Why/How we interviewed him: Adam went on a bachelor party in Europe with 8 other guys. The wedding was also held in Europe directly after the bachelor party, so the trip was several weeks long.
What hypothesis we tested: Would the trip planning app be useful for other types of trips besides skiing? What we really wanted to learn: What would it take to get a circle of friends to adopt the app, and what features Adam would find useful. What we learned from this interview: Adam was most excited about the voting and payment commitment aspects, as he mentioned that differing expectations led to frustration on the trip (despite people having the opportunity to weigh in over email and not responding). He also mentioned there were a lot of issues with group members paying on time. What surprised us: He said that his group of guy friends would probably not be organized to input their flight information to populate the itinerary unless their airline accounts were linked. Other interesting outcomes: Adam expressed interest in curated recommendations and experiences for different locations and types of trips.
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Why/How we interviewed him: For years, Ara planned an annual ski trip with his family and another family.
What hypothesis we tested: Would customers other than young, childless groups of friends want to use this app? What we really wanted to learn: How likely he would download this, and if he normally searches on his phone for apps to help with trip planning. What we learned from this interview: Ara typically plans this trip by searching Craigslist or AirBnB for a cabin with enough capacity for both families, gets approval, and books under his name. The families settle up using checks at the end of the trip. He does see benefits in this app, but is unsure if he needs it or if both families would adopt it. What surprised us: He agreed it was useful and beneficial, but wasn't sure if he would use it. This is a common theme we've seen among older interviewees. Other interesting outcomes: He mentioned how frustrating it was to coordinate gear rentals for his kids when they were younger, and expressed interest in an app that makes that process easier. Why/How we interviewed her: Krissy has several friends who travel internationall for work, and often likes to meet up with them at the location for a short vacation together.
What hypothesis we tested: Would the features of the app be enticing enough to convince users to convert from their current system? What we really wanted to learn: Would semi-frequent traveler find a need for new planning platform? What we learned from this interview: When planning these types of trips, Krissy does not have much flexibility in terms of choosing dates, as it depends on her friend's work travel schedule. She mentioned the combined itinerary feature was a great value-add for people who are traveling separately and meeting up together. What surprised us: She was not very excited by the pre-populated trip checklist, as she felt it didn't really cater to regular types of travel. This goes against other interviews we've had. Other interesting outcomes: Because these trips are not always planned far in advance, Krissy likes to browse sites like Jetsetter, etc, for last-minute deals on hotels. She would not be interested in the AirBnB functionality. Why/How we interviewed her: Jamie has a young daughter and likes to go on short weekend trips with her friends who also have young kids.
What hypothesis we tested: Would customers other than young, childless groups of friends want to use this app? What we really wanted to learn: Logistics of planning a group trip with kids. What we learned from this interview: Jamie stressed that when trying to plan a trip with other families, kid-friendliness was of utmost importance. If there were a way to plan out logistics ahead of time, it would minimize the stress of leaving for a road-trip with a young child. What surprised us: While renting a house for a weekend away with kids, it's harder to run last-minute errands if you need more groceries, forgot the air mattress, etc, because of kid's nap and feeding schedules. Jamie was most excited about the collaborative tasks aspect of the app. Other interesting outcomes: She mentioned it might be hard to get some of her friends to adopt a new platform, but she'd be interested in using it herself for better organization. Why/How we interviewed her: Leah recently went on a group camping trip with her boyfriend and some of his friends, who she didn’t know very well
What hypothesis we tested: Would the trip planning app be useful for other types of trips besides skiing? What we really wanted to learn: What would it take to get a circle of friends to adopt the app, and what features Leah would find useful. What we learned from this interview: Leah was not the main planner of the trip, and she felt a bit disconnected from the decision-making process. While it was easy enough to Venmo the organizer money for her portion of shared expenses, she felt a more collaborative planning process would have helped her get to know the group a little better and made the trip an even better experience. What surprised us: She mentioned that the integrated chat option probably wouldn’t replace iMessage for her friends. Other interesting outcomes: Leah and her boyfriend don’t own any camping gear, so they had to borrow most of it from other friends. She mentioned that the more experience campers brought many things she would have never thought of. Why/How we interviewed her: Bita recently went on a trip to Bali with one other friend. Although planning a trip with only one other person can be easier than a large group, we wanted to understand what troubles arose when two busy professionals are planning a trip and don't live near each other.
