March 15, 2023

The Importance of Inclusive Platform Design

Nick Armstrong

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is an important civil rights law that all US-based companies must comply with. At Rocket Travel by Agoda, we develop travel booking platforms that are used by customers all over the world, so our teams take these laws into special consideration for all of our travel verticals.

The best user experience for all

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Beautiful Rust - Noel F.
‍WINNER

Sukhothai - Tham W.

A Glimpse into the Past with Grandma - Fernanda R.

Sunrise Moment in Bagan - Justyna S.

The Sound of Vinyl - Bruna R.

Sacre Coeur at Dawn - Rubens J.

Laundry Day - Daniel B.

Old Town - Tim C.

Punch it, Chewy - Wesley T.

Old World (in the new) - Yvonne P.

Braveheart - Trim Castle 1200 BC - Joseph N.

Sesame Street - Hannah H.

We came to this place for magic -
Maure L.

1965 Apollo Test Capsule - Erica A.

I can remember this place - Zainab L.

Retirement post school runs - Sravya M.

Let's Play - Ying Q.

Real Alcazar de Sevilla - Arun V.

Nostalgia gives us perspective and, maybe, objectivity- Valentina O.

Love lights life- Diana F.

In order to develop platforms that are inclusive and compliant with these laws, Rocket Travel by Agoda follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0, standards A and AA to ensure we provide the best user experience to all. Our teams take a mature and rigid approach on how we construct our existing user interface and tailor it to meet the appropriate standards for this multi-vertical platform.

We begin by checking the coding for styling to ensure it is compliant for ADA. Our teams utilize an extensive testing process to identify opportunities to improve our platform, then review, fix and test styling to ensure the user interface is optimized to current WCAG standards. Some of the accessibility features that customers can find on our platforms include:

Improved navigation by tabbing
Alt text for images to support screen readers
Enhancing user interface to support browser zoom and resizing

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Not only do these product enhancements provide a better shopping experience for customers looking to book travel, they also ensure our existing partners and future partners have the ability to remain compliant and more effectively serve all of their customers.

We are also proud to say that our trusted hotel, car and flight suppliers have confidence knowing that travelers shopping on our platforms will have a completely transparent booking experience long before they appear at their flight, hotel, or car rental agency.

In-depth consumer journeys drive engagement throughout every phase of the customer lifecycle. A robust suite of transactional emails ensure customers have all the information needed at their fingertips from booking, to check-in, and post-trip. Dynamic cross-sell strategies allow us to drive high attach rates with other travel products offered by our partners, generating incremental bookings and boosting the value of each trip, and abandoned search and welcome series ensures customers understand the value of our partners’ travel platforms and stay loyal to our partners’ brands.

Personalized content leveraged throughout our emails, delivering a unique experience for the consumer. Our personalized email communications ensure each customer has all the information they need throughout their travels, easy ways to contact our customer loyalty team for assistance, and suggest travel destinations based on their personal travel preferences. This adds a level of convenience to the consumer experience and drives engagement with our partners’ brands.

Utilizing AI is quickly becoming a cornerstone of email marketing. Using artificial intelligence allows our marketing teams to quickly drive innovation through A/B experimentation. In testing, we have found it to be very effective at driving results and are developing new ways to leverage this emerging technology as email marketing services continue to expand.

Segmenting audiences based on previous engagement data to deliver new messages to the customer and drive continued engagement with our white label platforms.

Robust reporting enables us to continually optimize the performance of our campaigns, and keep partners informed of success and areas of opportunity at every phase of a partnership.

About the author

Nick Armstrong is the Vice President of Product at Rocket Travel by Agoda. With more than ten years of experience in travel technology, he leads the team of engineers responsible for prioritizing platform enhancements to drive growth to Rocket Travel by Agoda and our partners.

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