Most times, geeks have to be dragged off kicking and screaming to weddings. Only the most compelling of reasons will get them within spitting distance of a nuptial. Like when it’s their best friend’s. Or when they will be best man. True story, y’all. My story. And the reason why I’m going to try Wakanow for the first time.
This is not a review or anything like that. Just a feature suggestion. I went through the bland flight booking process without event, selected my preferred flight…the only flight that popped up for my destination, filled out the form with my personal details, and then arrived at the checkout page.
Except that I didn’t want to checkout. Not right away. Not because the flight isn’t in a month — because that’s why you reserve flights — but because I don’t have the money right now.
Of course, you might say I should leave the site and come back when I have the money, abi? But if I was Wakanow, is that really what I want? I mean, by the time the potential customer has the money, what says they will come directly back to Wakanow? What says they won’t go and give the money to some other travel agent, or go direct to the airline? They might be having some sort of bonanza, and that’d be all it’d take.
So here’s what I thought. Why doesn’t Wakanow apply a basic technique that online retailers have been using for ages to increase and sustain their conversion rates. I don’t know if this is a novel idea or not, but there’s no reason for Wakanow not to try it. Here’s how it goes –
– Each Wakanow customer must already have an account, so done.
– Why not act like a regular shopping site, and allow people add flights to their “cart”, a wishlist or something, on their Wakanow account?
– Who says that flight bookings are a one-off event, when for many people like me, when it could be a no strings conversation that builds up gradually and could eventually lead to a commitment?
– And since a flight booking is an event, they could send a gentle reminder to the person, maybe every week, that the flight is getting closer and they should pay now.
– They could even go as far as to throw a few time limited coupon code carrots in to sweeten the deal and make them commit.
Just after bookings, an intention to book is the next best thing, and it’s a terrible thing to waste. It’s not like this is Instagram or Facebook, people don’t make a habit of playing around on airline booking websites, do they? It’s one of my crazier UX theories, but and perhaps Wakanow would be able to convert more customers that way.
And it does make for a much better UX for the customer. As it is right now, I’ll have to go through the tedium of choosing destinations, choosing flights, and toggling a formidable array of radio buttons. All over again. That sucks. As I’ve already explained, I must be at that wedding, no how, no how, and I will be flying in, guaranteed. What is not guaranteed, however, is how I’ll choose to fly. It is in Wakanow’s interest to tip those odds in their favour by implementing this feature.
I visit Wakanow all the time — to get flight price estimates! Hehehe. I don’t think I’m the only one guilty of that. If just a fraction of these “waka-price” people came back to make an actual booking, simply because they had the option to add flights to their cart without having to checkout, did, and can come back subsequently to checkout in a few clicks — that wouldn’t be a bad return on an investment in the user experience. It’s simply a question of how much a bird in the shopping cart is worth.
Please note that I’m not asking Wakanow to make an unpaid reservation for me. This has nothing to do with reservation itself. All I’m suggesting is that they make a record that I want to make a reservation. That way, I just “checkout” when I’m ready. Not to mention that I’ve also implicitly given them permission to follow up (not spam, mind you) on my intention, till I either make the commitment, or elect to expunge it from my wishlist.
I don’t expect actual airlines to be this intelligent or understand UX, but as the buffer that is supposed to make life easier for flygerians, I expect Wakanow to. Can I get a witness?
Hat tip to @Malign, our 4am back and forth on the matter allowed a random tweet turn into a blog post.