What hypothesis we tested: Would the features of the app be enticing enough to convince users to convert from their current system? What we really wanted to learn: Would semi-frequent traveler find a need for new planning platform? What we learned from this interview: When planning her recent trip, it was tough to coordinate schedules to make decisions. There were also multiple platforms used: iMessage, email, TripAdvisor, Google spreadsheets, and Venmo. It was hard to keep track of everything before, during, and after the trip. What surprised us: Bita likes the planning part of the trip, and wouldn't necessarily want to relinquish that component via the "assign tasks" feature. Other interesting outcomes: Bita mentioned there were a few differences in expectations about how to spend time during the trip. Had there been an easier way to brainstorm itineraries, she thought they could have gotten to do more of what each person wanted. Why/How we interviewed her: Nora has a large group of friends from college that are now spread out across the country, and they try to plan annual reunion trips together.
What hypothesis we tested: Whether or not Nora would use the app for her planning, and if she thought her friends would be on board. What we really wanted to learn: What would it take to get a circle of friends to adopt the app, and what features Nora would find useful. What we learned from this interview: Nora saw lots of benefits to using the app. For her most recent trip to Portland, OR, everyone in the group was flying in from different locations at different times. For this reason, she especially liked having a central location to keep everyone up to date on the details of the trip and itinerary. She also liked the polling on available dates and voting on housing options. What surprised us: She mentioned she would probably not book a rental house/hotel directly through the app unless we could link it with her preexisting accounts for AirBnB. Other interesting outcomes: Nora recently went on a camping trip with her boyfriend and another couple, and mentioned that there was a lot of coordination about shared gear and groceries. This could be an interesting addition to our line-up of pre-populated trip templates. Why/How we interviewed her: Molly recently planned a bachelorette party for 10 people, some of whom she hadn't met or wasn't close friends with.
What hypothesis we tested: Would the trip planning app be useful for other types of trips besides skiing? What we really wanted to learn: Her thoughts, criticisms, and opinion of our platform What we learned from this interview: Molly seemed very excited about the prospect of the app. She said that when planning her sister's bachelorette party, she first contacted the group by email to have people commit, then researched and booked travel according to the headcount. Some girls dropped out last minute which required her to adjust the reservations and pricing for the rest of the girls, and some people did not pay her until after the weekend was over. What surprised us: She said she would probably not use the "delegate tasks" feature for a bachelorette party because she didn't know/fully trust the other people going to plan things on time. Other interesting outcomes: She suggested a platform where other bachelor/bachelorette party planners could share their itineraries by location for others to get inspiration from. Why/How we interviewed him: Derrick has a background in technical writing, so he examines software and writes up specifications based on the difficulty and ease of use for the software he looks at.
What hypothesis we tested: What he thought of the prototype as a professional. What we really wanted to learn: His thoughts, criticisms, and opinion of our platform What we learned from this interview: He thought that from a user experience stand point, it seemed simple enough and user intuitive, although he said there were too many screens required to set up the event and booking. He advised condensing the number of required screens. He also commented that other than the APIs required to look outside for lodging and lift tickets, most of it seemed easy enough to accomplish. What surprised us: In the end he said he probably wouldn't use the app, since he looks at prices at a diverse number of websites, so limiting the booking just to the app might not give him the best price. Other interesting outcomes: He suggested we add a field/checkbox that lets the group know if the user is bringing his/her own gear or not Why/How we interviewed him: Nick goes on ski trips a lot with his friends, so we wanted to get his input on whether or not this app would benefit him in his planning.
What hypothesis we tested: Whether or not Nick would use the app for his planning. What we really wanted to learn: How likely he would download this, and if he normally searches on his phone for apps to help with trip planning What we learned from this interview: Nick saw lots of benefits to using the app. He especially liked having a central location to keep everyone up to date on the details of the trip, and splitting payments so that it's less of a hassle. He didn't really comment on delegating tasks or the vote system, but liked the calendar and polling on available dates. What surprised us: He goes pretty often so we thought he would have had everything figured out already, but he was still excited about using it and saw clear benefits. Other interesting outcomes: He goes up weekly during the snowboard season, so he thinks it'd be nice to have a 'share' feature as well, so that he can share his plans with all his friends so that if any of them want to join him they can sign on through the app. Why/How we interviewed him: Larry goes on trips often with his immediate and extended family, and usually does the planning.
What hypothesis we tested: Whether or not Larry would use an app for his trip planning What we really wanted to learn: How likely he would download this, and if he normally searches on his phone for apps to help with trip planning What we learned from this interview: Larry does all his planning the old fashion way, using e-mail or facebook for communication and planning. He does see benefits in this app, but doesn't want to go through the hassle of learning about it to get there. Basically the added value he sees from the app does not outweigh the cost of going out of the way to download and learn the app. What surprised us: He agreed it was useful and beneficial, just not something that he would use. This is interesting because this outcome has been repeated, meaning that there is general appeal to the app, but not enough to adopt it. Other interesting outcomes: He thinks in a family setting, it would be good to use for parents to keep track of things, but kids or older family members would never use it, because it's easier to send all their questions to the planners in the family. Why/How we interviewed him: Kevin goes on many group trips with his friends, so we wanted his opinion on how he plans for trips and how useful an app like this would be.
