Onboarding project | Travelling Pandas

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Onboarding project | Travelling Pandas

Overview

Traveling pandas is a social travel app. Their target users are young adults aged 20–40. They have achieved product market fit and are now looking at early scaling.

In the acquisition project, we identified the following ICPs:
1. Mr & Mrs Smith (Couple, Age 27 and 29 respectively)
2. Miss Selmon (Single, Age: 26)
3. Mr Phoebe Buffet (Business)
4. Mr Miyagi (Age 40+)
We narrowed down our target market to Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities and people aged 20–40. Choosing not to actively acquire businesses and people aged over 40.
In the target market identified in #3 above, we are left with the following ICPs:
1. Mr & Mrs Smith (Couple, Age 27 and 29, respectively)
2. Miss Selmon (Single, Age: 26)
In addition to the above two, we also identified a third ICP through further interviews, which is a group of friends travelling together.
1. We call these the Backstreet Besties.
2. These are a group of friends who always tend to travel together. Their travel plans revolve around each other.

ICP (shoulder to shoulder)

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	ICP 1	ICP 2	ICP 3
Name	Mr & Mrs Smith	Miss Selmon	Backstreet Bestes
Age	27 & 29	24	(23-32)
Marital Status	In a relationship	Single	Mixed both single and married
Experience vs Money	Experience → then money	Money → in that budget experience	Money → in that budget experience
Average mobile screen time	4 hrs.	5-6 hrs.	4-5 hrs.
Values (in the context of travel)	Comfortable stay Hygiene Cultural experience Capturing memories	Finding good deals Detailed Itinerary Exploring new destinations Meeting new people	Company of friends Capturing memories
Features they value of Travelling pandas	Friendly guides Freedom of individual choice great company available when needed. Promptness, well-organized, good communication.	Friendly guides Personalized and inclusive experience Freedom of individual choice Meet new people of the same age Budget friendly Security and safety	Friendly guides Group booking discounts Budget friendly
Average budget range for travel	30-60k	30-60k	30-60k per person
Travel alternatives	Book Airbnb close by Weekend day trip Spa retreat House gatherings	Solo travel to a Zostel or another hostel Plan close by trip with local/office friends	Book an Airbnb close by Day trip Game night Night out clubbing
Average length of holiday	5-7 days	5-7 days	3-5 days
Number of holidays per year	2	2-3	1-2
Portion of the travelling Panda customer base?	Minor	Major	Minor

Customer Journey Maps

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JTBD and Validation

For this section, the people interviewed were only those who had travelled two or more times. These are considered the best customers for the business. This same group is used below to create the hypothesis the activation metrics.

1 customer who has travelled twice (Couple)
2 customers who have travelled 3 times (Single)
2 customers who have travelled 4 times (Group of friends)

JTBD Goals	ICP 1: Mr & Mrs Smith	ICP 2: Miss Selmon	ICP 3: Backsteet Besties
Personal	Secondary We needed a reset from the daily routine—same people, same places, same struggles every day.	Secondary I want a break from my mundane life.	Secondary We had not met in a long time and just wanted to catchup and see the world together
Social	Primary We are tired of seeing each other's faces and wanted to meet some new like minded people. We also like taking pictures and posting them on Instagram	Primary I want to explore new places with new people. I like meeting new people. Also, me and my family feel secure when I'm with more people I want to show my family and friends the cool adventures I go on.	Secondary While we primarily enjoy travelling with our close group, we also want to meet new people, which we would not otherwise get a chance to. No trip is complete without #squadgoals post on instagram.
Functional	Secondary We wanted something pre-planned and trustworthy, not having to stress each other about researching, validating and just praying that things turn out as they are advertised.	Secondary I wanted to avoid self-planning, as I was not sure if I would pick the right options for myself.	Primary Planning a trip for a group is so stressful, we did not want to invest a lot of time in figuring logistics. Our last trip took 1.5 months to plan 😅
Financial	Secondary We wanted to ensure the company is delivering value for the price that they are charging.	Secondary Cost really start adding up when you are travelling alone. I want to see so much, but at the same time, I do not want to compromise on basic amenities. Splitting costs with a group is quite helpful.	Secondary Budget is the first thing we look for when booking any holiday together.

