Hasan Nawaz

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Reducing the drop-off rates by 19% at Sastaticket

8 min est. read

Overview

This case study showcases the process and the problems I faced when trying to decrease the drop-off rates on the search results page, which was 61%, one of the key steps of the funnel in the booking experience for a platform with a 500k+ monthly user base. It highlights how I overcame challenges and came up with viable solutions through extensive research and testing, which eventually reduced drop-off by 19%. I was the lead on this project.

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My Role

Lead Product Designer
Project Lead

The Team

2x Product Designer
1x Service Designer

1x Product Owner

1x Design Manager

2x Product Designer
1x Service Designer

1x Product Owner

1x Design Manager

Note

Mobile app and web experience is very similar, so mostly you’ll only be seeing a single mobile screenshot that is a reference to both, the app and mobile web.

Problem

The problem was identified by one of our product owners that a majority of users are dropping off at the search results page, a key step in the funnel. The drop-off rate was 61%. This is where the user discovers the flight options and decides whether to book or not. Since alot of factors go into the user continuing on to book such as pricing, and that majority of Sastaticket users are here to explore ticket prices and to plan their trip rather than book immediately, decreasing the drop-off rates was a difficult task.

Approach

The approach I decided to take was:

Research

I led the research on this project. I immediately started off by getting data analytics from the data team, once i had access to analytics in the Amplitude dashboard, i got immediate insights.

Drop-off rates for specific devices

Drop-off rates were highest on Desktop. This was unusual since in one of our previous research we found out that users are most likely to purchase high priced products such as flight tickets on a laptop or desktop device instead of mobile phones which they use mostly for leisure and exploring/planning.

Mobile responsive web and app had lower drop-off rates, giving us a key insight that while the problem was there for mobile, it was more severe on desktop.

Load time

Through analytics we also found out that the average load time for this specific page was above 8 seconds on the website and app, where as the recommended load time is 2 seconds to avoid added user frustration which will increase drop-offs.

Heat Maps & Session Recordings

What i focused on next was to study heat maps and session recordings on a tool called Microsoft Clarity. The insights were quite expected, users came to the search results page, explored a few different dates to plan their trip and then dropped off. However, taps seemed somewhat random, a lot of them were on the header, which wasn’t supposed to be the primary goal here.

There were very minimal clicks on filters, our assumption was since on major routes like Karachi - Islamabad, there are not a lot of flight options.

There were very minimal clicks on filters, our assumption was since on major routes like Karachi - Islamabad, there are not a lot of flight options.

Pages where there was no flights showing up, had really high drop offs.

Pages where there was no flights showing up, had really high drop offs.

Users took a long time to decide after they had fare options open.

Users took a long time to decide after they had fare options open.

UX Audit

I conducted a UX Audit on the search results page, these were the key problems on this page i defined:

Header was a primary color, conflicting with the main cta of the page “Select”.
The sticky WhatsApp and sorting/filter CTA’s on mobile app and web were distracting and in the way of the main Select CTA.
The flight card was quite condensed and cluttered, with price not as visible as it should be, which is the primary motivating factor for users while booking.
The filters section, which is widely unused, takes up too much space, which in turn takes away attention from the main hero of the page which should be the flight card.
The fare calendar component (where you can quickly switch between dates), which is a big use case for our users who are here to explore and plan their trip, looked sloppy and needed a redesign.

I conducted a UX Audit on the search results page, these were the key problems on this page i defined:

Header was a primary color, conflicting with the main cta of the page “Select”.
The sticky WhatsApp and sorting/filter CTA’s on mobile app and web were distracting and in the way of the main Select CTA.
The flight card was quite condensed and cluttered, with price not as visible as it should be, which is the primary motivating factor for users while booking.
The filters section, which is widely unused, takes up too much space, which in turn takes away attention from the main hero of the page which should be the flight card.
The fare calendar component (where you can quickly switch between dates), which is a big use case for our users who are here to explore and plan their trip, looked sloppy and needed a redesign.

