A flight booking flow that enables users with valid GST number to avail corporate fare benefits
Cleartrip for work
Out of office (OOO) - Cleartrip’s corporate travel management tool is designed to meet the specific needs of large enterprises. It offers real-time policy customisation, integration of travel expenses with travel services, access to self-contracted corporate fares and real-time invoicing.
The question arises when Cleartrip already had a ‘All-in-one’ comprehensive package, why was there a need to launch ‘Cleartrip for work’?
The answer lies in addressing the distinct needs of SMEs and individuals with valid GST registration. While ‘Out of Office’ caters to large enterprises, ‘Cleartrip for Work’ focuses on providing high value fares and benefits to businesses and professionals in a more simpler way, allowing them to claim GST input tax credit, ensuring that every segment of the market can access tailored travel solutions.
Setting the stage
B2B fare
B2C retail fare
Corporate fare
Current coverage of fare spectrum on Cleartrip
B2B fare
B2C retail fare
Corporate fare
Coverage of fare spectrum post 'Cleartrip for work' launch on Cleartrip
Growth potential
Airlines offer a range of fare types to OTA platforms, including B2B agency fares, series fares, retail fares, and corporate fares. Until now, Cleartrip has primarily focused on B2C retail fares, covering only a small portion of the airline fare spectrum. There was little to no emphasis on value-based corporate fares and B2B fares.
‘Cleartrip for Work’ aims to address this gap by covering the entire spectrum of fares offered by airlines. By creating awareness about these fares among our current audience and targeting new customers (SMEs and individuals with GST registration), aim was to increase transaction volume and provide greater value to our users.
Unveiling key decision drivers
To understand the travel booking behaviour of SMEs and independent individuals managing their own travel arrangements, my colleague Yatin (UXR) and I conducted a research. Our findings revealed two primary decision-making factors :
Value:
Others prioritise fares offering benefits like minimal cancellation fees, free seat and meal selection
Timing:
Some prioritise flights based on schedule alignment
Our ideal plan
The initial launch of 'Cleartrip for Work' (CFW) focused solely on domestic flights. However, our vision extended far beyond this. Our aim was to scale CFW across all aspects of travel, including domestic and international flights, hotels, buses, and cabs.
As we expanded our user base from retail customers to SMEs, scalability became a priority. To address this, we wanted to develop a dedicated profile-based solution catering to both retail and SME users, ensuring a seamless transition between profiles.
Navigating constraints
User feedback & validation
CFW goes LIVE!
We then began brainstorming alternative ways to introduce 'Cleartrip for Work' on our flights homepage.
Our goal was to enable users to avail corporate fare benefits with minimal development effort, ensuring that we stayed on track with our planned go-to-market launch date.
Flights home page · Concept 1
Introducing ‘Cleartrip for work’ as checkbox
Flights home page · Concept 2
Introducing 'Cleartrip for work' as Business fare alongside other Passenger type code (PTC) fares
A. Solving for discovery
After evaluating the pros and cons of multiple ideas, we arrived at two potential solutions for 'Cleartrip for Work' discovery on our homepage:
However, things didn’t go as planned. After discussing the idea with our Product and Engineering teams, we realized that creating a dedicated profile for SMEs presented significant challenges. This approach would require increased development efforts, ultimately delaying our go-to-market timeline beyond the planned launch in June '24.
1.
How might we allow users to view multiple fare options on our search results page without additional clicks, while ensuring they are not overwhelmed by too many choices?
2.
How might we help users determine which fare option would be most suitable for them on our search results page?
C. Reimagining the untouched
Snapshot of fare listing from MMT, EaseMyTrip, Yatra & Goibibo on their search results page
We observed two common patterns among competitors:
👎🏽 They displayed the lowest fare upfront, concealing the entire fare corpus behind a click on their search results page (SRP)
👎🏽 Fare benefits such as free seat and meal selection, lower cancellation and date change fees were also hidden behind a click, rather than being shown upfront
The search results page is a crucial page of the flight pre-booking process. Why?
