Why/How we interviewed her: Debbie plans a family reunion for her extended family every March and coordinating everyone's desires is a challenge for her.
What hypothesis we tested: Would the app work for a diverse age groups in a family reunion type of setting? What we really wanted to learn: Did Debbie think that this platform would make the planning process easier for her. What we learned from this interview: This app would definitely help consolidate some of the information about who was going to be where and when. It would also be nice to delegate tasks to different people so she wouldn't have to do everything. There would be a few barriers to adoption especially in the grandparent generation of the family. What surprised us: In family settings the costs aren't always split evenly - i.e. parents pay for parts of their adult children's costs, people with more money are often willing to cover the costs of people with less money etc. Because of this we definitely need to have a custom amount option in the payment splitting section. This part of the functionality is definitely less relevant for this use case in general because money issues are different with family than they are with friends. Other interesting outcomes: Integrating text and facebook messages into the app would help keep things straight.
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Why/How we interviewed him: DK travels a lot including going on group ski trips to Utah.
What hypothesis we tested: The prototype we've developed would get DK 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: DK usually plans his trip with friends over a dinner get together and follow up emails. His biggest problem is that people are enthusiastic during an in-person meeting but once everyone goes home it gets tough to coordinate. He is willing to do most of the planning but would like to have volunteers take up some of the tasks. He liked the delegation aspect of our app since it would enable him to distribute work. He likes this aspect because it brings transparency into the planning process. The cost splitting is another feature that is a must have for him. What surprised us: People are using pretty low-tech stuff in terms of planning group trips. Face time is considered critical in the planning process to ensure that everyone is onboard and all concerns are addressed. Other interesting outcomes: He said he would use it even for solo ski trips or other activities just because he would be able to keep everything together at one place. Why/How we interviewed him: Jatin travels regularly and often in groups.
What hypothesis we tested: The prototype we've developed would get Jatin 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: Jatin usually plans his trip using email and whatsapp. He has a big group of friends that get together for trips at least twice a year. His biggest pain point is collecting money at the end of the trip. It usually takes him 2-3 months to recover his costs from late payers. It is painstakingly difficult to keep track of all the expenses since he has to search his email quite often to list all the costs and send it to folks at the end of the trip. Splitting costs gets complicated if some members do extra stuff. He likes that all the costs will be aggregated with every booking so that people can stay on budget. What surprised us: He has not tried any other existing app for this since there was no popular app that all of his friends would have downloaded. The network effect is important to make this app successful. Other interesting outcomes: He would like analytics of all of his trips to see where he could potentially cut costs and save money. Sarah used group and individual texts as her main way to Why we interviewed this person: Thane goes on several group trips throughout the year.
What hypothesis did we test: People don't need a planning application to plan group trips. We really wanted to learn about this: What does Thane think of our planning platform. We learned this from the interview: Thane doesn't need a planning application. He observes that usually the planner is the only one who wants to use a new application, adoption is always more challenging than you expect, especially in non-work settings. He constantly needs to remind people to look at accommodations, purchase airfare, but he thinks text is the easiest. On a mobile app, a popup would likely be used as a reminder, and people hate popups. They would likely disable notification settings, or completely delete the application. One issue he thinks would cause a lot of notifications and popups is when people need to be reminded that they haven't completed a task. In his experience people are always behind on completing tasks they have volunteered to complete. We were surprised by: For him, payment hasn't been an issue, as long as people are proactive collecting the money. This runs contrary to many of our other interviews. Other interesting outcomes: He thinks that a planning platform is good for "black and white" decisions, but on his trips, many decisions required more collaboration than an app could provide. In these cases, only an email, text, or phone call will be adequate. Why/How we interviewed her: Sarah goes on a wide variety of group trips throughout the year.
