Lithys 2017: Airbnb- Digital Design Excellence

Lithys 2017: Airbnb- Digital Design Excellence

We created a channel for hosts to support each other and really create a sense of community around our mission of belonging anywhere.

 

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airbnb_horizontal_lockup_web.jpgCompany:  Airbnb  

Entry submitted by: Diana Wong (Program Manager)

Community: Community Center

Lithy category:  Digital Design Excellence

 

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone or tablet.

 

Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.

 

Our digital goals

Our Lithium-powered community helps us build a deeper engagement channel with our hosts. We are able to hone in on what our hosts are talking about, what their needs and wants are. The feedback we receive is key in shaping our policies and influencing our product roadmap. More importantly, we created a channel for hosts to support each other and really create a sense of community around our mission of belonging anywhere.

 

Our unique design

One of the unique elements on our community is our customized homepage. We really want to optimize for personalization and engagement. We built customized logged-in views for returning users to encourage deeper engagement with topics we already know are of interest to them, and a logged out homepage view that entices users to jump into a variety of conversations. Our personalized newsfeed is able to filter topics by language and categories, making it easier for readers to respond and engage with things that interest them.

 

Airbnb- 1st Screen Shot 2017-05-08 at 2 00 49 PM.png

 

Community discussions: Airbnb 2nd screenshot.png

 

How we executed our design

We partnered closely with the Lithium services team to create an experience that suited Airbnb’s needs within the scope of Lithium’s technical capabilities. Every year we share our product vision, goals, and strategy with Lithium early on to partner together to build out enhancements that will help us accomplish our goals for community.

 

Our design results

We found a 10% decrease in bounce rate from our newly designed homepage, and an increase in our usability score. Registrations and activity are also increasing overall since our redesign.