Image Credit : Virgin Australia
Project Overview
Virgin Australia's iOS and Android apps provide customers with an intuitive, seamless, and user-friendly experience across every touchpoint.
Key features and functionality:
• Smart home screen - Receive personalised updates about flights and trips via the app's home screen.
• Search and book for flights - Book your next adventure, business trip or view details of upcoming flights with just a few taps.
• Retrieve upcoming bookings - Access your boarding pass and scan at the gate for effortless travel.
• Velocity Points - Track your Velocity Points and Status Credits balance.
• Special deals - Discover the latest deals Virgin Australia has to offer and book immediately.
• Airport maps and guides - Never lose your way again with navigation to your gate and other essential airport information.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Transpire (UX Design and App Development)
Virgin Australia (Client)
Project Brief
With more and more travellers using their smartphones to book travel, check-in to flights, and access boarding passes, Virgin Australia was in need of a more all-encompassing solution for its mobile travel experiences.
Virgin Australia turned to Transpire to transform the end-to-end mobile experience of its customers across both iOS and Android platforms.
Project Need
At the time of the engagement, the Virgin Australia iOS app had around 200k downloads but only a 1.3 star rating. Along with criticism of the interface and an inability to perform key tasks, customers were also frustrated that only a Beta Android app existed, which wasn't available to everyone.
Virgin Australia’s goal was to create one holistic, human-centred mobile experience on both iOS and Android.
The product team agreed to create a minimal loveable product (MLP) and prioritise the booking, check-in, and boarding functionality as the most critical features.
To ensure these features met the needs of customers as well as business requirements, Transpire defined a research strategy that allowed for a deeper understanding of customer attitudes and behaviours across their end-to-end travel journey.
Once the user research and MLP was complete, Transpire could then build additional features and functionality including access to Velocity Points and Status Credits, special deals and promotions, as well as airport maps and guides.
User Experience
Transpire’s approach to creating a completely new app was more than just an exercise in technology development and deployment; It required human-centred design that not only identified all of the user’s wants, needs, preferences, and pain points, but also addressed them in a logical, coherent, and compelling way.
Assembling a large group of real Virgin Australia guests, Transpire conducted research and testing that encompassed both leisure and business travellers to ensure we had a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of users. From planning and paying for trips to the time leading up to their departure date, the day of travel, and coming back again, every single touchpoint was considered to construct an effortless, stress-free experience for all users.
From there, Transpire could establish a roadmap of functionality and features to implement, starting with the ability to book a flight, check-in, and access boarding passes. Feedback from internal stakeholders and external users then dictated what should take priority for future releases, such as viewing Velocity points and a transaction history.
Accessibility played a huge part in the design and development of the app as well. Along with adhering to best design practice, user testing rounds were also conducted to ensure every function and feature of the app was universally accessible.
Project Marketing
As soon as both iOS and Android versions were available, Virgin Australia launched a dedicated page on its website detailing the new features and functionality. This was supported by social media marketing campaigns by both Virgin Australia and Transpire.
Commenting on the launch of its new mobile apps, Virgin Australia Group Executive for Airlines Rob Sharp said: "In today’s world of gadgets and gizmos, our customers not only have to live smart, but they have to fly smart as well. Effectively, by digitising customer experiences through smart phone technology, Virgin has been able to eliminate common travelling pain-points to provide an integrated, automated, travelling experience."
In less than six months after the app was released, its rating on the App Store increased by 137%. Hundreds of thousands of users have downloaded both versions of the app and used it to scan boarding passes using their own devices.
Project Privacy
Virgin Australia and Transpire is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information.
Any personal information collected will depend on the user's relationship with Virgin Australia and Transpire as well as the service requested.
Where possible, Virgin Australia allows users to interact anonymously or using a pseudonym.
More information about Virgin Australia's privacy policy can be found here: https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/mobile-content/privacy/
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