Usability Improvements for

Touch-Screen Mobile Flight Booking

Application: A Case Study

Prepared by: Feyza Gündüz and Al-Sakib Khan PathanPresented by: Al-Sakib Khan Pathan

Authors Feyza Gündüz and Al-Sakib Khan Pathan

Department of Computer Science, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

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Introduction• Smart phones have introduced great

easiness to our daily life by mobile applications. One of the easinesses provided is buying flight tickets via mobile phones. However poor consideration of end-users in development phase leads to underutilization of such facility, thus decreasing potential profit of companies.

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IntroductionAirline ticket reservation is in top 5 most purchased online service[1] :

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Introduction• Smart phone use is increasing and mobile

commerce is expected to be future’s shopping style.

• In near future, more people are expected to buy flight tickets using their mobile.

• Challenge arises at that point : Many companies -> many customers. The one pleases the customer would win the competition of mobile commerce (M-Commerce).

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User’s Experience

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Experience and Preference• User’s experience affects user’s

preference of using that application again.

• When user perceives a mobile application easy to use, enjoy it to use and efficient in terms of provided services, customer’s loyalty is gained [2].

• Therefore, usability should be analyzed from the point of users.

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Objective• The objective of the study is to

identify usability problems for mobile flight booking applications on touch-screen phones, and suggest solutions.

• Main expectations of users are presented from HCI perspective and discussed through a case study.

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Related Works• Some research works have been done on the

usability challenges of travel webpage and mobile commercial applications. Psychological background of user’s perception towards products are investigated. Guidelines for better application usability are suggested for different mobile platforms.

• However, there is little research about usability challenges faced in touch screen phones, since it is a new technology.

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Related Works

M-commerce challenges and potential solutions.[3]

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General User Experience Goals

• Utility: usefulness, reliability • Usability: ease of use, efficiency,

accessibility • Social value: connecting people,

identification • Enjoyment: pleasure, stimulation

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Methodology• In order to understand social and

personal phenomena in the context, a qualitative approach is adopted in which we conducted interviews with twenty(20) people at two phases and collected answers from questionnaires to increase the accuracy of results.

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How was the study conducted?

• 20 people aged between 18-40 randomly selected.• Interviews were conducted: • Users were asked to complete the task of buying a flight ticket to any destination of their choice. Their ticket buying processes were closely observed. • Notes and questionnaire results were analyzed. Research findings related to flight travel, usability concerns of mobile applications, and user satisfaction criteria were utilized as guidelines.

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How was the study conducted?

• Other market applications that offer mobile flight booking service were also explored for benchmarking.

• Problem areas were detected and solutions were extracted from previous research findings and benchmarking analysis.

• Second interview was conducted to obtain user’s reaction towards the prototype that was built to eliminate problems that had been found in the first interview.

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ResultsWhat are the usability challenges that

mobile flight booking applications face?

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1) Wrong choice of icons

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1) Placement of icons

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3) Redundancy of steps in completing tasks

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3) Redundancy of steps in completing tasks

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4) Naming of menus and sections

Guesses about the meaning of“Mobile ticket” :• Movie ticket• Concert ticket• Flight ticket• SIM card,

etc..

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4) Naming of menus and sections

• Users expect “interaction”.• Need for a “talking” system.• Instead of “Flight planning”, choose– “Plan your flight”,

• Instead of “destination”, – “Where do you want to go?”

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5) Uneasiness of single handed use

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6) Small and disorganized input fields

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7) Small selection fields

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8) Crowded and disorganized information

presentation

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8) Crowded and disorganized information

presentation

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8) Crowded and disorganized information

presentation

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Flight Planning

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Flight Planning

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Airport/City Selection

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Date Selection

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Date Selection

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Passenger Selection

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Cabin Selection

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Flight Selection

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Flight Selection

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Flight Selection

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Flight Details

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Flight Details

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Flight Details

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Flight Details

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Passenger Information

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Credit Card Payment

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Invoice Form

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Confirmation

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Confirmation

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E-Ticket

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To be Done Things …• Functions for disabled people, speech

search, speech-to-text facilities, geo-locations services, personalized flight booking assistance have been omitted of this study due to its large complexity that will not fall under single work.

• In fact, the entire process took considerable time from collecting data to analyzing the data, then designing appropriate graphical interfaces for practical implementation.

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References• [1] Nielsen, Trends in Online Shopping: a global

Nielsen consumer report [online] 2008. Available at [Last accessed 14 July 2012]: www.nielsen.com/solutions/GlobalOnlineShoppingReportFeb08.pdf

• [2] Design aesthetics leading to m-loyalty in mobile commerce - Dianne Cyr, Milena Head, Alex Ivanov

• [3] Designing Mobile Commerce Applications - Peter Tarasewich

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Thank you

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Q&AAny other query could be directed to

sakib.pathan@gmail.com or sakib@iium.edu.my