iOS/ANDROID APP CASE STUDY

Universal Orlando Resort's

Express Pass Offer

OVERVIEW & THE CHALLENGE

Universal Orlando Resort offers a cheaper Express Pass after 4pm, but only if you're in the right place at the right time.

Universal's Express Pass is a great product and a huge time saver – it allows guests to skip to the front of the line for all their favorite rides. However, at over $100 a person, it's not cheap. The good news is that Universal sells it for $35 after 4pm, but doesn’t advertise it widely in the park. Unless you see the small signs placed outside of shopping locations in the park, you miss the opportunity to buy one. I partnered with Universal's product and engineering team to start sending push notifications to guests' phones so this offer could reach a larger audience. We wanted to make sure the product was easy to understand and  purchase, so guests didn’t have to take time out of their experience at the park to figure it out.

ROLE & DETAILS

Lead Product Designer
Wireframing, Prototyping,
User Testing, Documentation

Team
1 Product Designer
1 Product Owner
6 Engineers

Design Timeline
July 2021 – October 2021

Tools
Axure, Sketch, Invision

FIRST ROUND WIREFRAMES

The goal was to provide guests with enough information to make a quick decision.

One of our main goals was to provide guests with enough information to make a quick decision since there were several caveats to the discounted pass. We could hear it already: guests purchasing this product and then complaining that they couldn’t use it the next day or at a different park. Knowing the potential customer frustrations led me to design various wireframes that had specific differences. What was the right way to display the fact that this offer was only valid for today? How should we communicate the cost savings in a way that makes guests excited to purchase? What was the right way to show guests that this was only valid for a specific park, but if they wanted to switch to a different one, they could? These early wireframes were created and demonstrated to the product and engineer teams to help flesh out requirements and edge cases.

SECOND ROUND WIREFRAMES

The wireframes gained more context with the help of a copywriter.

Turns out the Express Pass wasn't actually on sale, just offered at a cheaper price. Because of that, I removed any instance of info pertaining to a sale.  With the help of a copywriter, I added more context to the designs that included more descriptive language in the body copy, and an option where I spelled out some immediate benefits. It was important to find the right balance of promotion and information. I also swapped out the park logos for the Express Pass logo thinking that this would entice guests even more after seeing it all throughout the park all day. At this point, the product and engineering team and myself felt good about the direction of the first two options, so it was time to start designing.

THE DESIGN

The design phase added color and left us with two options to test.

During the design phase, I decided to focus on these two options because I felt like they provided the right amount of information. Both options were pretty similar, with the biggest difference being the method to switch between the two parks: Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure. When guests receive this notification and open it, the park will default to their current location to make this a quick review and purchase. The product team wanted guests to be able to switch parks, but didn't want to give that option too much  emphasis. What was the right level of attention to give the option to switch? It was time to get in front of users and perform some user testing.

USER TESTING

I met with 10 users in-person at Universal Studios to gather feedback and first impressions.

During an all-day session in the park, I met with park guests and had them walk through my prototype. I asked their general understanding of the offer and how interested they would be in it. I also had them navigate through the flow of opening the notification, observing the offer, and finding out where to find more details. The 10 guests were asked to confirm details like which park the offer was valid for, how long it was valid for, and which method of switching parks they preferred. 90% of participants prefered the native iOS toggle, and 100% of participants enjoyed seeing their name in the lock screen.

ERROR STATES & EDGE CASES

During testing, I also asked about these error states.

If a guest got the push notification for this offer and waited to open it, there was a chance it could have sold out during that time. I asked our participants if they understood what we were trying to convey here, and each one of them said yes. They also liked the fact that they could explore other offers. Alternatively, if a guest exited the park before opening the notification, they'd get the yellow banner error. We received good insights here – the original copy started with, "Looks like you're out of the park" and a few guests thought that was creepy (even though it was location-services based). Because of that feedback, we changed the copy to read more like we were guessing their whereabouts.

FINAL DESIGN & WHAT I LEARNED

With testing concluded, final designs were created and delivered to engineering.

This project was a pleasure to work on. The screens and the functionality weren't super complex, but I had to get it right since there were potential profits on the line. Allowing guests to purchase these Express Passes from their phone was just the tip of the iceberg of more products to be sold digitally, and successfully ensuring that our guests understand what is being offered and how to purchase it is key.