The date calendar had a below average experience, showing only 1 month at a time, whereas users could be booking for example a return journey from 30th Dec - 5th Jan. It had missing features that our competitors already had which would significantly enhance the experience of users.

The date calendar had a below average experience, showing only 1 month at a time, whereas users could be booking for example a return journey from 30th Dec - 5th Jan. It had missing features that our competitors already had which would significantly enhance the experience of users.

UX Audit

User interviews were conducted, where i delegated some of these to the other product designer on the project.

Users were divided into a total of 6 groups.

Those who searched on Desktop, Mobile Web, and Mobile App, and further divided into groups who finished booking, and those who dropped off during the search results page.

All users were asked:
What their intent was when they started the journey?

The findings were:
Some desktop/mobile web/mobile app users had the intent to book but did not end up booking. While pushing to get an answer as to why, we couldn’t figure out in these interviews as to what the exact reason was.

We deduced there there was no single factor, but a multitude of reasons that eventually led a potential customer to drop-off.

Problem Statements

After this intensive research process, we had many problems/assumptions on our hand.

Problem: The average loading time (8 seconds) on the search results page is significantly higher than the recommended load time (seconds). The page is not well optimized on the back-end.
Problem: Users are not interacting with the filters section. This is due to majority of searches not requiring filters due to having limited flight options because the main route having limited flights.
Problem: Users are dropping off the website on pages with no flight options. While this is somewhat expected, the screen having no CTA is also a contributing factor which could tackle this problem to some extent.
Problem: Header is a primary CTA color, which conflicts with the main “Select” CTA and distracts the user from their goal.
Problem: The sticky WhatsApp and sorting/filter CTA’s on mobile app and web were distracting and in the way of the main Select CTA.
Problem: The flight card was quite condensed and cluttered, with price not as visible as it should be, which is the primary motivating factor for users while booking.
Problem: The fare calendar component (where you can quickly switch between dates), which is a big use case for our users who are here to explore and plan their trip, looked sloppy and needed a redesign.
Problem: Users took a long time to decide to continue booking after they had fare options open. Time to complete task (TOCT) was too high and had the potential to be reduced.
Problem: The date calendar had a below average experience, showing only 1 month at a time, whereas users could be booking for example a return journey from 30th Dec - 5th Jan. On the mobile version, it had horizontal scroll, which is not intuitive, mobile users are very used to scrolling vertically. It had missing features that our competitors already had which would significantly enhance the experience of users.
Problem: More users were dropping off on desktop compared to mobile web and mobile app. While users should be more likely to book on desktop, they have a higher drop-off rate. The problem lies in the design, likely the ones listed above.
Problem: Some desktop/mobile web/mobile app users had the intent to book but did not end up booking. This is likely due to a multitude of reasons, likely the ones listed above.

After this intensive research process, we had many problems/assumptions on our hand.

Problem: The average loading time (8 seconds) on the search results page is significantly higher than the recommended load time (seconds). The page is not well optimized on the back-end.
Problem: Users are not interacting with the filters section. This is due to majority of searches not requiring filters due to having limited flight options because the main route having limited flights.
Problem: Users are dropping off the website on pages with no flight options. While this is somewhat expected, the screen having no CTA is also a contributing factor which could tackle this problem to some extent.
Problem: Header is a primary CTA color, which conflicts with the main “Select” CTA and distracts the user from their goal.
Problem: The sticky WhatsApp and sorting/filter CTA’s on mobile app and web were distracting and in the way of the main Select CTA.
Problem: The flight card was quite condensed and cluttered, with price not as visible as it should be, which is the primary motivating factor for users while booking.
Problem: The fare calendar component (where you can quickly switch between dates), which is a big use case for our users who are here to explore and plan their trip, looked sloppy and needed a redesign.
Problem: Users took a long time to decide to continue booking after they had fare options open. Time to complete task (TOCT) was too high and had the potential to be reduced.
Problem: The date calendar had a below average experience, showing only 1 month at a time, whereas users could be booking for example a return journey from 30th Dec - 5th Jan. On the mobile version, it had horizontal scroll, which is not intuitive, mobile users are very used to scrolling vertically. It had missing features that our competitors already had which would significantly enhance the experience of users.
Problem: More users were dropping off on desktop compared to mobile web and mobile app. While users should be more likely to book on desktop, they have a higher drop-off rate. The problem lies in the design, likely the ones listed above.
Problem: Some desktop/mobile web/mobile app users had the intent to book but did not end up booking. This is likely due to a multitude of reasons, likely the ones listed above.

