Over the past several years, the airline industry has been challenged from several angles.
From the pandemic to pilot shortages, the industry is in flux - and many airlines are struggling to adapt.
Flight delays and cancellations have been plentiful over the past year. In fact, it was reported that more than 88,000 domestic flights were canceled from January to May 2022 alone - putting a dent into the “Great Travel Rebound.”
Economic conditions such as rising fuel prices and inflation have also changed how travelers purchase flights.
One aspect airlines can control is their customers’ experiences when using their online tools to manage reservations. This is where user experience (UX) for airline websites and apps comes in.
By improving the user experience for your website or app, airlines can capture feelings and sentiments when passengers use their desktops or online apps to fulfill their travel needs in an easy and pleasant manner.
In the next sections, we’ll cover the basics of user experience research and how that can benefit airlines.
What is an Airline User Experience (UX) Survey
Our user experience market research firm believes the goal of any UX survey should ultimately be to gain insights and measure website or app users' overall feelings about the site.
If you’ve done your fair share of flying, you already have an idea of what the best airline websites offer.
This can be accomplished by gathering quantitative and qualitative data through the use of questionnaires administered directly to users.
- Qualitative research is exploratory, aiming to gather small details about a set topic.
- Quantitative research is the opposite and focuses on measurements and broad-scale data.
While each method is starkly different, both of them can be included in user experience for airline websites.
Popular methods include online surveys that can be taken through an emailed or texted link, site intercept, or in-person phone interviews.
💡 The Key Takeaway: User data is collected through a variety of methods, including surveys online. The mix of qualitative and quantitative feedback is then assessed and implemented.
Recommended Reading: Difference Between Qualitative and Quantitative Market Research
How Airlines Can Conduct UX Market Research
UX surveys are not only a great way to attract more repeat customers to your organization (in this case, airlines), but they’re also fairly simple to conduct.
Three popular methodologies airlines can use to administer UX surveys include online questionnaires, site intercept, and in-person surveys.
Below is a short description of each and how they are conducted.
- Online questionnaires: Perhaps the most common method to administer an online survey is through a platform that gathers responses from completed questionnaires. Our recruitment firm for user experience typically distributes these through an email or text message at the completion of a transaction. Learn more about improving UX design with online surveys.
- Site intercepts: Also a common method, site intercepts are also known as “pop-up” surveys in which users can respond to a set of questions “in the moment” as they are using a particular website or app. Such surveys can be obtrusive if not deployed correctly, therefore many tend to ask a very limited number of questions. Here are 5 tips to conduct successful airport intercept surveys.
- Personal interviews or focus groups: Although less common in nature, the ability to reach out to passengers directly - either one on one or in a small group setting - can be beneficial. User experience interviews airlines to record thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors directly from respondents while being able to ask more probing questions to further uncover insights that could be missed through online surveys.
💡 The Key Takeaway: There are many types of market research airports and airline brands can leverage to improve their website or app. Based on your timeline, budget, and objectives a travel market research company, like Drive Research can recommend the best approach.
Airline User Experience Research Best Practices
Best practices that airlines may want to consider while fielding surveys include:
- Ask closed-ended questions to gather quantitative or measurable facts and figures.
- Ask open-ended questions to uncover qualitative insights such as thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, or feelings.
- Keep the language, meaning, and context clear and simple when asking questions in your user experience research.
- Respect respondents' privacy and anonymity. This includes keeping the survey as short as possible while keeping all responses confidential.
- Give users a way out if a question or array of answer options is not relevant. This can be done by providing a “not applicable” or “skip” option.
- Testing the survey to a small “pilot” group before it is deployed on a full scale. This will allow the airline to better understand how the survey will be received - while giving them the chance to make adjustments before sending it to a larger group.
- Incentive respondents. This can be done by offering a coupon, miles, or gift cards in exchange for their time. Better yet, higher rewards can lead to lower market research costs.
💡 The Key Takeaway: When measuring user experience for airline websites, there’s a method to gathering the best data possible. Ensuring the survey is properly programmed, has clear wording, and is anonymous are all ways to run a successful project.
Benefits of Airline UX Surveys
As mentioned earlier, the main goal of UX surveys in airline market research is to gain a better understanding of how well users are able to interact with airlines’ sites or apps at different touch points during a transaction. We already know how important creating a website with a solid user experience is.
But what are the tangible benefits?
By uncovering pain points, airlines will be able to address and solve these issues in order to improve the transaction flow. Whether it’s from searching for flights, buying/upgrading tickets, or choosing seats or meals, passengers expect a seamless experience.
Some specific areas that airlines could benefit from include:
- Ability to get real-time feedback from actual passengers as they’re using the website or app at any particular moment.
- Better understand the passengers’ “online journey” including consideration, ease of site navigation, and purchase.
- Measure how quickly passengers are able to search for flights, book tickets, obtain boarding passes, or make changes to itineraries.
At the end of the day, a large part of airline customer experience hinges on the usability of their website. By focusing efforts on proper website development, these airlines can draw in more and more customers, leading to increased business.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Airlines can benefit from UX surveys in many different ways. Through the feedback, they can then understand how well their website is performing.
Contact Our UX Market Research Company
A reliable user experience for airline websites is of major importance in an industry currently facing many hurdles. Through proper management and using solid data, an airline can deliver an effective website experience to users. This can ultimately have a (very) positive impact on that airline.
Drive Research is a market research company based in New York. Our team has a deep understanding of user experience and what it takes to ensure a smooth website navigation strategy.
Curious about the rest of our market research services? Get in touch with us through any of the methods below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Bryan Champ
Bryan is the Senior Research Manager at Drive Research. He has more than 15 years of experience working hard to provide actionable insights that help his stakeholders make informed decisions.
Learn more about Bryan, here.
