Redesigning IRCTC App to simplify onboarding & train search experience
IRCTC app allows users to book train tickets, check train schedules, and manage their railway travel plans in India. It is an official service provided by the Indian Railways to facilitate convenient and efficient railway ticketing and travel-related services for passengers.
The app, however, was facing usability issues that led to a decline in user satisfaction and engagement. My goal was to redesign the onboarding & searching for trains flow to provide a seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable experience for users, ultimately increasing user retention and satisfaction.
Sole UX Designer
Personal Project
Travel
1 week
Challenge
The app had a cluttered interface, making it difficult for users to navigate and find essential features. Users were facing issues with the onboarding process, which was affecting new user adoption rates. The app lacked hierarchy & layout, making the interface confusing and reducing user retention.
Results
The redesigned app features a clean, clutter-free interface, making it easier for users to navigate and access essential features.
Users found the new onboarding process clear and easy.
In a hurry, check the outcome first
The original onboarding screen was cluttered with a lot of options which made it confusing for users at the very start of the experience resulting in drop-offs I assume.
The original home screen increased the decision for users instead of minimizing it. It has 2 types of icons making it look inconsistent. It doesn't look visually good so users may doubt the functionality.
Understanding how people experience it
People had less time & booking already was a task.
I have seen most of the time people search for trains in a hurry or thinking it as a big task.
From this observation, I realised the importance of clear, direct steps to search for something.
How competitors are doing it
Redesigned screens
Simplifying onboarding
The original onboarding screen had no primary focus & had accessibility issues.
In the redesigned onboarding screen, I used a common design pattern for the Login/Sign-up details & added a toggle to switch between them. I also added a Skip button that will help first-time users quickly explore the features before signing up.
During user research, I found that users usually lost their interest at the very start of the experience because of cluttered UI & no primary focus.
In the redesign, I tried to keep the UI very minimal & intuitive to reduce the cognitive load of the users.
After looking at competitors, I found that they reduced decisions & kept the UI easily understandable so users can easily navigate it even when they are in a hurry - they know where to click.
I used the same pattern in the redesign.
Before this redesign, I came up with an idea to have a search bar on top for quick search but after showing it to users I realized it was not needed & not worth taking up that much space. Users don't search on IRCTC, they just go through the categories to find what they're looking for.
Here's a breakdown of my final redesign:
During my research, I found that most of the time users search for trains at the last time or in a hurry & to search they had to click through twice.
The new flow clearly let user search for trains within a single click & explore other options along with it on the same screen.
Here's a breakdown of the above redesigns:
Testing designs with users
Testing revealed that users found the new UI much better than the existing one
I tested the new designs with 5 users with some qualitative questions asking for their feedback.
Here's the user feedback:
Learnings