What hypothesis we tested: Whether or not Kevin would use an app for his trip planning What we really wanted to learn: How likely he would download this, and if he normally searches on his phone for apps to help with trip planning What we learned from this interview: Kevin thought some functions on this would be useful, and if he already had the app and knew how to use it, he would probably use it for his trip planning. What surprised us: He would not go out of his own way to search for an app to help him with trip planning, so unless he had been specifically told to download it, or had it on his phone already, he wouldn't know about it. Other interesting outcomes: He liked the benefits of dividing payment and having a central location for all his trips and info, so he doesn't have to use google docs. Why/How we interviewed him: Drew rarely plans the trips, but goes on them often with friends and family. He would be on the user side to test and see if he'd be willing to download this app if someone else had asked him to for the sake of a trip.
What hypothesis we tested: We wanted to see if Drew was open to using an app to coordinate planning for group trips What we really wanted to learn: How likely users are to download the app if a core audience, the planner, directed them to use it. What we learned from this interview: Drew thought it would be a useful idea to have the app, so he doesn't have to go digging through e-mails for all the details on an upcoming trip. Having a central location for all his plans would be very beneficial for him. What surprised us: He did not seem enthusiastic at first until we got into more details about what it did. The hook is harder to pull off because when you talk about a "platform" or "app" they immediately zone out a bit until you get more into the details, or talk about the problems they have with their own planning. Other interesting outcomes: Drew confirmed he wouldn't use this app if it was just him and his girlfriend, it would mainly be for parties of 3 or more. Why/How we interviewed him: Johnson loves to travels. These trips often turn into group trips because his friends and family know he will do a lot of research and plan a great itinerary and keep track of all the expenses.
What hypothesis we tested: Johnson wouldn’t find anything interesting about our prototype that she didn’t already have a work around for. What we really wanted to learn: Would our prototype be interesting enough for Johnson to want to try it instead of her current method of planning. What we learned from this interview: Johnson loved our app, had pupil dilation and immediately started co-creating. He had a ton of ideas. Some highlights included having everyone deposit $200 into a shared Paypal account, where incidental purchases, such as shared meals from a street vendor, could have money withdrawn from as the trip progressed. He thought that price trends for accommodations would be helpful for people to decide on timing. Decisions, such as bookings are very price sensitive and he thought a time limit of 24 hours should be set for any voting mechanism. What surprised us: Johnson co-created even though he didn’t have much use for the app because he is very particular about what he wants to do on a trip and our application wouldn’t have enough detail. He wants to control all the planning, and his travel companions know his expectations. Other interesting outcomes: Johnson is creating his own travel app. He showed us his desktop application and his plan for a mobile version. His travel platform is aimed at deciding what is the optimal location for your hotel based on the attractions you want to see. It isn’t targeting the cost-conscious consumer, rather one who wants to maximize his time when visiting a new city. His application also has a checklist that reminds users if they should obtain a visa, the tipping etiquette, etc. Why/How we interviewed her: Rena does a couple of international trips with friends and family. She does all of the planning for her trips.
What hypothesis we tested: Rena wouldn’t find anything interesting about our prototype that she didn’t already have a work around for. What we really wanted to learn: Would our prototype be interesting enough for Rena to want to try it instead of her current method of planning. What we learned from this interview: Rena didn’t have any use for our application. She does all the planning for her group trips, and makes all the executive decisions. She wouldn’t want others to delay booking of cheap accommodations or airfare. She is optimized for planning trips, and more importantly, her friends and family that travel with her, have a clear understanding of what is expected of them in terms of payments, and the amount of deviation from the planned itinerary they can do. What surprised us: Although Rena doesn’t need this application, she recently went on a joint bachelorette/bachelor party. The bride’s side was small and didn’t have issues, but the groom’s side had many issues that the app would have solved. The bachelor party had 10 members, and they all had different expectations on the accommodations, and in the end everyone still hasn’t paid their fair share. Additionally, the best man had to plan all aspects of the trip and was frustrated about the whole experience. This rubbed off on the groom, who saw the stress his friend went through, and avalanched into the wedding, ruining it. Other interesting outcomes: She did mentioned that the workflows may have helped some people. On her last trip to China, two people in her group had to be turned back after flying to Shanghai because they did not know they needed to obtain a visa. A trip app that generates individual tasks, such as ours, would have prevented this, since they would have known they were responsible for obtaining their own visas. Why/How we interviewed him: Ben travels a lot to far of destinations for skiing with his buddies.
