Expedia for International Travelers: Segmentation, Service Offering and Engagement Metrics

You are a product manager at Expedia, and the customer segment you have been given is international travelers. How would you approach building a product for them? Answer the three parts below. ### Clarifying Questions - Is the product for leisure travelers, business travelers or both? - Which travelers come first: people leaving one home market, people arriving in a set of destinations, or everyone at once? - Is this a new standalone app, or features inside the existing Expedia app and website? - Is the goal more bookings and revenue per trip, or more loyalty and repeat bookings? ### Part 1 — Segment the travelers How would you divide international travelers into segments, and which segment would you target first? ```hint What makes a trip abroad harder List the ways a trip to another country is harder than a trip at home, then look for the traveler differences that change how much those difficulties hurt. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Segmentation dimensions that matter for trips abroad, beyond basic demographics - A comparison of segments on need, size and value to Expedia - A justified choice of one segment to serve first ### Part 2 — Choose the services Which services would the product offer the segment you chose? ```hint Walk the whole trip Follow the chosen traveler from planning through booking, departure, arrival, the stay and the return home. Note where being in another country creates a problem that booking a flight and a hotel does not solve. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Pain points tied to specific stages of an international trip - Services that address those pain points, including what Expedia builds versus offers through partners - A prioritized first version with the reasoning behind the order ### Part 3 — Define engagement metrics Which engagement metrics would you track? ```hint Engagement on a travel schedule People take only a few trips a year, so daily use is the wrong yardstick. Decide what good engagement looks like before a trip, during it and between trips. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A definition of engagement that fits how often people travel - A primary metric with supporting metrics across the trip - Guardrails and the link from engagement to bookings and revenue ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear line from the chosen segment to its pain points, the services and the metrics - Use of what Expedia already has, such as existing bookings, trip data and its supply of flights, lodging, cars and activities - Trade-offs such as building versus partnering and the breadth versus depth of the first version - Risks specific to travel abroad, such as wrong entry-requirement information or a partner failing a traveler mid-trip ### Follow-up Questions - Many of these services would come from partners. How would you choose between building, partnering and linking out, and who supports a traveler when a partner fails abroad? - How would you keep in-trip notifications useful rather than annoying? - Which home market would you launch in first, and why?