Things are improving, but definitely aren’t perfect
Before I reveal to you the offending bit of UX from eDreams, it’s worth considering the evolution of UX in the travel sector.
If there was one moment when customer experience across all sectors started to be taken seriously, I would argue it was in 2013 when Ryanair vowed to start doing right by the customer.
Chief exec Michael O’Leary said, “We should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off,” and he admitted that the airline was not trying hard enough in its customer service.
From booking through to arrival at your destination, the Ryanair experience used to be less than edifying. As far as digital gripes went, the online checkout got most people miffed. Customers accepted the fact they would be offered a variety of upsells (extra baggage, insurance, speedy boarding, seat selection etc.), but having them selected as default and then needing to unselect them always seemed shady.
Thankfully, Ryanair’s website was updated to get rid of these automatic selections, but it’s worth remembering there is still a particularly famous dark pattern present in the airline’s checkout.
Under the insurance dropdown, Ryanair helpfully tells you: ‘Already insured? Select “Don’t insure me” in the dropdown box’. However, “Don’t insure me” is very sneakily ‘hidden’ between Denmark and France, rather than placed at the top of the dropdown options with the other most-common selections.
Image via Digital Tonic’s Ryanair website review.
This sort of UX is retrograde, but Ryanair isn’t the only offender.
Offending UX
Back to the present. The experience I had with eDreams. There it is in the screenshot below. Take a minute to consider it before I point out the obvious ways in which it is anathema to a good customer experience.
So, I have to pay £3.99 to use the ‘boarding pass request’ service. With no explanation here of what the service provides, the UX is intended to inspire anxiety in the ‘basic’ customer. Will I get my boarding pass if I don’t upgrade?
There’s a destination weather report if I pay £3.99, as if eDreams has to pay for its own in-house meteorology team.
A personalised mobile site is also thrown in if I upgrade. Personalised how? Can I check in online otherwise? Again, there’s no information to guide me. Should I pay just for peace of mind?
Lastly, it costs a whopping £5.99 for SMS booking and flight notifications. I have already added my phone number in the booking process and now I have to pay eDreams to serve me in my preferred channel (with the OTA dressing it up as a super-duper modern value-add).
One thing to note here – if you abandon your basket, eDreams seems more than happy to send an abandoned basket email (see below) free of charge. And to retarget me with display advertising. Again, gratis.
Abandoned basket email from eDreams
Of course, the biggest problem in this UX is that the (pointless) service for which I have to pay £3.99 is labelled as ‘standard’. But it doesn’t come as standard. Insert chin-rubbing emoji here.
What’s more, there’s one of those uses of heuristics, with ‘standard’ highlighted in blue and labelled as ‘most popular’. I’m sure it is, after customers have been scared into upgrading.
What this feature boils down to is that last checkbox – the idea that I have to pay for ‘preferential customer service’. Whilst I accept that speedy boarding has become a fact of life in airports, there’s no reason why an airline or a booking agency’s customer service should have a first and second class.
If eDreams has built out all its SMS and mobile functionality, why not just enable it for all passengers, enhancing my experience and making me more likely to book again in future, instead of with a competitor such as GoToGate?
In not considering the customer, eDreams shows it believes that ticket price is the only motivation for the customer (i.e. customers will return for these cheap tickets, whatever service they get). Then eDreams tries to get upsell using crafty techniques and dark patterns. This is nothing more than an elaborate and time-consuming dance between customer and checkout. It’s a stupid arms race in which I have to figure out the OTA’s tactics, and everything takes longer. It is just horrid.
Okay, this is only one part of the eDreams checkout, and the rest is pretty much in line with others in the sector. But this artefact and the Ryanair insurance example above should be experiences we point to as marketers and tell our organisations “no more”. The customer deserves better.
Comments