A missed connection
After only a year, Meraki had already succeeded where plenty of travel companies have tried and failed: their customers could remix and customise a collection of base itineraries to create unique trips using live inventory and prices. Drawing on local expertise, they offered destination inspiration and all the information people need to create and book their own unforgettable holidays. But their site was cumbersome and frustrating to use, especially on smaller screens - instead of being a delightful adventure, it was letting users down and holding Meraki back.
Exploring new ground
Over three two-weeks sprints at Meraki’s headquarters in London, we worked with the team to redesign their adventure-booking experience based on research, prototyping and validation with real customers. Our priorities were to bring the Meraki difference to the surface - their unique real-time adventure-builder - and to create a simpler, more intuitive and responsive trip-building tool that people would love using on any device. To this end, we created new product experience principles, information architecture and a completely redesigned visual language.
The difference we made
The new booking experience made using Meraki playful, intuitive and a joy for would-be travellers - an adventure in itself. With this critical piece of the Meraki jigsaw in place, the team was able to start marketing themselves with confidence. They saw dwell time increase by 175%, repeat visits rise from 8% to 25% and bounce rates reduce to 32% within the relaunched product. The company won a 2019 Travelolution Award for best website user experience. But, perhaps most tellingly, bookings saw a signficant rise, increasing by 500% year-on-year. More people shaping their perfect holidays together, and more adventures through Meraki - just the start of the journey.
