A holistic solution to integrate a coaching and opportunities framework throughout the entire Vrbo owner application experience. 

Backed by research and analytics, I was able to guide teams and build a framework that was timely and consistent throughout the owner application. The main goal was to engage, educate, and incentivize owners to take action.

YEAR

August 2018 - February 2020

MY ROLE

Sr. Product Design Manager

PROBLEM

Coaching and education across the Vrbo owner app were disparate. Different teams were creating their take on what coaching should look like inside their product feature. Messages to owners were losing their credibility, which increased traffic to our call support teams. How might we create a framework that could help educate, drive more engagement, and create a great experience for both owners and travelers?

By creating components that could be used across all teams and powered by one design system, we could enable teams to create a coaching framework within their product feature that is timely and consistent throughout the entire owner application.

PROCESS

I decided to pilot a coaching framework within MarketMaker. Understanding revenue management can prove challenging to those who do not understand the concept.

Our content strategist team and technical writers were able to produce rich content that could guide our customers through revenue management concepts. I was responsible for the creation of components and interactions, within the experience.

I enjoy collaborating and being able to have the whole product team bring in research on all things tutorials was great for team building and morale. 

OUTCOME

The coaching framework proved successful with all owners completing 1 or more tutorials and over 50% of owners completing all tutorials. The completion of tutorials correlated with the increase of MarketMaker rate recommendations accepted. Helping owners increase revenue and booked nights. 

DESIGN SYSTEMS

To address the problem of UI component inconsistencies across products, I guided my team to define spec and interaction. We worked with our design systems team to help contribute the specs and the benefit of having the drawer component built into the design system was a good investment. This would enable the coaching framework to scale to all product teams.

CONTINUOUS DISCOVERY

I started to think holistically about how the coaching framework experience would integrate within the entire owner application. I brainstormed with product management leaders to start thinking about more opportunities we could surface within the framework. More coaching moments could help increase owner acceptance rates, decrease owner cancellations, improve bookings, and drive more engagement within the product which in turn would create a better experience for travelers booking with Vrbo.

SOLUTION

The proposed coaching framework would create seamless orchestration between product and communication touchpoints. While also considering the amount of communication and when it is sent, the framework would be dynamic based on the owner's journey. I helped my team create a flow for a potential day in the life of a new owner, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework.

1

Debra logs into her dashboard and sees three opportunities, she is interested in the unblock calendar opportunity and accepts the changes.


2

Debra decides to go directly to MarketMaker to get more information about the MM opportunity. She sees the same pricing opportunity shown on the MM timeline.

3

The last opportunity she sees when she comes back to her dash is the download the owner app. She doesn’t understand the significance of downloading the app. She is having trouble with editing a booking request. So she calls to support.

4

Call support is able to help her with her issue. Behind the scenes, the coaching framework was at work. Call support uses a tool called Titan, software that allows them to log issues from calls, it also has a list of opportunities called plays. The agent is able to see Debra hasn’t downloaded the app and gives her more insight into the benefit. 

5

Debra decides to download the app and returns to her dashboard. She is all caught up on opportunities generated by the coaching framework, she feels accomplished.

6

A week later, Debra is running errands for her property and gets a notification on her phone. It’s a booking request! She isn’t near her computer and decides to open it. She is able to accept the request on the go and increases her acceptance rate.

Credit:
Steve Marsh (UX), Dawn Wano (PM), Dr. Anikó Sándor (Research), Geoffrey Canady (Design Technologist), and more.

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