Expedia high-tech usability lab will study travel search and booking

A recent blog post from Expedia recounts an interview with Scott Jones who heads their User Experience lab.

Key points:

• The lab conducts tests directly with customers, using eye-tracking and facial-movement technology to measure what people are looking at and why.
• Objectives are:
  • Better understand what customers want, so they can be moved from browsing to booking more easily
  • Make Expedia’s sites and mobile apps more efficient and user-friendly
  • Increase customers’ confidence and delight
• Researchers use electromyography (EMG) technology to produce data that serve as a surrogate for emotion, by detecting subtle changes in facial expression in response to changes in the user’s experience while interacting with Expedia’s sites and apps.

Example: Paralysis by analysis is a problem for customers trying to design a trip. So when a customer is able to eliminate an option (e.g., a specific hotel) from the many available choices, the EMG data show a significant “spike of delight” believed to be related to the progress made toward the ultimate trip plan.