What hypothesis we tested: The existing methods of planning are adequate with no need for a new planning platform. What we really wanted to learn: How Sarah would react to our planning platform. What we learned from this interview: Sarah is usually the main planner on her group trips. The key takeaway from her interview was that she puts a timeline on decision making. For example, if she finds a vacation rental and sends it to the group for approval, she gives 24 hours or less for other members of the group to vote. In her experience, without a tight timeline nothing gets done. The workflow portion of the application may need a mechanism to formalize cutoff times. Sarah's also very upfront about division of costs and payment, but saw value in a platform that would automatically handle those expenses automatically. She has had past situations where she did not get reimbursed for costs. What surprised us: Although Sarah is generally the primary planner, it really depends on the group as to how she interacts with other people. In terms of housing, some groups are confident in her ability to book a vacation rental, while on other trips, people want to know every option available (meeting particular criteria). In the situation where group members need to see every option, booking accommodations can be very challenging. Although a planning platform may be able to help aggregate listings, it wouldn't necessarily solve this pain point. Other interesting outcomes: Sarah used group and individual texts as her main method of planning trips. Why/How we interviewed her: We already talked to Amanda for our skiing HMW but she works in Affiliate Marketing so we wanted to get her take on our trip planning platform.
What hypothesis we tested: Companies would be willing to advertise on our platform. What we really wanted to learn: How companies who would pay to advertise on our platform decide to market in these kinds of channels. What we learned from this interview: Amanda thought that an app like ours could earn some marketing dollars. When it was small it would be unlikely that hotel or ski companies would want to partner directly with us, but we could use platforms like cj.com to bid on advertising with relevant companies. What surprised us: There are multiple ways we could start to get at advertising dollars to start monetizing this app. Other interesting outcomes: Amanda also said she thought this idea was an improvement over some of our original ones! Why/How we interviewed her: Fiona recently went on a bachelorette party with a group to New York she didn’t know well. Generally Fiona doesn’t like going on group trips, but was willing to in this case for a good friend. She values spontaneity and doing things the spur of the moment when she travels, which are not characteristics of group trips.
What hypothesis we tested: The existing methods of planning are adequate with no need for a new planning platform. What we really wanted to learn: Would a reluctant group trip traveler find a need for new planning platform? What we learned from this interview: After discussing her recent bachelorette party experience and pain points, we walked Fiona through our planning platform, and the first thing she mentioned was “Where was this app during this bachelorette party?” All the planning took place using email, and the inevitably information would be repeated and people would tune out of the emails, which would lead to non-responses during critical planning decisions. Everyone was frustrated before the trip even began. What surprised us: In Fiona’s experience the reason that group trips are so difficult is that everyone has different ideas on what they want to do on a trip. Group trips are by structure a compromise for all people involved. Other interesting outcomes: Fiona hates being the main planner because collecting money is a stress point. How do you stay on top of payments, while not sounding pushing with asking for money? Why/How we interviewed her: Kate recently went on a group trip to Napa. Each member of the trip was responsible for one of the following: renting an AirBnB, choosing a winery, choosing a restaurant, hiring a driver, and finding a vehicle for the driver. This trip took over two months to plan. Kate is only willing to go on group trips where she isn’t the primary planner, because there always ends up being too much drama.
What hypothesis we tested: The existing methods of planning are adequate with no need for a new planning platform. What we really wanted to learn: Would a non-planner, and reluctant group trip traveler find a need for new planning platform? What we learned from this interview: Kate was begging for something like in her group planning activities. Currently email is the only effective method of group trip planning that she knows, and it’s stressful to her and inefficient. What surprised us: After discussing Kate’s recent group travel experience and pain points, we walked her through our planning platform, and the first thing she mentioned was “Where was this app during my last bachelorette party?” A planning platform with a workflow of typical bachelorette party activities and voting options would have saved a lot of time and prevented a lot of drama. More importantly it would have prevented the souring of some relationships. Other interesting outcomes: Kate’s main stress when it comes to trip planning, is when she needs to front the money for an expense. She is never sure how to ask for the money without coming off too pushy. Why/How we interviewed her: Arti travels regularly and often in groups.
