autopilot
A revolutionary travel companion, offering real-time insights for optimal flight point redemption that maximizes your rewards for more exciting adventures!
Product Experience
Problem Space
Problem Statement
How can we simplify the process of maximizing flight point redemption for travelers with flight reward program(s) so that they can travel more for less?
Problem Background
Who is the customer?
Our target customers are frequent travelers participating in one or more flight reward programs. They seek to maximize their earned points for acquiring complimentary flights, in hopes of traveling more for less. We define frequent travelers as individuals that travel multiple times (>3) per year, that have experienced the flight point redemption process, aim to obtain the best point value manually, and struggle to make informed decisions on point purchases that maximize their travel rewards.
What is the need or problem we’re addressing?
The problem we’re addressing is the difficulty in finding optimal deals to maximize point redemption value and the challenges in securing available flights with points to target destinations. While conducting our own user research, 30% of travelers encountered challenges in locating favorable deals that maximized point redemption value, with 20% facing difficulties finding availability to use points for flights to their desired destinations.
Evidently, travelers are facing hurdles in both securing advantageous deals and finding point availability for specific target destinations, contributing to the frustrations experienced by most frequent travelers.
How do we know this is a problem?
The problem has been identified through extensive user interviews/surveys and market research. Travelers have expressed their frustrations with the current flight point redemption process and their desire for a more streamlined, automated approach. The fact that the majority of travelers perform manual calculations using a calculator to determine their point redemption value, whilst still being affected by point devaluations unknowingly, challenges the efficiency and effectiveness of point redemption, making it more difficult for individuals to optimize their rewards for travel, underscoring the need for a more effective solution.
Research Insights
User Pain Points
At the core of our user research, travelers are finding it challenging to locate favorable deals that maximize point redemption value and finding availability to redeem flights with points to their desired destination. For instance, Rick struggles with determining the best way to efficiently maximize his point value during the redemption process, while one user responded that the “lack of availability” frustrates them. These insights, combined with the fact that 50% of travelers found it challenging to redeem their points for complimentary flights contribute to frustrations in traveling more for less.
Supporting User Data
- Traveler Motivations: 90% of travelers engage in multiple trips annually, are also members of travel rewards programs, often redeem 40% of their flights with points.
- Traveler Priorities: 80% of travelers prioritize redeeming flights with points. Additionally, 77.5% prioritize maximizing point redemption value.
- Point Redemption Experience: When redeeming points for flights, 80% of travelers check point value. 45% manually calculate with a calculator, and 7.5% use online tools (Excel & CPP calculator). For 75% of travelers, calculated value strongly influences flight redemption decisions. If they can maximize point value, 70% prefer using points.
- Point Value and Devaluation Awareness: 92.5% of travelers exhibit some degree of familiarity with point value, with 77.5% aware of point devaluations, and 12.5% that have no awareness at all.
Feedback
Our research shows that 37.5% of travelers desire a product guiding them on the best time to use points for maximum redemption value, streamlining the process. They seek a tool eliminating manual efforts, advising on optimal flight redemption to maximize value.
Landing on the Solution
We propose an automated tool that streamlines the process of maximizing point redemption through efficient and real-time insights for point utilization.
Explanation of Solution
The solution ensures users get the most value for their points on specific travel dates, through real-time point value insights preventing users from paying more for less. The tool will empower users with immediate insights for chosen flights and meet users' demand for real-time information on optimal travel dates and point availability, enabling informed decisions on point redemption. In addition, the tool simplifies the calculation steps for point value, ensuring an effortless and hassle-free redemption process. Our solution streamlines this process by:
- Maximize Point Redemption: Notification feature that informs travelers that they maximized their earned points for specific flight routes enabling efficient use of accumulated flight points.
- Real-time Insights: Displays the current point redemption value and if it is worth redeeming points for chosen flight, to help travelers make an informed decision on point redemption.
- Point Calendar: Provides travelers the best redemption dates and availability to utilize points for desired flight route.
Ultimately, the product aligns with users' goal of traveling more for less, leveraging accumulated points for significant cost-savings and an enhanced travel experience.
