Optimising The Experience For EasyJet
An in-depth look at enhancing EasyJet’s booking platform, focusing on user experience improvements through research, design, and testing.
Background
At EasyJet, I led the B2C design and execution of a series of A/B tests aimed at enhancing user engagement and conversion rates on the booking platform. My role involved working closely with cross discipline teams to identify key areas for improvement, working with product owners to create a hypothesis, designing test variants, and analysing results to inform design decisions.
My Role
As a Contract UX Designer, I collaborated with
- CRO Manager
- Product Owners
- Developers
- Data Analysts
I led discovery, design and testing, validating concepts through A/B experiments.
Impact at a Glance
- 6.1% increase in seat attachments (Sit together project)
- 2.6% uplift in booking progression (Select Same Seats projects)
- 3.4% increase in fare bundle selection (Fare Bundles project)
Discovery
I began by analysing the booking funnel to identify pain points, documenting user behaviour, drop-offs, and conversion rates. The data showed that abandonment increased deeper into the funnel, with the highest drop-off at seat selection—likely due to users comparing prices.
To validate this, I ran unmoderated tests on Userlytics and conducted field interviews at Luton Airport. Both confirmed that users often abandon when searching for the best price. Speaking with cabin crew added another dimension: last-minute seat shuffling so families can sit together is a common cause of flight delays.
Brainstorming and Hypothesis Creation
With the problems defined, I facilitated a workshop where the team generated ideas, grouped them, and dot-voted on priorities.
The top three were Sit Together, Seat Selection, and Fare Bundles.
Working with product owners and developers, we translated these into testable hypotheses and quick prototypes. Guerrilla testing at the airport gave us rapid feedback, while early conversations with developers ensured feasibility before moving forward.
Sit Together Project
Sit Together aimed to improve the seat selection process.
As a team we agreed on the following:
Hypothesis
By offering a sit together feature we will see an increase in seat attachments because it will allow passengers to automatically sit together on their selected flight.
Primary KPI
- Booking with standard seat attachment
Secondary KPI
- Progression to the next stage
- Drop in customer and cabin crew delay logs
Secondary KPI
- Progression to the next stage
- Drop in customer and cabin crew delay logs
Use Cases
- Reselecting seats
- Hide Single seats
- Research shows passengers expected the cheapest seats to be preselected.
Discovery and User Testing
To prepare for unmoderated testing, I created and iterated on a few design concepts with the cross-functional team, narrowing them down to one direction. A key debate was around how the flow should work when reselecting a seat, so I used the session to validate which behaviour matched user expectations.
The study on Userlytics focused on three questions:
- What are users’ mental models around sitting together on a journey?
- Is the Sit Together feature discoverable?
- What is the expected experience and interaction when using it?
Prototype Exploration
From the selected design, I created an interactive prototype to bring the Sit Together journey to life. This allowed participants to engage with the flow directly, rather than just reacting to static screens. It also gave the team a clearer view of how design decisions for reselecting a seat impacted the overall booking experience.
Insights Into Sitting Togther
4.3 average
out of 5 said seating comfort is important
4.1 average
out of 5 said it’s important to sit together
100%
if they couldn’t sit together it would disrupt their experience
70%
are likely to prebook a seat
Expected experience
The team had different views on how Sit Together should behave when users reselected seats. Some believed the feature should automatically deselect, while I felt it should remain active unless explicitly turned off. Testing the prototype with users confirmed that my approach aligned with their expectations and resulted in a more intuitive seat selection experience.
Here are some verbatim comments from the unmoderated testing.
“By the fact you are choosing an option to sit together, so why would you suddenly select seats separately? In choosing this option the seats should remain bolted together.“
“Since I have already clicked on sit together, I want to move both seats at the same time. It will save me from clicking twice and it would eliminate the possibility to click on two separate rows by mistake…“
“Because I’ve selected sit together, I think it should stay that way because I’ve obviously selected that for a reason. If I decided I was happy to sit separately, then I would untick the sit together box.“
“Although I want to change seats, I still would want to sit with my companions so being able to move both seats would be comfortable for me.“
Design
The design below got good feedback from the usability testing sessions and is the one that was developed to be tested.
Results and Impact
6.1%
increase in seat attachments
2.6%
on progression to the next step
Design System
To improve workflow efficiency and consistency, I created a design system component library, including page templates. This allowed for the reuse of design elements across various projects, enhancing the speed and quality of our design process. I also initiated a separate project with the developer community within EasyJet to document these components in Storybook. This documentation provided several benefits:
Enhanced Collaboration
Clear guidelines and documentation facilitated better communication and collaboration between designers and developers.
Consistency
A unified design language ensured a consistent user experience across all touch points.
Efficiency
Reusable components reduced design and development time, allowing the team to focus on innovation and user needs.