What hypothesis we tested: The prototype we've developed would get Arti excited enough that she would consider using our platform on her next trip. What we really wanted to learn: Would she use our platform over some of the other methods that exist to plan trips. What we learned from this interview: Arti usually uses Google Docs or Sheets to plan her trips with people. She would like the ability to make custom lists of things to bring on the trip (like food, etc.) or activities they'd want to do. She'd also like the ability to split custom expenses - sometimes people don't share things exactly evenly (i.e. if someone stays only 2 nights and everyone else stays 3). It would be nice to have the payment part be customizable. Flights wouldn't be booked in the app, but it'd be nice to be able to share their itineraries. She liked the provided check list so she could be reminded of the various things she needed to do. Overall Arti got excited about some of the features the platform offers and would be willing to give it a try. What surprised us: She really liked the idea of putting a rough budget in at the beginning and having lodging be filtered for that. In the past this has been one of her annoyances when she's traveled with others if they have budgets much larger than she wants to for the trip. Other interesting outcomes: She thought it might be cool if there were eventually discounts that you could get by using the app. Why/How we interviewed him: Fung works for a hotel franchisee and previously worked for a hotel chain. We wanted to learn more about affiliate marketing, and how hotels use various platforms to sell rooms.
What hypothesis we tested: Hotel chains wouldn't be interested in using another channel to sell rooms. What we really wanted to learn: Can travel platforms (apps) get revenue from hotel bookings. What we learned from this interview: Hotels use affiliate marketing to book left over rooms. Hotels prefer not to use these avenues, as they pay the platform a portion of the booking fee. The customers who book using platforms such as Expedia, Priceline, etc. usually pay the lowest prices, but are also the most demanding of hotel resources, so individual hotels use this channel tentatively. In his experience, they sell excess capacity to one company, who would then place the available rooms on multiple platforms (he was only able to speak on the hotels he worked at). It is definitely possible to get into this space, as long as the hotels can get rid of extra rooms on your platform. What surprised us: Fung also plans an annual trip consisting of 12 people. He has been travelling with this group of friends for several years now. Tasks get distributed based on people's expertise and comfort zone. However, he still thought there might be some value in our planning application, as he's realized everyone is always worried about everyone else having fun. Having a tool that has the ability to vote on a choice of accommodations, activities, etc, could relieve some of the stress around the anxiety around making sure everyone is having fun. Other interesting outcomes: Fung thought polling should begin with destinations. With his annual group trip, deciding on a location is when the planning process began. Fung also noticed, that many planners don't trust anyone else to do anything on a group trip, because it needs to be "done exactly right." Why/How we interviewed her: Kelley is in the Baby Boomer generation and she does reunion trips with her college and high school friends regularly.
What hypothesis we tested: Our product could appeal to a broader range of ages. What we really wanted to learn: Would she download this app and use it to plan her group travel? What we learned from this interview: Kelley thought she would be willing to use the app but she would probably a second user instead of the initiator. She thinks some of her friends who do the planning would be more likely to use the app and then if they suggested it she would follow their lead. She thought it'd be easier if they could get all the messages into the same place - that's the biggest issue for her. If the app could organize the types of messages for her that might be nice - like lodging in one area, activities in another etc. What surprised us: Money sharing hasn't been too big of a deal because at this point most of her friends are fairly financially comfortable. Sometimes she worries that she isn't contributing enough though so if there was a way to track expenses/pay to a pot ahead of time that would help her overcome her fear of being a social loafer. Other interesting outcomes: She doesn't like connecting things to facebook. If we want to address the older generations we might need to consider alternatives for inviting friends since many of them worry about social network security. Also some of her friends don't have smart phones so the desktop version would be critical for this generation. Why/How we interviewed her: She is one of my colleagues and has no vested interest in trying to sugar coat her reactions to our idea. I also purposely tried to remain low key when talking about our app and speaking as if this was just an app "I had used" but wasn't one we came up with.