• It is where price comparisons among flights and fares take place
• Users often open multiple OTA platforms to compare prices on the search results page, identifying which app offers the best prices based on their flight preferences
Noticing shortcomings among competitors led us to think:
Series of explorations done for one way search results page (SRP), allowing users to compare multiple fare options
Series of explorations done for round trip search results page (SRP), allowing users to compare multiple fare options
Initially, we were constrained to make minor changes to the existing round trip booking experience. These adjustments were designed to minimise developmental effort, ensuring we met the go-to-market timeline, while also helping users recognise that better fare options (fares with lower cancellation and date change fees, free seat and meal) were available beyond the leanest fare displayed on our search results page.
B. Setting Cleartrip apart
We assessed how industry peers are meeting the demands of SMEs/Individuals seeking high-value fares, enabling us to recognise which strategies to adopt and which to discard.
For all that, we weren't entirely satisfied with this approach and aimed to bring the same level of excellence to our round trip booking experience that we had achieved with our one-way flight bookings. In parallel, we began developing a concept for the round trip booking experience to match the quality of the one-way experience.
We recognised that only a fully functional working prototype and a testament directly from users would convince our stakeholders that now is the optimal time to reimagine our 14-year-old round trip search results page (SRP).
With multiple concepts in hand, our aim with testing was to sought direct feedback from users. We tested the entire 'Cleartrip for work' flow with 10 participants aged between 25-35 years who came from industries like manufacturing, finance, retail and were based in cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
Cohort 1 (5 participants):
SMEs unaware of the benefits of corporate/business fares
Cohort 2 (5 participants):
SMEs aware of the benefits of corporate/business fares
We presented various concepts to our participants and analysed their behaviour while they performed the task of booking a flight from Bangalore to Delhi to identify the variant that resonated most with them.
By the end of our testing, a clear pattern emerged, showing a strong preference for variants that met all their needs. The feedback from users provided us the conviction needed to select the final variant for implementation.
PRESENTING
CLEARTRIP FOR WORK
✅ Users understood that they need to enter GST details to avail these benefits
✅ Checkbox approach on home page enabled users to view 'Cleartrip for work' benefits upfront, clearly showing them the advantages of opting in
Discovery on flights home page
Cleartrip’s round trip booking experience had remained unchanged since 2010. Back then, Cleartrip pioneered the split-screen concept for booking round trip flights, a concept that many OTAs have since adopted.
However, after 14 years, it was time to reimagine this experience. Enhancing the discovery of multiple fares on the search results page for round trips proved to be more complex than for one-way flights. Despite this, stakeholders were hesitant to embrace such a significant redesign due to the immense pressure to launch Cleartrip for Work on the planned go-to-market date.
Cleartrip's existing round trip experience
✅ Prioritise
Enabled users to narrow down their search based on preferred flight timings
✅ Visibility
Allowed users to view multiple fares upfront on the search results page (SRP) without hiding them behind additional clicks
✅ Compare
Facilitated quick comparison of benefits among multiple fares
Search results with diverse fare options
Unveiling the entire
fare corpus
Quick access to fare options in case you change your mind
Full flexibility with Cleartrip add-ons
Any user coming on to the platform
Repeat CFW user
Home page
Default CFW
home page
CFW home
page
SRP
SRP
Itinerary (Provision
to access entire
fare corp corpus)
Itinerary (Provision
to access entire
fare corp corpus)
Traveller
details page
* To attract more users and familiarise them with the CFW flow, GST will be made optional for the first booking
* Mandatory GST and GST verification to be done via 2nd booking onwards
Traveller
details page
Payments
Payments
Flight search query
Flight search query
Switch b/w profiles from accounts
CFW landing page (Configurable),
perks of CFW
CFW landing page (Configurable), perks of CFW, mandatory login
Logged in user
Guest user
Corporate fare
Setting the stage
Out of office (OOO) - Cleartrip’s corporate travel management tool is designed to meet the specific needs of large enterprises. It offers real-time policy customisation, integration of travel expenses with travel services, access to self-contracted corporate fares and real-time invoicing.
The question arises when Cleartrip already had a ‘All-in-one’ comprehensive package, why was there a need to launch ‘Cleartrip for work’?