Solutions

After defining the clear problem statements, we had one goal in mind. To design solutions for these problems and validate them through usability tests and A/B tests.

While i was overseeing the design, i delegated one of the product designers to help me out with these.

Problem

The average loading time (8 seconds) on the search results page is significantly higher than the recommended load time (seconds). The page is not well optimized on the back-end.

Solution

The problem was highlighted to the engineering team which was confirmed to be a back-end issue, however sadly nothing ever became of this because it was too difficult a task for engineering to fix.

Problem

Users are not interacting with the filters section. This is due to majority of searches not requiring filters due to having limited flight options because the main route having limited flights.

Solution

Filters section was redesigned to be more condensed, taking up much less space, and moved to the top so the flight card gets a wider view and more focus. Even though filters weren’t much used, its still an important component for searches with more flight options, so that was kept in mind and the placement was kept on top.

Problem

Users are dropping off the website on pages with no flight options. While this is somewhat expected, the screen having no CTA is also a contributing factor which could tackle this problem to some extent.

Solution

While our primary solution was to show curated flight cards for other dates here as suggestions, after a discussion with engineering that required a lot of effort and would take some time, for the time being we decided on adding clear CTA’s to select a different date.

Problem

Solution

Problem

Header is a primary CTA color, which conflicts with the main “Select” CTA and distracts the user from their goal.

Solution

Changing the header color from being the same color as the CTA to a more neutral color, a shade of grey.

Problem

The sticky WhatsApp and sorting/filter CTA’s on mobile app and web were distracting and in the way of the main Select CTA.

Solution

While this would reduce WhatsApp interactions, the booking flow was much more important. We decided to move the filters positioning and changing the WhatsApp logo inside the contact options in the header.

Problem

The flight card was quite condensed and cluttered, with price not as visible as it should be, which is the primary motivating factor for users while booking.

Solution

We decided to make the flight card full width to give it more space and focus. Moving the price inside the CTA was a bold move that we decided to do and a bit unconventional, but in the end it paid out.

Problem

The fare calendar component (where you can quickly switch between dates), which is a big use case for our users who are here to explore and plan their trip, looked sloppy and needed a redesign.

Solution

The redesigned fare calendar was designed to have better sectioning and visibility, and the ability the scroll past 7 days, giving users more flexibility.

Problem

Users took a long time to decide to continue booking after they had fare options open. Time to complete task (TOCT) was too high and had the potential to be reduced.

Solution

We redesigned the fare options so they were easier to compare to each other. Users could now tell which fare options had some features and which had them missing. The ability to add “Sasta Refund” was added, which was another product at Sastaticket.

Problem

The date calendar had a below average experience, showing only 1 month at a time, whereas users could be booking for example a return journey from 30th Dec - 5th Jan. On the mobile version, it had horizontal scroll, which is not intuitive, mobile users are very used to scrolling vertically. It had missing features that our competitors already had which would significantly enhance the experience of users.

Solution

Users could now see 2 months in their calendar at a time. On mobile, they had the ability to scroll vertically now. The “Depart On” and “Return On” selections were clearly labelled to give the user immediate feedback. Pricing under each date was added to our user base who were there to explore and plan their trips.

Validation

These ideas were presented to the company management and they were well received. the next step was to test with actual users.

These journey’s were tested intensively through usability testing sessions conducted by me and the other designers on the team.

Once we had enough validation from these tests it was time to run A/B tests on live environment.

Impact

After this design went live, we kept track of analytics, and after a month we noticed a significant reduction in the drop-off on this page. It had dropped from 61% to 42%, a massive 19% decrease!

Given that we knew this could be due to other reasons such as season changes (travel bookings are affected massively in different seasons), we let it run for a few months and it never became higher than 50%, making this design a success.