User Flow/Mock-ups
User flow diagram for Point Calendar Creation and Best Redemption Date:
Mockup: autopilot Chrome Extension Marketing Promo
Mockup: autopilot Maximized Redemption Value, Point Value Insight, and Point Calendar Feature
Future Steps
- MVP Development: Lead a cross-functional team of designers and developers to build out the first working version of this product that directly addresses user pain points to satisfy early adopters.
- Product Iterations: Institute a continuous feedback loop and iterative development process, ensuring the product stays aligned with user needs and remains consistently relevant.
- Product Scaling: Investigate avenues for scaling the product, introducing advanced features, and broadening the user base to unlock new opportunities for growth. For example:
- Integrate product with all major airline reward programs.
- Real-time point value insights to cover factors like seat availability and cabin class upgrades.
- Implement an AI-driven feature that learns from user behavior to send personalized alerts for optimal redemption opportunities.
Other documents
Research Synthesis Presentation
Portfolio Thumbnail
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
John Miranda
Co.Lab was an amazing experience! Here are my learnings:
- Dig Deeper into the Problem: Understanding the problem space involves identifying user pain points through effective research methods that leads to a profound understanding of user context, frustrations, and aspirations, laying the foundation for effective product development.
- User-Centric Approach: By placing users at the heart of all decision making, it helps align the product with genuine user needs, fostering satisfaction, loyalty, and the creation of successful, user-friendly solutions.
- Be Empathic: Empathy entails understanding users' experiences and emotions, crucial for designing solutions that resonate emotionally and functionally to meet their needs.
- Feedback is King: Feedback provides valuable insights into user preferences, identifies areas for improvement, and informs data-driven decision-making. It fosters continuous improvement, helps align the product with user needs, and strengthens the overall user experience.
- Interpret Uniquely: Real breakthroughs occur when interpreting information uniquely, beyond the surface. While having data is valuable, diving between the lines to unveil the actual problem is even more significant. A fresh perspective often sparks innovation, discoveries, and new insights!
Designer Learnings:
Designer Learnings:
Jo Sturdivant
- Adapting to an Established Team: Joining the team in week 6 of 8 was challenging, as I had to quickly adapt to existing workflows, dynamics, and goals. This mirrors real-world situations where you often integrate into teams mid-project, and flexibility is essential.
- Work-Blocking for Efficiency: With only two weeks to complete the project, I learned the importance of a structured work-blocking system. This approach allowed me to manage my time effectively and meet deadlines under pressure.
- Making Data-Driven Design Decisions: Unlike my past projects, I had to rely on research conducted by others. This was a valuable experience in using pre-existing data to guide design decisions, helping me focus on the core insights without starting from scratch.
Developer Learnings:
Developer Learnings:
Vanady Beard
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As the back-end developer, I learned how important it is to create efficient and reliable systems that support the entire application. This experience also taught me the importance of optimising the database and ensuring the backend is scalable and easy to maintain.
Developer Learnings:
Stephen Asiedu
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As a back-end developer, I've come to understand the importance of being familiar with various database systems and modules. This knowledge enables me to build diverse applications and maintain versatility in my work. I've also learned that the responsibility for making the right choices rests on my shoulders, guided by my best judgement.
Developer Learnings:
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Developer Learnings:
Maurquise Williams
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- Process of Creating an MVP: Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) taught me how to focus on delivering core functionalities balancing between essential features and avoiding scope creep.
- Collaboration in a Real-World Tech Setting: This experience taught me how to collaborate efficiently in a fast-paced tech environment, keeping the team aligned and productive, even while working remotely across time zones.
- Sharpening Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills: This experience honed my ability to think critically and solve problems efficiently. By tackling challenges and finding quick solutions, I sharpened my decision-making and troubleshooting skills in a dynamic, real-world setting.
Developer Learnings:
Jeremiah Williams
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All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key
Developers Learnings:
Justin Farley
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I learned how important communication is when working with a team. Communication provides understanding, advice, ideas, and much more. While working with the product team, I’ve found that communication keeps everything flowing smoothly. Working with a team also showed me that every member brings something different to the table and we all have to work together in order to align and meet our end goal.