The answer lies in addressing the distinct needs of SMEs and individuals with valid GST registration. While ‘Out of Office’ caters to large enterprises, ‘Cleartrip for Work’ focuses on providing high value fares and benefits to businesses and professionals in a more simpler way, allowing them to claim GST input tax credit, ensuring that every segment of the market can access tailored travel solutions.
Growth potential
Airlines offer a range of fare types to OTA platforms, including B2B agency fares, series fares, retail fares, and corporate fares. Until now, Cleartrip has primarily focused on B2C retail fares, covering only a small portion of the airline fare spectrum. There was little to no emphasis on value-based corporate fares and B2B fares.
‘Cleartrip for Work’ aims to address this gap by covering the entire spectrum of fares offered by airlines. By creating awareness about these fares among our current audience and targeting new customers (SMEs and individuals with GST registration), aim was to increase transaction volume and provide greater value to our users.
Current coverage of fare spectrum on Cleartrip
B2B fare
B2C retail fare
Corporate fare
Coverage of fare spectrum post 'Cleartrip for work' launch
B2B fare
B2C retail fare
Corporate fare
Unveiling key decision drivers
To understand the travel booking behaviour of SMEs and independent individuals managing their own travel arrangements, my colleague Yatin (UXR) and I conducted a research. Our findings revealed two primary decision-making factors :
Timing:
Some prioritise flights based on schedule alignment.
Timing:
Some prioritise flights based on schedule alignment.
Our ideal plan
The initial launch of 'Cleartrip for Work' (CFW) focused solely on domestic flights. However, our vision extended far beyond this. Our aim was to scale CFW across all aspects of travel, including domestic and international flights, hotels, buses, and cabs.
As we expanded our user base from retail customers to SMEs, scalability became a priority. To address this, we wanted to develop a dedicated profile-based solution catering to both retail and SME users, ensuring a seamless transition between profiles.
However, things didn’t go as planned. After discussing the idea with our Product and Engineering teams, we realized that creating a dedicated profile for SMEs presented significant challenges. This approach would require increased development efforts, ultimately delaying our go-to-market timeline beyond the planned launch in June '24.
Navigating constraints
We then began brainstorming alternative ways to introduce 'Cleartrip for Work' on our flights homepage.
Our goal was to enable users to avail corporate fare benefits with minimal development effort, ensuring that we stayed on track with our planned go-to-market launch date.
A. Solving for discovery
After evaluating the pros and cons of multiple ideas, we arrived at two potential solutions for 'Cleartrip for Work' discovery on our homepage:
Flights home page · Concept 1
Introducing ‘Cleartrip for work’ as checkbox
Flights home page · Concept 2
Introducing ‘Cleartrip for work’ as Business fare alongside other Passenger type code (PTC) fares
B. Setting Cleartrip apart
We assessed how industry peers are meeting the demands of SMEs/Individuals seeking high-value fares, enabling us to recognise which strategies to adopt and which to discard.
Snapshot of MMT, EaseMyTrip, Yatra & Goibibo showing fare corpus on their search results page
We observed two common patterns among competitors:
👎🏽 They displayed the lowest fare upfront, concealing the entire fare corpus behind a click on their search results page (SRP)
👎🏽 Fare benefits such as free seat and meal selection, lower cancellation and date change fees were also hidden behind a click, rather than being shown upfront
The search results page is a crucial page of the flight pre-booking process. Why?
• It is where price comparisons among flights and fares take place
• Users often open multiple OTA platforms to compare prices on the search results page, identifying which app offers the best prices based on their flight preferences
Noticing shortcomings among competitors led us to think:
1.
How might we allow users to view multiple fare options on our search results page without additional clicks, while ensuring they are not overwhelmed by too many choices?
How might we help users determine which fare option would be most suitable for them on our search results page?
2.
Series of explorations done for one way search results page (SRP), allowing users to compare multiple fare options
C. Reimagining the unchanged
Cleartrip's existing round trip experience
Cleartrip's existing round trip experience
Cleartrip’s round trip booking experience had remained unchanged since 2010. Back then, Cleartrip pioneered the split-screen concept for booking round trip flights, a concept that many OTAs have since adopted.
