Check out the GetThere Blog post below on Customer Experience

New Coke—customers didn't want it.  Ford Edsel—customers thought it was ugly. Apple Newton—customers didn't know how to use it.

Each of these product launches were tremendous flops for well-established brands that tried to do something different and innovative.  In their attempt to foray into new territory they forgot that more important than being innovative is listening to your customers.

While GetThere is focused on delivering the newest innovations in travel technology, we also want to ensure we are delivering products that our customers want, like and can easily use.  That is why our user interface design work is so important.  Led by GetThere’s Customer Experience Team, the group designs enhancements and features with a user-centered approach.  The goal is to ensure products, features and enhancements that are implemented are each usable and accessible for all key stakeholders and customers.  In order to do this, the Customer Experience Team  leverages Sabre’s Human Factors Team, not an external company, to test before going to market.

The Human Factors Team and the GetThere Customer Experience Team observes (and learns from) users as they work with a product before, during and after design and development.  Located at our Southlake, TX campus, the usability lab has two dedicated laboratories equipped with cameras, microphones, digital recording equipment and observation rooms.  Real travelers and GetThere users come to the lab where they then take products on test drives, usually one-on-one with a moderator.  The participant provides feedback on ease of use, efficiency, look and feel.  This dialogue is important in ensuring that we deliver a new product that is not only reliable and innovative, but also liked and wanted.

As a product marketer and the manager of the GetThere Customer Experience Team, I thank both of these teams for their work---and for allowing me to sleep soundly at night knowing that we are not about to launch the next DeLorean or Sony Betamax.