JTBD Goals

ICP 1:

Mr & Mrs Smith

ICP 2:

Miss Selmon

ICP 3:

Backsteet Besties

Personal

Secondary

We needed a reset from the daily routine—same people, same places, same struggles every day.

Secondary

I want a break from my mundane life.

Secondary

We had not met in a long time and just wanted to catchup and see the world together

Social

Primary

We are tired of seeing each other's faces and wanted to meet some new like minded people.

We also like taking pictures and posting them on Instagram

Primary

I want to explore new places with new people. I like meeting new people. Also, me and my family feel secure when I'm with more people

I want to show my family and friends the cool adventures I go on.

Secondary

While we primarily enjoy travelling with our close group, we also want to meet new people, which we would not otherwise get a chance to.

No trip is complete without #squadgoals post on instagram.

Functional

Secondary

We wanted something pre-planned and trustworthy, not having to stress each other about researching, validating and just praying that things turn out as they are advertised.

Secondary

I wanted to avoid self-planning, as I was not sure if I would pick the right options for myself.

Primary

Planning a trip for a group is so stressful, we did not want to invest a lot of time in figuring logistics. Our last trip took 1.5 months to plan 😅

Financial

Secondary

We wanted to ensure the company is delivering value for the price that they are charging.

Secondary

Cost really start adding up when you are travelling alone. I want to see so much, but at the same time, I do not want to compromise on basic amenities. Splitting costs with a group is quite helpful.

Secondary

Budget is the first thing we look for when booking any holiday together.

✨ New insights discovered:

The best users of the product, or the best customers with repeat usage, are single.
Many single customers of the company who later got married, moved from group to private trips as their desire for privacy and intimacy increased. The shift is from adventure trips to romantic getaways.
1. The view here is that this may not always be true for all couples. The need for privacy and intimacy will vary and phase out during the course of their relationship. This group will still do group travel but will prefer to travel with a known group of people.

Onbaording Teardown

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Travelling Pandas

Travelling Pandas currently does not have a web app or website to manage booking. The teardown below is of the current offline process.

Link to teardown

Competitors

The idea here is to learn from competition, leverage what they are doing well. Improve on where our experience is not up to par. Use this as an inspiration when building our own site in the future.

Link to teardown

Activation Metrics

Based on the data, we have seen:

If 100 people came to the first trip, 50–60% of them do a 2nd trip (in 365 days from the first one), and then out of the people who do the 2nd trip 20-30% do a 3rd trip (with in 180 days of the second trip), and then out of the people who do the 3rd trip 10-15% do the 4 trips (with 180 days from the 3rd trip).

No formal reviews are collected from customers today. The Activation metric below assume a simple 5 star review being collected.

Activation Metric 1

Hypothesis: Booking 2nd trip within 365 days from the first.
Reason: A second trip booking indicates that the customer really enjoyed their first travel and we really lived up their expectation.

Activation Metric 2

Hypothesis: 5 star review after 1st Trip
Reason: This metric indicates the level of satisfaction and engagement with the first trip experience. A 5 star review indicates a highly satisfied customer one likely to book again.

Activation Metric 3

Hypothesis: 2+ successful referrals within 3 months from first trip

Reason: This metric indicates the the willingness of the user to put their reputation on line when referring other people. If they are referring more people that means they really trust the brand and have had a net positive experience on the their previous trips. This also serves as a good indicator for them using the service again.

Activation Metric 4

Hypothesis: Booking 3 trip with 180 days of 2nd trip

Reason: A rapid booking of the third trip after the second indicates a pattern of consistent and increasing engagement with the travel company's offerings. It suggests that customers are finding significant value and enjoyment in their experiences.