However, after 14 years, it was time to reimagine this experience. Enhancing the discovery of multiple fares on the search results page for round trips proved to be more complex than for one-way flights. Despite this, stakeholders were hesitant to embrace such a significant redesign due to the immense pressure to launch Cleartrip for Work on the planned go-to-market date.
Initially, we were constrained to make minor changes to the existing round trip booking experience. These adjustments were designed to minimise developmental effort, ensuring we met the go-to-market timeline, while also helping users recognise that better fare options (fares with lower cancellation and date change fees, free seat and meal) were available beyond the leanest fare displayed on our search results page.
Series of explorations done for round trip search results page (SRP),
allowing users to compare multiple fare options
For all that, we weren't entirely satisfied with this approach and aimed to bring the same level of excellence to our round trip booking experience that we had achieved with our one-way flight bookings. In parallel, we began developing a concept for the round trip booking experience to match the quality of the one-way experience.
We recognised that only a fully functional working prototype and a testament directly from users would convince our stakeholders that now is the optimal time to reimagine our 14-year-old round trip search results page (SRP).
The all-new round trip experience
✅ Users appreciated being able to compare both regular and corporate fare for all listed flights
✅ Users could easily navigate between the depart and return options
As of June 10, 2024, we have rolled out the Cleartrip for Work (CFW) experience to 25% of users to assess product usage, ensure our systems handle the transaction processing load, and address any initial customer service issues and failures.
It's still early to assess the full impact, so we will keep monitoring our numbers and share insights in due course.
What's next?
Extend the benefits of Cleartrip for Work (CFW) to our desktop platform. With nearly 2,000 daily transactions, this will provide greater value to our users and increase transaction volume.
Cleartrip for work
A flight booking flow that enables users with valid GST number to avail corporate fare benefits
Cleartrip for work
A flight booking flow that enables users with valid GST number to avail corporate fare benefits
User feedback & validation
With multiple concepts in hand, our aim with testing was to sought direct feedback from users. We tested the entire 'Cleartrip for work' flow with 10 participants aged between 25-35 years who came from industries like manufacturing, finance, retail and were based in cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
Cohort 1 (5 participants):
SMEs unaware of the benefits of corporate/business fares
Cohort 2 (5 participants):
SMEs aware of the benefits of corporate/business fares
We presented various concepts to our participants and analysed their behaviour while they performed the task of booking a flight from Bangalore to Delhi to identify the variant that resonated most with them.
By the end of our testing, a clear pattern emerged, showing a strong preference for variants that met all their needs. The feedback from users provided us the conviction needed to select the final variant for implementation.
PRESENTING
CLEARTRIP FOR WORK
✅ Users understood that they need to enter GST details to avail these benefits
✅ Checkbox approach on home page enabled users to view 'Cleartrip for work' benefits upfront, clearly showing them the advantages of opting in
Discovery on flights home page
PRESENTING
CLEARTRIP FOR WORK
✅ Users understood that they need to enter GST details to avail these benefits
✅ Checkbox approach on home page enabled users to view 'Cleartrip for work' benefits upfront, clearly showing them the advantages of opting in
Discovery on flights home page
✅ Prioritise
Enabled users to narrow down their search based on preferred flight timings
✅ Visibility
Allowed users to view multiple fares upfront on the search results page (SRP) without hiding them behind additional clicks
✅ Compare
Facilitated quick comparison of benefits among multiple fares
Search results with diverse fare options
Unveiling the entire
fare corpus
Quick access to fare options in case you change your mind
Full flexibility with Cleartrip add-ons
Unveiling the entire
fare corpus
Quick access to fare options in case you change your mind
Full flexibility with Cleartrip add-ons
The all-new round trip experience
✅ Users appreciated being able to compare both regular and corporate fare for all listed flights
✅ Users could easily navigate between the depart and return options
CFW goes LIVE!
As of June 10, 2024, we have rolled out the Cleartrip for Work (CFW) experience to 25% of users to assess product usage, ensure our systems handle the transaction processing load, and address any initial customer service issues and failures.
It's still early to assess the full impact, so we will keep monitoring our numbers and share insights in due course.
What's next?
Extend the benefits of Cleartrip for Work (CFW) to our desktop platform. With nearly 2,000 daily transactions, this will provide greater value to our users and increase transaction volume.
