DROPS

The DROPS feature was developed to help travelers easily discover significant flight price reductions, driving app engagement and retention for Skyscanner. Extensive research and a broader Deals Experience Strategy Workshop validated the concept, highlighting the importance of price transparency, exclusivity, and personalization. The successful implementation led to increased user activity, higher conversion rates, and a stronger direct relationship with travelers, with future improvements focusing on enhanced personalization and expanded deal offerings.

Service

UX Research, Product Design, Design Thinking

Year

2023-2024

Team

Claire Holmes, Jess Melia, Joe Frazer

Overview

Skyscanner's DROPS feature was developed to address a key opportunity in the travel industry: providing travelers with real-time alerts on significant flight price reductions. DROPS is an app-exclusive feature that identifies and highlights flights that have dropped in price by more than 20% in the past seven days, providing a seamless and efficient way for users to find and book discounted flights. The feature is designed to drive user engagement, encourage app downloads, and increase repeat usage by offering exclusive, time-sensitive travel deals.

Problems & Opportunities

Research highlighted several key challenges and opportunities related to deals and traveler behavior:

Price Sensitivity: 70% of shoppers look for deals before making a purchase, and 27% of travelers consider finding atypically low travel prices a top priority.
Price Fluctuations: Travelers often pay an average price difference of 37% for the same flight, indicating a lack of visibility into optimal booking opportunities.
Engagement & Retention: The majority of Skyscanner users are not in a direct relationship with the platform. By 2025, the goal is to establish a stronger direct connection with users.
Behavioral Insights: Research from the Deals Generative Session indicated that travelers value both price reductions and additional deal-related benefits, such as personalized recommendations and confidence in booking at the right time.

The process

Addressing problems & opportunities

To validate the concept and refine the strategy behind DROPS, I led the following key initiatives:

Deals Experience Strategy Workshop: A cross-functional workshop was held to assess the feasibility and impact of different deal strategies, ensuring alignment with user needs and business objectives.
Extensive User Research: Multiple studies, including panel user testing, conjoint study and behavioral analysis, were conducted to understand how travelers perceive and interact with deals.
Feature Development: A backend system was built to track flight price changes in real time, filtering price drops of 20% or more and presenting them exclusively in the app for logged-in users.
Brand, Marketing & Engagement Plan: I worked closely with the Brand team to develop a unique identity for DROPS, as it was positioned as an exclusive, app-only benefit, with push notifications alerting users when new price drops became available.

Key UX Research Findings

Personalization Matters

Travelers showed strong interest in receiving deals relevant to their preferences, such as specific destinations or trip timing.

Exclusivity Drives Engagement

Exclusive deals (i.e., not available elsewhere) were more likely to encourage users to log in and interact with the app.

Time Sensitivity

While travelers appreciated price drops, they also valued flexibility in booking, indicating that Drops should provide clear expiration timelines without creating excessive urgency.

Implementation phase
Outputs

Feature Rollout
DROPS was launched as an app-exclusive feature, requiring users to log in to access it, aligned to our 2025 strategy of increasing LTV.

Price Drop Algorithm
An API was developed to scan millions of flights daily, identifying price drops of 20% or more. This is something that could also be diversified to hotels & cars down the line.

Push Notifications & UI Enhancements
Users received timely notifications and email alerts so they could access a dedicated DROPS section within the app.

Integrated Brand & Marketing Campaign
A landing page and QR code-based promotional campaign were deployed to drive app downloads and awareness.

Impact delivered

The launch of Drops led to significant improvements in Skyscanner’s user engagement, retention, and booking rates. With industry benchmarks indicating that personalized deal offerings can increase conversion rates by 10-15%, Drops outperformed expectations, driving a 20% increase in app logins and a 15% rise in repeat usage. The feature contributed to a 12% boost in flight bookings among engaged users, demonstrating the effectiveness of providing timely, exclusive deals. Additionally, push notifications for Drops achieved a 30% open rate, well above the industry average of 20%, highlighting strong user interest in these offers. Overall, the success of Drops validated the strategy of leveraging dynamic pricing insights to enhance the travel booking experience.

Increased Engagement: The feature drove higher app usage and login rates, as users actively returned to check for new Drops.
Higher Conversion Rates: Users interacting with Drops demonstrated a higher likelihood of booking flights compared to those using standard search functions.
Improved Retention: Drops contributed to increased user retention by offering recurring value through dynamic and time-sensitive deals.
Enhanced Brand Perception: Skyscanner positioned itself as a proactive travel deal provider, leveraging real-time pricing insights to benefit travelers.

20%

increase in app logins

12%

boost in flight bookings among engaged users

30%

email open rate, as compared to baseline average of 20%

15%

rise in repeat usage

Conclusion & learnings

DROPS enhanced the user experience with real-time price drops, boosting engagement and strengthening Skyscanner's reputation as a trusted travel deal provider.

The Drops feature successfully addressed a key pain point for price-sensitive travelers while driving engagement and retention for Skyscanner. By leveraging real-time price insights, personalization, and exclusivity, Drops established itself as a valuable addition to the Skyscanner ecosystem. Future iterations will focus on enhancing personalization, expanding deal types, and refining the user experience to further optimize its impact.

Key Learnings

Further Personalization Opportunities: The potential to refine Drops by incorporating user preferences and past searches could enhance engagement.
Expanded Deal Criteria: Future iterations could explore additional factors such as route popularity, airline partnerships, and bundled discounts (e.g., including baggage fees or seat selection discounts).
Multi-Platform Expansion: While Drops is currently app-exclusive, exploring web-based availability could increase adoption.
Refinement of Deal Expiry Mechanics: More transparency around deal expiration and booking windows could improve user trust and decision-making.