Activation Metric 5

Hypothesis: 5 star review of 2 consecutive trips

Reason: Indicates that the company is consistently delivering on its promise of high quality service and keeping the customer first.

Activation Metric 6

Hypothesis: Reaching 5 successful referrals within 365 days.

Reason: Very few such service products reach virility where you have people keep referring more people. This is a great indicator of how not only the value that the customer sees in referring others but also the value the people who were referred received. If any of the people referred had a bad experience then it is highly unlikely the original referrer is going to refer again.

Activation Metric 7

Hypothesis: Booking 4 trip within 180 days of 3rd trip

Reason: A rapid booking of the fourth trip after the third indicates a pattern of consistent and increasing engagement with the travel company's offerings. It suggests that customers are finding significant value and enjoyment in their experiences.

Activation metric 8:

Hypothesis: 5 star review of 3 consecutive trips

Reason: Indicates that the company continues to consistently delivering on its promise of high quality service and keeping the customer first.

Activation metric 9:

Hypothesis: Booking 4+ trips within 3 years of first trip

Reason: If someone books more than 4 trips then we probably have a customer for life!

Activation metric 10:

Hypothesis: Reaching lifetime review of 10

Reason: This metrics indicates a strong trust in the brand. These customers are seeing great value in being associated with it and using the services offered. This metrics is a great indicator of continued usage.

Metrics to track

For travelling pandas no mechanism of NPS and CAST exist today. The metric below assume that they are in place.

Total itinerary requests per week through Instagram or WhatsApp
1. Will give us a sense of total demand and the number of people at the top of the onboarding funnel.
Total interaction on Instagram post in 3 days from posting.
1. Will help us determine the success of a post
Number of post shares on Instagram.
1. It will help us capture the virality of the post and prepare for a potential surge in customers, or it will help us understand that we need to do something better.
TAT on Itineraries - time from when the itinerary was requested to when it was shared.
1. It will help us understand how much time a user at the top of the funnel has to wait until they move on to the next big step. Delays here can increase frustration and even drop offs.
TAT on Phone call requests
1. Same as above, the longer the users have to wait to speak to someone on their queries, the more chances of dropping off.
D 365, D 545, D 725 retention
1. We want to understand if the customer sees continued value in the product.
Booking conversion rate split by Acquisition source per month
1. number of people who asked for an itinerary after seeing an Instagram ad vs. the number of people from this group who actually booked a trip.
2. number of people who request itinerary coming from WOM vs the the number of people from this group who who actually book a trip.
3. We want to know which source has highest conversion. Double down on it while improving the other
Average number of touch points per user before converting to a customer.
1. This metric capture the effort that the customer and the company put into making a booking. More touch points = more difficulty. This metric should ideally trend downward and flatten at some point.
Reviews conversion rate: Number of customers who received a review vs the number who actually filled it.
1. Metric we can use internally as a leading indicator of satisfaction. We can also use this to improve the process via which reviews are collected.
Number of trips with 90% 5 star reviews vs total number of trips per month
1. Good indicator of future retention.
Number of trips where average review is below 4 starts per month
1. Anything below 90% would indicate unsatisfied users and area the company need to improve on.
NPS score per month
1. Will help us understand the referral potential.
NPS conversion rate per month: Number of NPS surveys sent vs answered
1. Will help us build processes to increase this number.
In demand destinations in any given month.
1. Will help us capture trend and ensure we surface this early on the onbaording.
Destinations with a consistently falling rate of interest per month. Fewer people booking.
1. Will again help us capture trend and can be used to determine engagement and resurrection campaigns.
Trips with less than 10 customers.
1. Will help us understand trips fair vs the rest. What is the average rating of a trip without a trip manager? Trips under 10 customers do not have a manager.
Google reviews per month.
1. A good tool to build social proof and capture overall sentiment!
Number of complaints by customers per trip per month.
1. Good counter-metric to understand what is going on that could affect future retention.