Opportunities

Through out this process, we made several discoveries that could be proposed as opportunities:

Since users are planning their trip and pricing is a big deciding factor for them, a Price Alert feature could be introduced. This feature would alert users whenever the price dropped for a flight they showed interest in.
Since we discovered most users are here to compare prices from other platforms or even directly from airlines, a price comparison feature could be introduced to keep them on the platform rather than them dropping off.

Through out this process, we made several discoveries that could be proposed as opportunities:

Since users are planning their trip and pricing is a big deciding factor for them, a Price Alert feature could be introduced. This feature would alert users whenever the price dropped for a flight they showed interest in.
Since we discovered most users are here to compare prices from other platforms or even directly from airlines, a price comparison feature could be introduced to keep them on the platform rather than them dropping off.

Learnings

During this project, I learned the importance of balancing user needs with business goals and engineering constraints. For example, while redesigning the fare calendar and flight cards, I realized that even small changes, like showing prices directly on the calendar instead of hiding them behind clicks, significantly improved scanning speed and decision-making.
On the collaboration side, I learned that early involvement of engineering in UI decisions is critical. Some backend limitations delayed features like dynamic fare calculations. Prototyping smaller, achievable solutions first helped maintain momentum while still addressing user pain points.
I gained a deeper understanding of how users interact with complex travel flows. Observing session recordings, I noticed users repeatedly struggled with unclear filters and multi-date comparisons. This taught me that travel planning isn’t linear; users often explore multiple options and bounce between different screens. Designing for exploration rather than a single linear path improved engagement.
From a product perspective, I realized that small features like fare alerts and inline price comparison have outsized impact on user retention. Users didn’t just want to book flights; they wanted confidence that they were getting the best price. Integrating these features in subtle, unobtrusive ways made the product feel more intelligent and human-centered.
I also learned that visual hierarchy matters more than I initially thought. Early iterations showed that even minor clashes between headers, CTAs, and fare cards caused hesitation. Adjusting font weights, spacing, and button prominence noticeably reduced drop-off on key screens.
Finally, I learned that incremental improvements can compound into meaningful results. Individually, changes to filters, CTAs, calendar layout, and flight cards seemed small, but together they created a smoother, faster, and more intuitive booking experience. Observing real user interactions reinforced that thoughtful iteration beats big redesigns when time and resources are limited.

During this project, I learned the importance of balancing user needs with business goals and engineering constraints. For example, while redesigning the fare calendar and flight cards, I realized that even small changes, like showing prices directly on the calendar instead of hiding them behind clicks, significantly improved scanning speed and decision-making.
On the collaboration side, I learned that early involvement of engineering in UI decisions is critical. Some backend limitations delayed features like dynamic fare calculations. Prototyping smaller, achievable solutions first helped maintain momentum while still addressing user pain points.
I gained a deeper understanding of how users interact with complex travel flows. Observing session recordings, I noticed users repeatedly struggled with unclear filters and multi-date comparisons. This taught me that travel planning isn’t linear; users often explore multiple options and bounce between different screens. Designing for exploration rather than a single linear path improved engagement.
From a product perspective, I realized that small features like fare alerts and inline price comparison have outsized impact on user retention. Users didn’t just want to book flights; they wanted confidence that they were getting the best price. Integrating these features in subtle, unobtrusive ways made the product feel more intelligent and human-centered.
I also learned that visual hierarchy matters more than I initially thought. Early iterations showed that even minor clashes between headers, CTAs, and fare cards caused hesitation. Adjusting font weights, spacing, and button prominence noticeably reduced drop-off on key screens.
Finally, I learned that incremental improvements can compound into meaningful results. Individually, changes to filters, CTAs, calendar layout, and flight cards seemed small, but together they created a smoother, faster, and more intuitive booking experience. Observing real user interactions reinforced that thoughtful iteration beats big redesigns when time and resources are limited.

Quick highlights of other projects I’ve done at Sastaticket

The next Sastaticket projects are short and sweet, just the highlights, no epic sagas this time.

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