Goibibo is India’s leading online travel booking portal. By building a full-featured
and reliable Progressive Web App that matched the capabilities of their iOS and Android
apps, Goibibo achieved a 60% increase in conversions (compared to their previous web flow).
60%
Increase in conversions
20%
Increase in logged-in users
Highlighting the opportunity
In their journey to improve user experience, Goibibo noticed a few trends:
-
With users either already shifted or quickly shifting to mobile, their initial strategy
towards mobile web was to build a lightweight and functional application. This worked, with
search-to-details-page conversions equalizing on web and iOS/Android, but the iOS/Android apps
won in all further steps of the conversion funnel. -
There were significant drop offs at the payment stage of the PWA compared to their
iOS/Android apps. This was when they decided to invest in their PWA with the goal of letting
users experience the same UX on their PWA as on their iOS/Android apps. -
They also noticed nearly 20% of their users were starting a session on the web and
converting on the app. This reiterated their belief that a chunk of users will go untapped
without an aligned PWA and iOS/Android app strategy.
The tools they used
Contact Picker API
Nearly 15% of Goibibo’s logged-in users make bookings for family or friends on the mobile web.
Goibibo used the Contact Picker API to enable PWA users to fill
in forms on behalf of others hassle-free.
Web OTP
Because secure authentication is a big challenge in India, Goibibo
used the Web OTP (One-Time Password) API
to reduce sign-in friction on their PWA.
Web Share API
To bridge the gap between their web and iOS/Android experiences, Goibibo adopted the
Web Share API to make it easier to share links, text, or files around hotel
details, train availability, and so on.
Push notifications
Goibibo used web push
notifications to retarget bounced users with relevant updates like flight fare alerts and other
customized content.
How new web capabilities improved Goibibo’s funnel
Overall business results
- Iterations to PWA interfaces resulted in a 60% jump in conversion rate (compared to the
previous mobile web flow) and delighted users. - New web capabilities improved UX and caused a 20% increase
in logged-in users (who convert 6x more).
We always strive for seamless user experience and in turn better conversion rates. We saw
improved user engagement and better conversion rates on PWA than on the original mobile web flow.
Hence, investing in PWA is critical to our success and if we had not, it would have cost us a
fortune.Rithish Saralaya, VP Engineering, Goibibo
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success stories from India and Southeast Asia.