Experimentation at Qantas

Continuous improvement at speed: Partnering with Australia's largest airline to improve the experience of buying flights.

Role

Experimentation UX Lead

Duration

2+ years (ongoing)

Deliverables

Data analysis and visualisation
User interviews
Heuristic evaluation
Competitor analysis
Experiment designs
Report and presentation design

Background

Qantas recognised that years of feature creep had left their flight booking journey cluttered and confusing. To simplify the experience and make purchasing a flight easier, they partnered with Deloitte's experimentation team.

My goal: iterate towards an elegant and simple booking experience, optimised to perform.

Process

Research

Before launching straight into A/B testing we undertook extensive research to find the biggest areas for improvement.

This involved deep data analysis to find what behaviours exist on the site—the journeys different customers take, what they click on, where they go and where they drop off.

Our qualitative research involved user interviews, a heuristic evaluation and a competitor analysis. This helped us answer why customers behave the way they do—what influences their decisions, what grabs their attention, what they miss and why they make certain choices.

This process resulted in hundreds of test ideas which we worked with Qantas to prioritise into an experimentation roadmap.

Above: pages from the research document.

Test and learn

From there, our team moved into the "test and learn" phase, delivering a continuous cycle of strategies, designs and testing.

Detailed reports are developed and presented to relevant stakeholders and high-level results are documented in Miro where anyone in the organisation can access and reference with ease.

Above: screenshot of high-level test results documented in Miro

Impact

For over two years I've been working with Qantas to iterate and improve their website. We've had huge success in changing user behaviour and making life easier when searching for and purchasing flights.

On top of the learnings and insights, our tests have delivered significant revenue for Qantas—in the tens of millions—and our work has well and truly demonstrated the value of a dedicated experimentation program.

The site is looking and performing better than ever. The learnings from our tests are rigorously documented and are actively being used by Qantas to inform the future of their website.

In 2023, Fantastic Furniture launched their new website to great success. Years of experimentation ensured they could re-platform with confidence, knowing the new site would convert just as effectively as the old one.

With a refined look and feel, the new website balanced performance with a stronger brand identity, presenting Fantastic Furniture as both affordable and stylish.