OpenRoads

Explore how might we expand the services offered by OpenRoads in destinations around the globe.

THE PROBLEM

“I’m finding it really hard to expand because I’m a one man band”

OpenRoads would like to expand their services but have various directions they could focus on and are finding it difficult because they have limited resources like time, manpower and money. They need help in determining which direction would be best to help the business expand that would be easy to implement.

THE GOAL

“We need to create a solution that Jess can easily implement herself”

Create a solution that...
• Is easy to implement
• Will generate revenue
• Capitalise on the existing content and partner content
• Allows for a community to grow

THE SOLUTION

“Offer free and curated paid guides hosted on the site”

We decided that we needed to find a way for Jess to capitalise on her exisiting and partner content that will be able to make revenue and be of value for her customers.

APPROACH TO THE PROJECT

PROBLEM FRAMING

“What are the goals and directions of the business?”

After our initial conversations with the client, we were able to condense the opportunities into three main points. 

Three opportunities to explore:
• Peer to peer motorcycle rentals
• AirBnB for people with motorcycles
• Membership / Subscription viability

Our initial direction:
• Due to the limited time we had (3 weeks), we decided to focus our scope on looking into the viability of a subscription based model.

VIABILITY OF SUBSCRIPTIONS

“I only subscribe to a product/service that I’m familiar with, or someone I know recommended to me…”

To better understand what people expects from subscriptions, we interviewed over 10 people and did an affinity map to gather insights.

What people expect from a monthly subscription service:
• New content regularly
• Rewards
• Free trial
• Credibility
• Value for their money

OTHER VIABLE OPTIONS

“We want to make sure that the business goals are being met”

After realising that a monthly subscription might not viable, for a few reasons such as because Jess is travelling around so much with tours it would be hard to consistently deliver new monthly content, we looked into other ways in which we could still achieve success that would align with the business goals that Jess wanted out of a subscription service. From our understanding, what she wanted out of a sub service was:

Main goals of a subscription services:
• Increase traffic to the site or product
• Increase the customer base
• Generate revenue 

Paid content:
• Potential of paid content on the site
• Leveraging of partnerships to increase variety of content

UNDERSTAND

“Our proposed solution benefits both your business, customers and partners”

Our proposed solution benefits both your business, customers and partners.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

“We want customers to be able to return to the site again”

Who are some comparators that offer content as a service?
• The Vista: Travel e-magazine guide, that charges $10 dollars per itinerary 
• Gumroad: An e-commerce that allows creators to sell their content and services they have to offer
• Trip a Deal: An online travel agent

Positive Features:
• Simple and easy designs
• Fast and efficient checkout process
• Paid content is acquired through downloadable pdfs that are password protected 

Negative Features:
• These sites offer a downloadable PDF that can easily be pirated and shared
• Customers have no reason to return to the site

HYPOTHESIS

“We need to provide paid content on your site that customers could access through accounts created at purchase”

IDEATION

“It’s time to start exploring the ideas”

Our process in designing the solution:
• Design studio
• Iterating
• Wireframing
• Prototype

Things we kept in mind:
A big focus when creating the wireframes was to consider the existing site designs and style and incorporating that into screens we created. We created the high fidelity wireframes to help our client visualise how the solution would exist in her current site, as well as the visual changes to the existing itinerary.

VALIDATION

“Does it work?”

Scenarios we created to test if we had all the necessary functionality:
• Viewing the itinerary for day one of a free self guided tour 
• Purchasing a curated guide 
• View a purchased guide from the user dashboard and viewing the itinerary for day one

Iterations made to make the solution better:
• Clearer breakdown of the each day
• Clearer starting and ending locations for each day
• More callouts for why you should purchase the content
• Summary of what is in the paid content
• Adjusting some of the copy

SOLUTION

“The solution needs to allow the business expand”

In addition to the free guides, offer curated paid guides hosted on the site through accounts.
We believe the proposed solution could also help build the customer base which could be used for the peer to peer rental and airBnB projects.

UNDERSTAND

“Free Vs Paid”

DEVELOP

The Prototype

EXPLORE

“Maybe OpenRoads could consider a yearly membership”

Consider a yearly membership instead of a one off payment for a guide:
• People can pay a one off fee to access ALL of the content (free and paid)
• This would make customers feel like they are a part of a community
• You can keep customers engaged by sending them regular promotions and discounts

Maybe OpenRoads could consider expanding your target audience?
• The solution we have created appeals to everyone, not just people travelling to India
• Offers and discounts could be generic and not country specific eg. discounts on bike rentals
• OpenRoads could focus on increasing brand awareness in Australia so people know about tours that OpenRoads offers both free and paid

NEXT STEPS

Future Developments

In order for our proposed solution to be successful there are a few things that OpenRoads need to consider:
• Who are their customers? They could focus on increasing brand awareness in Australia so people know about tours that OpenRoads offers both free and paid
• Who are their partners? 
• How will they engage with them?
• Why would they want to be involved?
• What offers/discounts do you think they can give you? Maybe they can be generic and not specific to a tour
• Will these offers/discounts be of value to the customers?