Flight to Success: Kenya Airways’ website transformation

Introduction

Kenya Airways, a Sky Team Alliance member, stands out as a premier African airline, serving 42 global destinations, with a significant presence in 35 African locations. Operating a diverse fleet, including the flagship B787 Dreamliner and the Embraer E190 aircraft, Kenya Airways boasts a comprehensive product portfolio, encompassing KQ Cargo, KQ Holidays, KQ Pride Centre (an IATA-accredited aviation school), Fahari Aviation (an aviation technology unit), and the Kenya Airways Medical Centre.

Kenya Airways identified the need for a cutting-edge digital presence to enhance user experience and design on both its commercial and corporate websites. The previous website faced functionality issues, including an unfriendly booking process, a lack of intuitive geo-location technology for finding deals, and an absence of an interactive map displaying all destinations. Additionally, the check-in system required refinement for a smoother user journey.

Our Solutions

Addressing Kenya Airways’ requirements, Bluegrass Digital focused on implementing an improved Content Management System (CMS). Optimizely CMS, an enterprise digital experience platform (DXP), was chosen for its comprehensive functionality, including geo-location services, content intelligence, personalization, A/B testing, and search indexing.

Optimizely’s content personalization feature enables the website to tailor promotions or content based on a user’s location, enhancing the user experience. The platform’s Search and Navigation product offers advanced indexing for improved search functionality, predictive search, and content recommendations. Leveraging Optimizely’s multilingual and multi-currency functionality with built-in geolocation, the new site caters to a diverse global audience.

Before delving into advanced functionalities, Bluegrass Digital conducted thorough fact-finding workshops and gathered information to understand the challenges comprehensively. Collaborating with the client, they scoped out everything, including third-party integrations, establishing crucial relationships for smooth integration.

Analysing historical customer support data and user behaviour, Bluegrass identified pain points, such as unclear error signposting during flight bookings and difficulties in finding contact information. Recognizing these challenges, the design focused on bringing essential information to the forefront, improving user navigation.

User interviews and workshops, involving real customers, were conducted to uncover key challenges in booking flights. Interactive wireframes and prototypes were developed, refined based on user feedback, and subjected to additional tests for continuous improvement.

For seamless frontend functionality, Bluegrass engineered integrations with third-party providers on the backend. These integrations enabled features like displaying flight prices on the calendar widget and integrating Google Maps for an interactive map view of destinations.

The Results

The redesigned website now boasts fast loading times, mobile-friendly responsiveness, location intelligence, and improved intuitiveness. Website performance has seen a remarkable 100% increase in load speeds, leading to higher conversion rates. The revamped website offers an intuitive booking journey, with multiple entry points for customers to confirm their travel requirements proactively.

Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, showcasing improved user satisfaction. Future plans include ongoing updates to enhance site functionality, including the integration of Kenya Airways’ new Asante Rewards loyalty program.

If you’re looking to revamp your website for a superior customer experience and increased conversions, reach out to Bluegrass – your trusted partner. Contact us to explore the possibilities.