Online Persuasions Insiders 2016

How does British Airways optimise conversions?

Benjamin LigierCRO Project Manager

8 neuroscience

principles applied 10 mistak

es to correct

4 proposalsfor improvem

ents

An analysis of British Airways conversion process

I reveal whats working, whats not working quite so well, and propose some changes to help increase the sites income

Summer is here but the weather is leaving a lot to be desired so I think Ill head over to the South of France instead where the sun is far more reliable! I need to book a flight to meet my friends in Marseille so I turn to British Airways.

As a Conversion Optimisation Consultant, I cant help but take note of both the positive aspects of their site - and also the areas for improvement.

Join me on my user journey and discover some of the most relevant neuroscience principles I found that apply to their site.

The context

A path in 9 steps

2 3

Fly-DriveProposition Search Results

Passengers

6 7

Seats

8

Payment

9

Price

4

5

Add Car Rental

1

Homepage

Log In

A path in 9 steps

9 steps! Thats a lot of steps to have to go through for a flight booking But then it seems every airline does this.

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Homepage

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Homepage

Theres no Call-to-Action on the slides: theres nothing to catch my attention!

Attentional bias

Homepage

This is the first time Ive used British Airways so why is this Call-To-Action displayed? It should only be displayed to returning customers otherwise it is just drawing attention away unnecessarily.

Attention Ratio

Homepage

There are too many fields! Are they really all necessary right now?

Ambiguity Aversion

Homepage

Placing a Call-to-Action on the slider will make it clearer what you want people to do and lead them to the right information.

A photo would improve the appearance of the site and make it more modern and engaging.

Proposalfor improvem

ent

Von Restorff Effect

Reducing the number of fields will make the page clearer and encourage more people to complete the search.

Homepage

Usefulness &

Relevance

If I leave and come back, even days later, the fields are already pre-filled with my most recent search.

Homepage

Framing Effect

The word Find is far more positive and motivating than Search.

Fly-Drive Proposition

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Fly-Drive Proposition

I clicked on Find flights, I want to see flights not cars!

The option for this is already on the homepage AND again after the flight choice. This is surely more than enough?

Intention &

Self-Regulation

Search Results

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Search Results

Curse of Knowledge What is Avios? Theres no explanation

and the banner isnt clickable!

Cognitive Fluency

Search Results

We first have a big blank zone, then too much information crammed in to one space.

Search Results

The presentation is cleaner with the details of the different classes still available on hover.

Proposalfor improvem

ent

Cognitive Fluency

Scarcity Effect

I am going to hurry and book because they tell me theres only one seat left at this price!

Search Results

Information Bias When I click on More

Details a pop-up tells me everything I need to know about the different classes.

Search Results

Visual Cueing

This shaded arrow draws my attention down to the Call-To-Action.

Search

Search Results

Price

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Price

Price

Dont Make me Think

I have to scroll to the very end of the page to see the Call-To-Action. Do I really have to read everything? All this excessive information is inducing stress and cognitive friction.

Price

Price

This could be a floating window visible anywhere on the page which directly leads to the bottom of the page and the CTA. The wording of the text also makes it clear that these are all just options and not necessarily important info.

Proposalfor improvem

ent

Dont Make me Think

Add Car Rental

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Add Car Rental

Commitment &

Consistency

This is the right time to show me car rental offers - and the prices have already been calculated for my whole trip!

Log In

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Log In

Need For Certainty The reasons why I

should register are clearly displayed.

Passengers

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Passengers

Foot-In-The-Door

Technique

This page is divided in to three forms: Passengers, Person paying and Keeping you informed. This keeps each form short and clear, which encourages me to complete them all.

Passengers

Seats

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Seats

Cognitive Fluency

The progression bar has suddenly disappeared on this page! This is confusing.

Seats

Cognitive Fluency And even when the progression

bar is present, there are many differences between each page in terms of design, names of steps, number of steps Its confusing and lacks visual fluency.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 2 bis

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Payment

Fly-DriveProposition

Search Results

Passengers Seats Payment

Price

Add Car Rental

Homepage

Log In

Payment

Payment

Pain of Paying

The colour red is too aggressive and stressful; it makes me feel like paying will be extra painful.

Payment

Payment

329.00

The aggressive red has been replaced by a relaxing green; the amount has been rounded up to something simpler, smoother, with fewer syllables; and GBP has been removed from the total price to avoid excessive & unnecessary monetary reminders.

Proposalfor improvem

ent

Price Cognition

Thank you for reading! I imagine youre now thinking

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Contact us to optimise your revenue

1 2 3Thanks, I know how

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In this case: Click here to discover 5 cognitive biases you

might not know about.

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website.

I dont have time to think about this.

Sounds like youre suffering from the Status Quo Bias -

read more here.

Benjamin LigierCRO Project Manager

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