Strategic Redesign with Increased Retention and Engagement
As Lead Designer, I was tasked with addressing key opportunities to enhance the way our members interact and travel together.
Sector
Socially-connected Travel Community
Results
Improvements led to a 125% increase in bookings (up an average of 8,079 to 18,151 per month)
My Role
• Lead Designer • Research Support • Design System Contributor
What do you get when adventure meets community? Meet DreamTrips, where members don’t just travel—they connect, share, and create unforgettable experiences together.
What is the product?
DreamTrips is a vibrant, socially active community that brings members together through curated travel experiences around the world.
What was the situation?
As Lead Designer, I was tasked with addressing key opportunities to enhance the way our members interact and travel together. The challenge included a comprehensive responsive redesign, an improved search experience, and finding ways to increase customer engagement, all aimed at fostering stronger connections within the community.
What tasks were involved?
Partnered with Data Science and Engineering teams to explore the Language Model that will power predictive insights and actionable recommendations.
Connected with internal stakeholders to align on project goals and ensure cross-functional support.
Interviewed members and non-members to understand what motivates various personas to book travel and stay engaged in the DreamTrips community.
Ran several Design Sprints and workshops to brainstorm and collaborate with partners on the best approach to meet user needs.
What I learned in Discovery…
While members appreciated the curated travel packages DreamTrips offered, they longed for more opportunities to connect with one another both before and after their trips. At the same time, non-members were eager to hear about the experiences and adventures members were enjoying, seeking a glimpse into the community they could be part of. The upcoming redesign needed to address both these desires—creating deeper connections for current members while sparking curiosity and engagement among potential members. The goal was clear: to drive higher conversion rates, boost engagement, and improve long-term retention.
What actions were taken?
As Lead Designer, I organized and led workshops to fully understand the project scope and align key stakeholders on goals and expectations.
Analyzed competitor search experiences in the travel industry to identify best practices and opportunities for differentiation.
Interviewed internal stakeholders to align on project goals and secure cross-functional buy-in.
Conducted interviews with DreamTrips members to uncover pain points and understand retention drivers.
Engaged non-DreamTrips members to explore growth opportunities and attract new customers.
Led an early Design Sprint to brainstorm and ideate with cross-functional partners.
Reviewed JD Power’s survey of our members to identify key opportunities for improvement and innovation.
The results of my redesign were a resounding success, and our findings closely mirrored insights from the JD Powers Survey.
The survey highlighted three key factors that influenced the booking experience on DreamTrips.com: (1) Site Content, (2) Site Accuracy, and (3) Site Experience.
As mentioned previously, our customers loved our offerings, but they wanted more opportunities to connect pre- and post-travel.
I proposed adding a feature to our travel app that would allow members to create social groups, enabling them to stay connected before, during, and after their trips, while also making it easier to plan future adventures together.We discovered our search results lacked the detailed information provided by competitor sites, which contributed to higher trust and conversions elsewhere.
To address this, I recommended enriching our search results and product pages with additional content, bringing us up to par with the competition.The redesigned search experience led to an impressive 125% increase in search conversions, with a monthly average change in bookings from 8,079 to 18,151.
Other key metrics also saw significant improvements, thanks to the redesign and the introduction of new social features:By merging the separate retail and travel booking carts into one unified workflow, we boosted retail shopping conversions by 32%.