What hypothesis we tested: If she would show any interest in it if there was no vested interest (in this case pleasing or agreeing with me) What we really wanted to learn: Would she download this app? What we learned from this interview: She showed no interest in downloading or trying to learn about the app. She thought the ability to split costs was interesting, but the benefits of centralizing all her plans for her group wasn't incentive enough to download it. What surprised us: Convenience factor is usually not enough to outweigh the initial inconvenience factor of downloading the app and learning how to use it. There needs to be a stronger incentive to use it. Other interesting outcomes: It seems there is real aversion to downloading an app, and that this is a serious first barrier to get over. She referred to it as "I don't want to have to download another app" Why/How we interviewed him: He was planning a birthday party for his parents in law, so I wanted to get his insights and pain points to see how our app could help. His age group is also in the 50+ range, so his insights would be different from most of our interviews up until now.
What hypothesis we tested: If he saw value in an app that could centralize with his group planning and cost splitting What we really wanted to learn: Would he download this app? What we learned from this interview: The cost was likely to be shared among only a few families even though the guest list was much larger, so he saw no benefits for the split cost ability of the app. Another problem was that most of his guests are also a bit older, and would be averse to downloading another app just to get centralized updated info. What surprised us: Convenience factor is usually not enough to outweigh the initial inconvenience factor of downloading the app and learning how to use it. There needs to be a stronger incentive to use it. Other interesting outcomes: There are distinct barriers to entry for older people who might not necessarily have a smart phone let alone be savvy enough to download apps. It is likely this would only be geared towards the younger generations that could plan with other friends from the younger generation. Why/How we interviewed him: Interviewed in person during regular conversation to find out the incentives and pain points that drive his decision making which could be alleviated by our app.
What hypothesis we tested: If he saw value in an app that could centralize with his group planning and cost splitting What we really wanted to learn: Would he download this app? What we learned from this interview: He liked the idea of splitting costs, but did not see it as a driving convenience to download another app. Especially now that he has a family, most of his trips are *not* with friends, so he wouldn't be using it that often. What surprised us: He was not too interested in having another app to download and help centralize his planning. He could see benefits but he is comfortable with using e-mail and google docs. Other interesting outcomes: He suggested that we would need to find a balance between allowing customization and standardizing the workflows. If it's too customized then it loses value as a planning app, but if it's too standardized then no one will use it because there's no flexibility for a planner's situations. Ie, what if some people want to join for only certain parts of the itinerary? Or want to be able to assign people in charge of tasks like bringing grocery, or alcohol, or sleeping bags etc. Why/How we interviewed him: Interviewed in person during regular conversation to find out the incentives and pain points that drive his decision making which could be alleviated by our app.
What hypothesis we tested: If he saw value in an app that could centralize with his group planning and cost splitting What we really wanted to learn: Would he download this app? What we learned from this interview: He could see benefits for this in some of his events such as a bachelor party, but thinks it's difficult and troublesome to add all the costs into the app and divide it like that. For example if he went out to a restaurant with all his friends, how will they add that bill seamlessly and then have the cost divided? And what if some people order drinks and others don't so the amount is uneven? What surprised us: He was not too interested in having another app to download and help centralize his planning. He could see benefits but he is comfortable with using e-mail and google docs. Other interesting outcomes: Without any suggestions, they brought up the added value that this could bring to another event that was not related to our focus. This has happened a few times already. Why/How we interviewed him: Interviewed through e-mail to gain insights into how they decide to partner up with platforms and what kind of discounts would be available if we wanted to seek a partnership with them.
What hypothesis we tested: That ski resorts would be interested in partnering with an app to drive traffic and interest to themselves. What we really wanted to learn: How easy it could be to have a resort interested in our idea. What we learned from this interview: "Thanks for reaching out to us about your app. It sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately I don’t think we will pursue it at this time. We do not have any set group discounts as rates vary based on dates, group size, peak and off-peak periods, events in the village or on the mountain, etc. On average our group discount with 20 people is about 10%, but there are many factors that go into figuring out what rate to quote a group and I don’t think we would be interested in having those dynamically fed into an app at this time." What surprised us: Despite the possibility of free traffic and interest, they were not interested in having their prices exposed through apps. Other interesting outcomes: Out of 3 attempts to communicate to resorts, only 1 replied. Why/How we interviewed her: Hayley is a recent college graduate who travels with friends somewhat regularly.
