IRCTC RESERVATIONS UX

PROJECT SUMMARYIRCTC is a website that allows users to book train tickets online It removes the pain of physical reservations with a trusty yet cluttered user interface My role was to research, interview users and redesign the UI to enhance the user experience by making it simple for existing and future users

 

Project  Input

Project Name IRCTC reservations UX

Project Tagline Making reservations hassle free for IRCTC users

Project Summary

IRCTC is a website that allows users to book train tickets online. It removes the pain of physical reservations with a trusty yet cluttered user interface. My role was to research, interview users and redesign the UI to enhance the user experience by making it simple for existing and future users.

Company/Client Name IRCTC

Timeframe 1/11/2016 - 8/01/2017

Your Major Tasks & Responsibilities User Interviews to gain insights for the redesign process

Platforms Desktop

Design Tools / UX Methods UsedAxure RP, Heuristic Evaluation, Competitive Analysis, User Interviews

Link to Final Project http://dhfjnq.axshare.com/#c=2  

What IRCTC Wants Users To See

Upfront Promotion Other features

What Users Ignore

UX PROCESS

Heuristic Evaluation

Competition Analysis

User Groups & Profiles

Personas

Interview Protocol

User Interviews Redesign

Heuristic EvaluationHeuristic evaluation to find out how IRCTC stands against standard usability criteria, where the following problems were discovered:

1. Search Box is sidelined, even though it is the main task 

2. The difference between 'Plan your Journey' and 'Quick Book’ are unclear

3. User has to manually click in the next text field

4. No provision to save journey details

5. No information about what 'flexible with dates' is 

6. No information on ‘I’ll book in special concession’

7. No information on what '1A, 2A, 3A' are 

8. No proper information on what are train types

9. The rows are too close causing confusion

10. Users are expected to remember codes 

11. '2A, 3A, SL' lack visual affordance, confusing user by making them think where to go next

12. The instructions that indicate the next step are tiny and red in color

13. Ambiguous messages that might confuse a novice user

14. Error messages look alarming15. Error messages appear away

from the area of concern

Captcha

16. Inconsistent captchas17. The login page has a numerical

captcha18. Passenger details page has an

ad captcha

Competition AnalysisSince IRCTC has a very cluttered site, did a competition analysis of yatra.com and cleartrip.com to see what and how were they doing things differently

Yatra

UI is similar to IRCTC, but way better

Draws attention to what's necessary

Good feature: Confirmation of train details before booking the ticket

Cleartrip

Very clean layout User doesn't have to think

where to go next No distractions and confusions

User Groups and ProfilesDefined three user groups and their user profiles to define the target usersCreated two personas based on those profiles in order to recruit users for interviews

Students Engineers Booking Agent

Language English, Hindi     English, Hindi     English, Hindi    

Education Masters                         Bachelor's degree Technical Education

Domain Expertise Low Low High

Computer Expertise Medium to High High Medium to High

Age/ Sex 23; 2 females 45; 2 males 35; 1 male

Expectations Ease of use,Speed of task

Ease of use,Secure payment

Speed of task, Efficiency of task

Names Manzi, Sharmi

Venkatesh,Suhas Govind

Persona 1Jeslin Joseph (Student)

Jeslin Joseph

BioJeslin’s dad is a businessman who has multiple enterprises in Mumbai and Kerala which causes them to travel back and forth frequently. She wants to be able to book tickets quickly as she is specific about the train and its timings. Being a phone addict, she wants to use IRCTC on the go.

“I want to be able to book instantly, I only go to Trivandrum by trains”

Age: 21Work: StudentFamily: SingleLocation: Mumbai, IndiaCharacter: Phone Addict

Goals• Be able to compare ticket fares• Change the class of travel based on

availability• Secure online transactions

Frustrations• Ad captcha• Entering journey details every single time• Session log outs

Persona 2Ajay Patil (Engineer)

Ajay Patil

BioAjay has been using IRCTC since a long time. He books a train ticket at least once a month either for himself or for others.Being a loyal user, he is very comfortable with the site but wishes that the layout were a little less congested and asked for confirmation at critical levels.

“I want to know the list of boarding stations and be able to change them”

Age: 45Work: EngineerFamily: MarriedLocation: Mumbai, IndiaCharacter: Loyal Customer

Goals• Availability of confirm tickets• Know when he has over ridden his booking

limit• Secure online transactions

Frustrations• Irrelevant ads• Cluttered layout• Ad Captcha

Interview ProtocolScripted interview questions for users based on the previous steps and IRCTC's business intentions which would help understand specific problems that users face 

User Interviews (Highlights)

User Group 1Students

ManziAt the 'available book now' page, Manzi said, "Where do I go now? where do I go

now?"

