Redesigning the Priceline iPad
In 2012, the Priceline iPad had a conversion problem... and a customer care call problem. The app was released as an MVP and then deprioritized as the team went all in on the iPhone. Conversion was low (it was actually negative) and customer care calls were high. Not a good situation for the poor old iPad. The team was in a bit of a quandary as we wanted to improve the iPad experience but the iPhone app was doing great, so it was the top priority. The roadmap was purely focused on phones –iPhone, Android, mobile web, and even a Windows phone.
Was the iPad failing because it was hard to use or were people just not using iPads to book hotels?
Our scrappy little team decided to find out. I worked on a design that would re-use many of the components that were currently being used on the iPhone to reduce dev time and effort. This would also decrease maintenance. I met with the broader team of developers (Android and Web) to share our vision and get them excited about the idea.
I worked closely with the iOS developer on the app and we came up with a couple of new features that didn’t exist on the iPhone. To take advantage of the larger screen size and more prominent map, we added the ability to add points of interest in their searched city. The user could then draw a circle directly on the map to help narrow down their choices. We did all of this as a side project, so the timeline was our own. Our primary focus was still the iPhone.
When we finally did release the redesign, it was featured in the App Store, had a 52% growth in bookings YOY, and significantly reduced the number of customer service calls.
Our success was bittersweet though.
While the iPad redesign did improve conversion, and growth, and decreased customer care calls, it never reached the success of the iPhone. We were able to get that bar on the slide into the positive, but the iPad was eventually decommissioned.
The redesigned app (2013)
Re-using the results list from the iPhone app provided users with a familiar experience while decreasing dev time and keeping maintenance to a minimum.
We included a “Points of Interest” feature where users could plot a point on a map and then find hotels close to that location. We knew many of our customers traveled for business and needed to be near a specific location, so this would make their booking experience easier.
Another iPad-only feature was the ability to draw a search area on a map. A user could drop a pin and draw it to find the perfect location for their hotel.