What hypothesis we tested: This platform would be used over other options that exist. What we really wanted to learn: Would the cost saving aspect appeal to Hayley who is a cost conscious traveler? What we learned from this interview: Hayley was interested in potentially getting group discounts on booking hotels or flights in the app. Also getting people to commit would be a big help - she said some trips have almost fallen through because of people being slow to make decisions. She said it'd be nice to have the app remind people so she wouldn't have be a nag. Choosing dates would also be important - she currently uses doodle polls for some of her trips and thought it'd be nice to have all of that integrated into one place. It'd be cool if the app could scan your email to collect the relevant information so you wouldn't have to do manual updates. She thought it'd be nice if you could set your budget ahead of time and it would only give you options that fit everyone's budget. What surprised us: Hayley was still excited about this even though she doesn't consider herself a heavy traveler. Other interesting outcomes: She also asked if you'd be able to have the ability to check into your lodging within the app. Why/How we interviewed him: Daniel doesn't go on group trip because the logistics are too daunting. He has a diverse set of friends and prefers hanging out with them one-on-one rather than risk conflicts from commingling different sets of friends.
What hypothesis we tested: An application that simplifies trip planning is not enough reason for people to start going on group trips. What we really wanted to learn: Does Daniel have any use for a new planning tool? What we learned from this interview: Daniel wouldn't use the planning, but thinks the concept is a good one. He was more interested in the workflow portion of the application. He thought that this portion should be volunteer based, as everyone has different comfort levels with various tasks. Someone who would be comfortable with planning one breakfast for everyone, may not feel comfortable with deciding what groceries to pick up every meal. Only after people have self-delegated, should any outstanding items be "assigned" to people. What surprised us: Workflow delegation is a major challenge in personal interactions, as you're unsure of everyone's comfort level in participating. Other interesting outcomes: How detailed should the workflow/delegation portion of this platform be? How would users define their needs. Our team needs to explore this more at our next team meeting. Why/How we interviewed her: Louise doesn't go on group trip because the logistics are too daunting. Stress surrounding different price sensitivities of her friends and money collection have been her biggest pain points when she went on group trips previously.
What hypothesis we tested: An application that simplifies trip planning is not enough reason for people to start going on group trips. What we really wanted to learn: How does Louise feel about a new planning tool? What we learned from this interview: When interviewing Louise, nothing presented to her changed her mind about the problems surrounding group trips. Although she liked that a concept might be to have everyone's payment information confirmed prior to any purchases, she thought that the different price sensitivities of her friends remained too big an obstacle for her to go on group trips again. What surprised us: Louise thought the workflow concept had a lot of promise, although she wouldn't using the planning application. Other interesting outcomes: When you have a diverse set of friends, it is stressful to figure out who to invite on trips. Even if a person can opt out of a trip because it's too expensive, their feelings may still be hurt. Why/How we interviewed her: Irene goes on many group trips ranging from International to a weekend in Mendocino.
What hypothesis we tested: Someone who is already use to group trip planning will be comfortable with their own system and have no need for app. What we really wanted to learn: How does Irene feel about a new planning tool? What we learned from this interview: Irene was unexcited about this product. She said that it had a very narrow focus, which are people with money, time, and the desire to travel. She actually liked the idea, but immediately recognized the problem with all platforms, which is adoption. She thought it was unlikely she would be able to get everyone on a trip to use the application, or even as a tool to split costs of a group dinner. If everyone used the application, then she would much prefer it over her existing method of planning, which brings us to... What surprised us: Email. Irene's group trips are planned over email. "Even though I end up with 24,000 (sic) emails, I read them all, and know exactly what needs to be done." Other interesting outcomes: Irene was interested in the delegation and workflow portion of the platform, so that everyone could keep track of the trip planning progress. Also, Irene would like a feature where if the majority of the people have submitted their payment (say for a hotel) then the system books the hotel room. Originally we were thinking that all people should pay, prior to booking. This would capture the power of peer pressure to guarantee everyone pays, but for Irene she was scared that prices would rise, or the hotel would be booked out, so she thought as long as a majority of the people have committed, then lodging should be booked. |
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 |