What hypothesis we tested: The prototype we've developed would get Ben excited enough that he would consider using our platform on his next trip. What we really wanted to learn: If he would use our platform over some of the other methods that exist to plan trips. What we learned from this interview: Ben liked our app. He felt it was scalable and a good solution to solve the problem of planning a ski trip. He felt he could use it for his destination golfing trips as well. Aggregation and having all reservations at one place is something no app provides currently and that is the big differentiator for him. Splitting cost apps are commonplace but a good feature to ensure complete independence from other apps. He felt that there was a lot of opportunity to expand the templates we had and democratize the list of tasks in each template based on user popularity. What surprised us: How Ben was applying it to other scenarios where he could use it. He mentioned that there was nothing like this in the app space and if we could pull this off with a clean app with all the main features, it could become very valuable to a lot of planners. Other interesting outcomes: Ben wanted us to expand it into event planning to add to the volume of early adopters. Why/How we interviewed him: Ashish goes out on group trips with family friends and usually contributes actively to the planning process
What hypothesis we tested: The prototype we've developed would get Ashish excited enough that he would consider using our platform on his next trip. What we really wanted to learn: If he would use our platform over some of the other methods that exist to plan trips. What we learned from this interview: Ashish is an early planner and usually books his trips months in advance. Cost is an important aspect of his decision making process and he usually shops around. This leads to different bookings on different websites and multiple emails for each reservation. He likes the idea of aggregation so that all group members can find everything at one place. Having a scoreboard of every task is convenient and helps to ensure nothing is overlooked. Division of costs appropriately is another aspect of our app that he feels is very useful. Not all people participate in all activities and that makes the splitting process tedious. He likes the idea of creating workflows for each person so that they can focus on their share of work and not worry about other things. His biggest problem is that he wouldn’t use this app unless his friends use it too. What surprised us: It is difficult to convince people to use apps even though they like the idea. Just being a good app is not enough for them to download it. It has to be popular and gain traction for it to be considered a candidate to be on their phones. Other interesting outcomes: He would be happy to share his trip activities with his other friends through the app if they would like to have some ideas around trip planning. Why/How we interviewed him: Sandeep goes out on group trips with office colleages a lot but doesn’t enjoy planning and leaves it to others to figure it out.
What hypothesis we tested: The prototype we've developed would get Sandeep excited enough that he would consider using our platform on his next trip. What we really wanted to learn: If he would use our platform over some of the other methods that exist to plan trips. What we learned from this interview: Sandeep doesn’t do the planning himself so doesn’t really think it is going to help him much. He likes that he can choose which tasks he would like to take up and also see how the trip planning is going. He is happy to provide inputs and likes the voting feature for selecting the accommodation. He thinks it is good to have all receipts in one place. He like that the app provides him the opportunity to contribute in any little way he can. He is not a big fan of the delegation process but would rather like to choose what to take care of. What surprised us: People who are not used to planning much don’t find the app very useful. Since they are handling only 1 or 2 tasks, they don’t find the much value in downloading another app. Email and SMS are good enough for them. However they do like the information aspect of the app and see how the planning is going on. Other interesting outcomes: He said he would use the workflow and delegation of tasks for other group activities and volunteer activities like planning office parties. Why/How we interviewed him: Vimal does a lot of app development and has experience in both the IOS and Android space. We wanted to get his inputs on the development of this app.
What hypothesis we tested: The prototypes we are making are heading in the right direction and would be helpful later when developing the actual app. What we really wanted to learn: The complexities associated with building the planning app. What we learned from this interview: Vimal thinks there are aspects of this app that are very appealing like aggregation and collaboration. He thinks that collaboration, delegation and accountability are relatively easy to develop and shouldn’t take much time to incorporate in their entirety in version 1.0. The aggregation part of the app has 2 parts. Building the platform for the bookings is simple and straightforward. However combining everything together is very complicated. It is difficult to feed back the information to the app once you leave it to book on Airbnb. Even a company like Google is trying to solve this problem of searching through a person’s email to aggregate bookings and keeping it at once place. Also, it would require us to have permissions from our partners like Airbnb and other booking engines and it would be difficult to cooperate with them till we are a small player. What surprised us: Vimal thinks this is a crowded space and there are several trip planning apps in the market. He likes our app a lot but thinks it is difficult to implement and even more difficult to make popular enough that everyone will use it. Other interesting outcomes: He wanted us to generalize even more and not be limited to just travel. Any group activity with a lot of tasks could be handled with this app. |
AuthorThe Orca team is a group of second year Haas MBAs dedicated to bringing fun back to the logistics of group travel Archives
November 2016
Link to Full Interview Notes |