Cleartrip for work
A flight booking flow that enables users with valid GST number to avail corporate fare benefits
Cleartrip for work
A flight booking flow that enables users with valid GST number to avail corporate fare benefits
Corporate fare
B2B fare
B2C retail fare
Current coverage of fare spectrum on Cleartrip
Corporate fare
B2B fare
B2C retail fare
Coverage of fare spectrum post 'Cleartrip for work' launch on Cleartrip
Out of office (OOO) - Cleartrip’s corporate travel management tool is designed to meet the specific needs of large enterprises. It offers real-time policy customisation, integration of travel expenses with travel services, access to self-contracted corporate fares and real-time invoicing.
The question arises when Cleartrip already had a ‘All-in-one’ comprehensive package, why was there a need to launch ‘Cleartrip for work’?
The answer lies in addressing the distinct needs of SMEs and individuals with valid GST registration. While ‘Out of Office’ caters to large enterprises, ‘Cleartrip for Work’ focuses on providing high value fares and benefits to businesses and professionals in a more simpler way, allowing them to claim GST input tax credit, ensuring that every segment of the market can access tailored travel solutions.
Growth potential
Airlines offer a range of fare types to OTA platforms, including B2B agency fares, series fares, retail fares, and corporate fares. Until now, Cleartrip has primarily focused on B2C retail fares, covering only a small portion of the airline fare spectrum. There was little to no emphasis on value-based corporate fares and B2B fares.
‘Cleartrip for Work’ aims to address this gap by covering the entire spectrum of fares offered by airlines. By creating awareness about these fares among our current audience and targeting new customers (SMEs and individuals with GST registration), aim was to increase transaction volume and provide greater value to our users.
Setting the stage
Unveiling key decision drivers
To understand the travel booking behaviour of SMEs and independent individuals managing their own travel arrangements, my colleague Yatin (UXR) and I conducted a research. Our findings revealed two primary decision-making factors :
Timing:
Some prioritise flights based on schedule alignment.
Value:
Others prioritise fares offering benefits like minimal cancellation fees, free seat and meal selection
Our ideal plan
The initial launch of 'Cleartrip for Work' (CFW) focused solely on domestic flights. However, our vision extended far beyond this. Our aim was to scale CFW across all aspects of travel, including domestic and international flights, hotels, buses, and cabs.
As we expanded our user base from retail customers to SMEs, scalability became a priority. To address this, we wanted to develop a dedicated profile-based solution catering to both retail and SME users, ensuring a seamless transition between profiles.
However, things didn’t go as planned. After discussing the idea with our Product and Engineering teams, we realized that creating a dedicated profile for SMEs presented significant challenges. This approach would require increased development efforts, ultimately delaying our go-to-market timeline beyond the planned launch in June '24.
Navigating constraints
We then began brainstorming alternative ways to introduce 'Cleartrip for Work' on our flights homepage.
Our goal was to enable users to avail corporate fare benefits with minimal development effort, ensuring that we stayed on track with our planned go-to-market launch date.
A. Solving for discovery
After evaluating the pros and cons of multiple ideas, we arrived at two potential solutions for 'Cleartrip for Work' discovery on our homepage:
Introducing ‘Cleartrip for work’ as checkbox
Flights home page · Concept 1
Introducing 'Cleartrip for work' as Business fare alongside other Passenger type code (PTC) fares
Flights home page · Concept 2
B. Setting Cleartrip apart
We assessed how industry peers are meeting the demands of SMEs/Individuals seeking high-value fares, enabling us to recognise which strategies to adopt and which to discard.
Snapshot of MMT, EaseMyTrip, Yatra & Goibibo showing fare corpus on their search results page
We observed two common patterns among competitors:
👎🏽 They displayed the lowest fare upfront, concealing the entire fare corpus behind a click on their search results page (SRP)
👎🏽 Fare benefits such as free seat and meal selection, lower cancellation and date change fees were also hidden behind a click, rather than being shown upfront
The search results page is a crucial page of the flight pre-booking process. Why?
