.
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Don't want it on your page anymore? Just click its exit symbol and it will only be slightly visible in case you ever want it back.
What buildings and where?
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Choose from a range of architecture genres which are prominent in London and learn an overview of what makes them special to the city. Some of the buildings on the website may be lesser known than the typical tourist attractions but they have just as much character.
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There are Google maps built into the page which pin-point the location of every building featured.
Booking process
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This aims to be as straightforward as possible with an indicator showing how many steps are involved. The guidance given to the user is concise and clear to help them though the process.
CHAPTER 4
Next steps
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The site is very straightforward to use but not yet showing its full potential. Going forward, I would add more information from people who live in the areas promoted on the website in order to provide the user with more reasons to visit. This information could include the favourite venues of local people such as restaurants and parks.
Image credits go to Unsplash.com/Simone Hutsch