Uses mobile to access IRCTC, doesn't know there's an app for it

Has to guess the date based on the days of train schedules

Doesn't know about the 'select favorite journey list' and 'save passenger details’

Checks Tamil calendar for train details

Problem remembering train codes

SharmiWould like to have the booking option

prior to 2 months. "4 Months is too long a time"

Didn't see the ad captcha, kept hitting the 'next' button as the error message appears above fold

Doesn't know about the filters, couldn’t change the place of departure

Would like to avail meal and cab services

Has a habit of working on multiple tabs while booking

Wants to book for more than 6 passengers at a time

User Group 2Engineers

Venkatesh

"I have to type the station names correctly"

Departure time not mentioned on the passenger details page, "No way to know for sure that I've booked the right date/ train"

Class of travel depends on passenger's age

Would prefer to avail snacks services

"Site is stuffy”

Would like to a avail cab services as trains are not punctual

SuhasSuggested that prior and later date options should be offered as opposed to only later dates

Books a ticket at least once a month

Uses the mobile app sparingly as it takes longer to fill in details as compared to PC

Wouldn’t prefer to meal or cab services

Doesn't use an agent because it is easy to DIY

“The site could be aesthetically better”

User Group 3Booking Agent

GovindHe called the process easy and yet, “Once I login, I'm inside the dragon's den. Now I can do anything”

Doesn't use filter options rather uses the 'train in between stations' feature

“Customers do not avail cab/ hotel services”

Uses keyboard to switch between passenger details

Knows the codes by heart

“Mobile is problematic because I am not comfortable with the small space”

Redesign Decisions (Highlights)Based on user interview insights

Home Page

1. Displayed all the ads in the home page, users will pay attention to novelty

2. Did away tickrs and ‘alerts & updates’, its distracting and no one pays attention to it

3. The login button opens in a new tab4. Did away with the pop-up that encourages cashless transactions,

users don’t bother to read it. Instead incorporated it with IRCTC E-Wallet ad

Main Tab

5. Displayed only those options which are most essential6. Minimized the options to 5 in order to make it easy for the user to

notice

Services

7. Incorporated services such as E-Bedroll, E-Catering and E-Wheelchair in the ticketing process

8. Users cannot opt for such services unless they know about it9. Kept the service options to a minimum, users don’t want Snap Deal

shopping to be a part of their ticketing process

Captcha

10. Consistency is key11. Used ad captcha on both the login page and the Passenger details

page, so that users know what to expect

Error Messages

12. Error message appear next to the problem area13. Framed error messages in a way that users understand what's wrong14. Framed error messages in a way that users know how to fix the

problem 

Save Details

15. Made ‘save journey details’, ‘save passenger details’ more obvious as users want to use these options but were unable to

Conclusion

What I learnt

I learnt that the interview process is both complicated and exciting. It is also the one of the most important steps in UX design as those inputs inform our design decisions.

Its difficult to stick to the sequence of the questions as the users don’t talk in a step by step manner, they might answer your questions even when not asked for it

Its better to record the interview rather than taking notes

Surprising insights

During the research process, I was genuinely surprised in the difference between how an expert user uses the website as compared to the regular user.

The fact that one of the users used a Tamil calendar for train details was also striking as that was an external aid in the ticketing process. 

It was most fun to see how users were praising the website but when they were given a task to perform they started citing the problems one by one. 

Users are oblivious to the problems, are loyal because they are used to the website.

Challenges overcome

Challenge 1: Shyness. I was hesitant to talk to users as most of them were strangers and this was my first time ever conducting user interviews. But my first interview surprised me with so many insights that I couldn't wait to interview others.  Challenge 2: Active listening. In my first 4 interviews, I was in a rush to take notes down as the users narrated their end of the story. During this process of note taking I realized that I wasn't able to give my full attention to the user and hence lacked a bit in active listening. In order to fix this, I decided to record the interview session, and was able to concentrate on the user and took the notes later on.  

It was fun

While the whole project was a learning experience, I particularly enjoyed the user interviews. Every user I interviewed gave me new insights that I wouldn't have discovered by myself.

Just talking to the user, we understand their mentality and their concerns as to why or why not they take certain measures and what features on the sites are completely ignored as the user doesn't pay any attention to it and are not aware of others but would like to avail them when asked about it. 

Thank You