• It is where price comparisons among flights and fares take place
• Users often open multiple OTA platforms to compare prices on the search results page, identifying which app offers the best prices based on their flight preferences
Noticing shortcomings among competitors led us to think:
1.
How might we allow users to view multiple fare options on our search results page without additional clicks, while ensuring they are not overwhelmed by too choices?
2.
How might we help users determine which fare option would be most suitable for them on our search results page?
Series of explorations done for one way search results page (SRP), allowing users to compare multiple fare options
C. Reimagining the untouched
Cleartrip’s round trip booking experience had remained unchanged since 2010. Back then, Cleartrip pioneered the split-screen concept for booking round trip flights, a concept that many OTAs have since adopted.
However, after 14 years, it was time to reimagine this experience. Enhancing the discovery of multiple fares on the search results page for round trips proved to be more complex than for one-way flights. Despite this, stakeholders were hesitant to embrace such a significant redesign due to the immense pressure to launch Cleartrip for Work on the planned go-to-market date.
Cleartrip's existing round trip experience
Initially, we were constrained to make minor changes to the existing round trip booking experience. These adjustments were designed to minimise developmental effort, ensuring we met the go-to-market timeline, while also helping users recognise that better fare options (fares with lower cancellation and date change fees, free seat and meal) were available beyond the leanest fare displayed on our search results page.
Series of explorations done for round trip search results page (SRP), allowing users to compare multiple fare options
For all that, we weren't entirely satisfied with this approach and aimed to bring the same level of excellence to our round trip booking experience that we had achieved with our one-way flight bookings. In parallel, we began developing a concept for the round trip booking experience to match the quality of the one-way experience.
We recognised that only a fully functional working prototype and a testament directly from users would convince our stakeholders that now is the optimal time to reimagine our 14-year-old round trip search results page (SRP).
User feedback & validation
With multiple concepts in hand, our aim with testing was to sought direct feedback from users. We tested the entire 'Cleartrip for work' flow with 10 participants aged between 25-35 years who came from industries like manufacturing, finance, retail and were based in cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
Cohort 1 (5 participants):
SMEs unaware of the benefits of corporate/business fares
Cohort 2 (5 participants):
SMEs aware of the benefits of corporate/business fares
We presented various concepts to our participants and analysed their behaviour while they performed the task of booking a flight from Bangalore to Delhi to identify the variant that resonated most with them.
By the end of our testing, a clear pattern emerged, showing a strong preference for variants that met all their needs. The feedback from users provided us the conviction needed to select the final variant for implementation.
Search results with diverse fare options
✅ Prioritise
Enabled users to narrow down their search based on preferred flight timings
✅ Visibility
Allowed users to view multiple fares upfront on the search results page (SRP) without hiding them behind additional clicks
✅ Compare
Facilitating quick comparison of benefits among multiple fares
Unveiling the entire fare corpus
Quick access to fare options in case you change your mind
Full flexibility with Cleartrip add-ons
Unveiling the entire fare corpus
Quick access to fare options in case you change your mind
Full flexibility with Cleartrip add-ons
The all-new round trip expereince
✅ Users appreciated being able to compare both regular and corporate fare for all listed flights
✅ Users could easily navigate between the depart and return options
CFW goes LIVE!
As of June 10, 2024, we have rolled out the Cleartrip for Work (CFW) experience to 25% of users to assess product usage, ensure our systems handle the transaction processing load, and address any initial customer service issues and failures.
It's still early to assess the full impact, so we will keep monitoring our numbers and share insights in due course.
What's next?
Extend the benefits of Cleartrip for Work (CFW) to our desktop platform. With nearly 2,000 daily transactions, this will provide greater value to our users and increase transaction volume.
PRESENTING
CLEARTRIP FOR WORK
✅ Checkbox approach on home page enabled users to view 'Cleartrip for work' benefits upfront, clearly showing them the advantages of opting in
✅ Users understood that they need to enter GST details to avail these benefits
PRESENTING
CLEARTRIP FOR WORK
✅ Checkbox approach on home page enabled users to view 'Cleartrip for work' benefits upfront, clearly showing them the advantages of opting in
✅ Users understood that they need to enter GST details to avail these benefits
Discovery on flights home page