Personas and UX design

How insight guides discovered that its customers wanted to have breakfast with gorillas

UX services

Focus groups

Scribbles

In-depth interviews

Prototype

Online survey

Personas

The challenge

Who is the target audience for the future travel portal?

Are you working on a new digital business model and want to learn more about your target audience’s needs? When Insight Guides wanted to launch an innovative travel portal, they weren’t sure how best to identify the needs of their future users.

Under the Insight Guides brand, the Apa Publications Group—with offices in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Warsaw—has been publishing travel guides since 1970. As digitalization continues to advance, competitive pressure in the publishing industry is also increasing dramatically.

CEO René Frey therefore wanted to create a new type of online travel platform that is completely geared to the needs of users and offers tailor-made trips in the high-price segment.

But what do the target groups expect from such a portal? We set out to find this out together with Userlutions— with surprising results.

How it works

Deriving personas through focus groups, in-depth interviews, and quantitative surveys

For this project, we drew on the extensive repertoire of design thinking methods:

In-depth interviews

The new travel portal is aimed at affluent travelers. Through in-depth interviews, we discovered how this target group travels and what matters to them when planning a trip.

Focus groups

In several focus groups, we gathered ideas for features and the design of the travel portal.

Online survey

Based on the in-depth interviews and focus groups, we developed hypotheses regarding the target group’s travel needs. We then verified these hypotheses through a large-scale quantitative survey.

Persona creation

Based on these findings, we were able to identify three personas. They describe the specific characteristics and needs of the key user groups and provide decision-making guidance for the travel portal.

UX design

We created mockups for the homepage and the key features, which Insight Guides could then use to continue their work.

Insights

Differences in the desire for luxury and unique experiences

The statistical analysis of the online survey showed that the target groups move along two dimensions: Luxury aspirations and the desire for unique experiences. Three personas were created from these results.

Brought to life: Larry Luxury, Monique Unique, Emily Family

Emily Family travels with her family and values local insights.
All personas value personal recommendations and customizability.
Monique Unique is not looking for run-of-the-mill trips, but “Unique Travel Experiences”.
Larry Luxury expects pure luxury and local experts for unique travel experiences.

The result

Personas minimize the risks of entering the market

Posters were created for the three personas, which can be displayed in the office spaces. This way, the entire office will be…
The company has created a clear understanding of its target groups to ensure that all decisions are user-centric.
be met.

Product management also derives specific requirements for all phases of the customer journey. The risks for market entry are minimized, and future developments are aligned with the target groups.

How can the results now be used?

Personas give employees a common understanding of their customers.
The development of new products and features can be persona-oriented: What is suitable for which persona?
Prioritization: What is particularly relevant? What should be realized first?
Development of different sales & marketing arguments for each persona.

With our mock-ups, we supported Insight Guides in the design of the new travel platform.

Through the persona study combined with user research, we were able to tailor a travel portal to meet our customers’ high expectations. Userlutions’ scientific approach laid the foundation for this.

Customer

René Frey
CEO
Insight Guides

Our services