Lufthansa Innovation Hub
Travely
One-Stop Shop for Inspiration
My role
UX Design
UX Research
Timeline
December 2022 - February 2023
(3 months)
Results
Validated the desirability of both travelers and travel content creators for a travel webshop.
What if…we make a webshop where travellers can book experiences from their favourite travel content creators ?
I worked with the New Business and Strategic Design team to validate the potential of a digital venture in the creator economy space.
LIH is a daughter company of the Lufthansa Group, and operates with the mission to push the limits of innovation, and one of the ways they do it is by incubating innovative ventures.
Embarking on my internship journey at Lufthansa Innovation Hub (LIH), I was thrilled to dive into my first project: Travely.
The primary objective of our project was to delve into the potential of Travely and its ability to cater to the needs of our users.
The opportunity
"How might we enable fair compensation for travel content creators while ensuring travelers that their experiences will align with their preferences?"
Idea concept
In the vast landscape of travel content creation, travelers often struggle to find authentic recommendations while content creators face challenges in monetizing their passion for sharing experiences.
Amidst this status quo, the idea for Travely was born.
Travely aims to empower both travelers and content creators by creating a platform where travelers could find authentic recommendations from their favorite creators and creators could monetize their content efficiently.
Research
Ok, great idea but… how do we know if it's going to work?
Doing the research
With the strategic intelligence capability (LIH's research team) leading the desk research, we know that…
62% of users follow influencers for their travel content.
84% of them consider travel influencer content as helpful & trustworthy recommendations.
The creator economy taps into an enormous potential for travel brands, tapping into over 13.8 billion USD.
You can check out the extended research on this topic in the Travel and Mobility (TNMT) website of LIH.
Understanding the user
To gain insights into user needs and preferences, the team conducted interviews:
7 interviews with content creators.
Content creators are interested in a solution that let's them monetise their content to focus on creating more for their community.
10 interviews with leisure travelers.
Travelers desire a convenient, guided way to create travel experiences based on creator recommendations. And want to have the flexibility to mix and match travel components from different creators.
"When I plan my travels I find it hard to avoid the mass attractions and find unique recommendations. Also, it's not easy to find trustworthy information.” - Katharina
Did she just say trustworthy?
Katharina, like many other travellers, struggle to find recommendations and information from trustworthy sources.
Content creation has changed the game for travel influencers when they introduced video content.
This way users feel that they can pre-experience the place before booking so that their experiences match their expectations.
Customer journey
Based on the user interviews with leisure travelers we created a customer journey to shape the experience of the user.
User Journey
To validate the concept and gather further insights, we decided to test Travely with our end users, the followers:
Creator Poll
We chose 2 travel content creators to post stories about Travely to measure the interest of travel content followers.
The creators were indicated to add a poll, and an "Ask me anything" question on Instagram & TikTok about their possible Webshop to get the opinion of their communities.
Poll results
As a result, we found out that both communities of each content creator presented a high interest rate:
Creator 1 (Tiktok 1.5M followers): 85%
Creator 2 (Instagram 15K): 95%
The outcome
There is strong interest in a solution bridging the gap between travel inspiration and booking.
Content creators show high interest in a solution that enhances content monetization and user engagement.
Existing players in the market don't fulfill these needs at the moment.
Reflection
More followers does not mean better engagement
One of the most fascinating outcomes of this project, on a personal level, was gaining a deeper understanding for the significance of community engagement.
Throughout the project, we had the pleasure of partnering with a diverse group of content creators, each possessing their unique spectrum of followers.
Interestingly, what emerged as a valuable lesson was that the impact of these collaborations was not solely determined by the size of their following. Rather, it was the authentic and meaningful connections they fostered that often led to the most impactful outcomes.