Case Study: Evolution of Veena World's Digital Experience

Formerly worked as a lead designer with Leaf Design, Mumbai
Awarded a Silver at Indigo Design Award 2020

Introduction:

Veena World, a distinguished travel brand, sought to transcend the conventional boundaries of travel by fostering a sense of community and delivering impeccable hospitality. With a vast clientele of 2.5 lakh satisfied guests and a dedicated team of over 800 seasoned professionals, Veena World envisioned staying relevant and growing amidst shifting consumer habits and intensified competition. To achieve this, Veena World partnered with Leaf Design to revamp its brand identity and redefine user perceptions.

Challenge:

Amidst evolving consumer behaviors and heightened competition, Veena World aimed to solidify its position in the travel industry and establish a more defined direction by crafting an exemplary customer journey.

Approach:

To realise this ambition, Leaf Design reintroduced Veena World as an aspirational and immersive platform, emphasising dialogue enhancement and the creation of a scalable, future-proof system. The approach focused on understanding stakeholders, users, and products to inform the development of an adaptive and systematic platform.

My Role:

Understanding Stakeholders, Users, and Products

Conducting extensive user interviews and observations to gain insights into traveler's booking experiences and journeys. This was followed by a thorough examination of Veena World's existing services, offline booking processes, and digital presence.

Using Customer Journey to Drive Commerce:

By prioritising business objectives, mapping out the customer experience collaboratively. This involved understanding Veena World's brand history and designing a site map to ensure a seamless online experience akin to offline interactions.

From UX to UI: A Qualitative Approach Using Design Tiles:

To define Veena World's digital identity, initiating the process with style tiles, collaborating closely with Veena World's team to shape the brand's perception in the digital realm. Neutral color schemes, vibrant imagery, and intuitive typography were employed to create an engaging and adaptable digital language.

BOOKING FOR EASE AND EXCITEMENT, THE PATH TO PURCHASE.

Group tours are based on fixed departure dates, and hence feature prominently on the website. The calendar was specially customised accordingly to just show the departure dates, and the data shown was fetched according to the relevant date. A seamless three-step booking process adds a substantial enhancement to the user experience. Allowing users to make an informed decision and book a tour anywhere in the world without a pause is an important part of completing their experience.

STAY CONNECTED WITH MY ACCOUNT

One of the key properties of Group tours are that they are highly based on fixed departure dates, it was critical to show the data based on the date and even show all the departure dates.

As group tours being very date dependent we made sure the data shown was fetch according to the relevant date, and progressing towards more decision based points so as to when the user wants to compare.

DIGITAL-FIRST APPROACH TO BRANDING

The website was rooted in real personality, and authentic opinions; while the brand kept it simple, but significant — strong typography, cinematic images, and a touch of sophistication. To make sure the tones were hitting the right notes a dreamy yet friendly tone of voice complemented the approach.

Design principles and guidelines helped communicate how to best represent the brand across channels. Together, it would steer all future UI design for the company, across multiple touchpoints, driving a digital transformation.

Key Achievements:

• Modernised Veena World's digital presence while preserving its legacy and community focus.

• Enhanced online booking experience, setting industry benchmarks in experiential e-commerce.

• Achieved 5X increase in online bookings, 70% increase in average time spent on the website, and expanded market reach by 20%.

Impact:

5X

ONLINE BOOKING

70%

MORE AVERAGE TIME SPENT

20+

NEW MARKET REACH

The revamped veenaworld.com emerged as a trailblazer in online travel booking, offering seamless interactions, contextual product promotion, and robust SEO. As Veena World continues to evolve digitally, maintaining consistency and excellence remains at the forefront of its digital strategy.