Virgin Cruises
Defining the digital journey for a new kind of cruise line.
- Scope
- Product strategy and UX
- Platforms
- Responsive web and email
- Period
- 2017–2018
- Partner
- Poke London
Context
A new brand, entering an unfamiliar category.
Virgin was preparing to enter cruising with its first ship still years from sailing. There was no established digital product to improve. The proposition, the customer journey and the way the experience would be sold online were being defined together.
The category came with its own language and decision model: itineraries, departure dates, cabin types, fare conditions and a purchase often planned months in advance. The product had to teach first-time cruisers enough to choose without making the holiday feel like administration.
Product direction
Resolve the proposition before drawing the booking flow.
C-level workshops brought the commercial proposition, brand promise and customer journey into the same conversation. That mattered because the interface could not explain a product the organisation had not yet agreed how to frame.
Once the major decisions were clear, the work moved into journey architecture and detailed UX across the marketing site, cruise discovery and booking. Email was designed as part of the same journey rather than a separate campaign channel.
- Executive workshops
- Product strategy
- Journey architecture
- Responsive UX
- Discovery and booking flows
- Email journeys
Key decisions
Let the holiday lead. Introduce complexity when it earns its place.
Start with the experience
Lead with destinations, life onboard and the character of the brand before asking people to compare the mechanics of a sailing.
Structure the choice
Break the purchase into decisions people can understand: when and where to travel, which voyage fits, then which cabin and fare to choose.
Explain category language
Use plain language and progressive detail so first-time cruisers can make a considered choice without learning an industry vocabulary first.
Design beyond the website
Carry the same logic into email, preserving context as interest becomes planning and planning becomes a booking decision.
What shipped
From a proposition in development to a bookable digital journey.
Virgin Voyages opened its inaugural season for bookings in February 2019. The BVS engagement covered the pre-launch product and UX definition across responsive web and email, creating the framework that connected brand discovery with the booking journey.
Public milestone: Virgin Voyages opened bookings on 14 February 2019.
Sell the reason to go before asking someone to configure the trip.