Case Study: Rail Europe

Rail Europe applied solid UX principles to overhaul their website and create excellent user experience.

The Problem

Rail Europe is a company that sells European rail tickets to American customers, helping them plan and book their railway arrangements before they travel.

In Europe, the rail network is comprehensive and frequently used. In the US, however, rail travel is uncommon and often unsatisfactory, so American customers are either unfamiliar with it [sparking uncertainty] or have likely had a negative experience, meaning they would be hesitant to try again.

The challenge was to create an experience that would resonate with US customers, provide them with accurate and useful information, and give them the confidence to book a railway journey. While Rail Europe already offered an advanced booking engine that covered 15,000 destination, the key was to give customers a variety of flexible booking options, encourage them to actively explore, and t come out of the process feeling fully informed and confident.

The Solution

Rail Europe engaged UX specialist agency Adaptive Path to recreate their website so that it would create the required experience.

Naturally, it was vital to understand the users and their unique needs, wants and concerns. The following information and research was collated:

A prioritized list of information that was crucial for customers to make the correct booking

Feedback from current website users and customers

Usability barriers that Rail Europe had already identified

Best practice guidelines and insights from other travel sites

Rather than launching directly into the website build, Adaptive Path took time during the concept stage to interrogate the data and hone in on what customers really needed. Their research process covered a series of conceptual phases:

1.They devised a user journey, corresponding to what 80% of Rail Europe customer would typically do, that flowed from the exploration stage [scheduling, planning] right through to booking and purchase.

2.From this, they identified key decision-making moments and information, which included dates, times, schedules and customer service.

3.They then developed a sequence of interactions that would lead customers through the booking and purchase process, ensuring that all the necessary information was visible and that the customer could easily move back and forward through the process.

4.Finally, Adaptive Path revised the interface to make sure its American audience had a seamless travel experience, taking factors such as travel times, connections, available amenities and correct seat bookings into account.

The Results

The new website was a hit with customers, who found it easier to book rail tickets. By giving customers confidence and taking the stress out of the process, Rail Europe could play an important role in making the overall travel experience more enjoyable.

After launching the website redesign, Rail Europe achieved a 3% conversion rate - the highest in its history, and impressive for an online booking site. It also found that certain badly performing products were now on an upward booking trend.

By the end of 2012, Rail Europe had become the number one online distributor of rail tickets, serving 900,000 customers that year. This indicates that good UX is not important just for short-term gains; it helps a brand build tis reputation for professionalism, great service and reliability.

Case Study Questions

1.Why was this project a considerable challenge from a UX perspective?

2.Why would it be important for a customer to move backwards and forwards through the booking process?

3 Find an example of an online booking process that you find frustrating, and explain why?