Overcoming Early Booker's Doubt Through Flexible Payment Option

Role

Lead designer

Timeline

Q4 2025 - Q1 2026

Overview

tiket.com is one of Indonesia's leading online travel platforms with 18M+ users. On this project, I worked with the accommodation team to help early bookers confidently secure a room without the hesitation of committing a large upfront payment.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

In our recent funnel analysis, we identified a significant drop-off from users who search for hotels 15+ days ahead.

We called this segment "early bookers." At below 5% conversion, they had the lowest rate across all lead time segments. We saw this as an opportunity to grow monthly orders and overall GBV which aligned to our OKR.

So we decided to dig deeper into what was making them hesitate to book?

UNDERSTANDING USER TARGET

Why early bookers hesitate to book this early?

From our qualitative research, here are two main behavior of early bookers:

PROJECT GOAL

How might we deliver low risk & flexible booking options so early bookers feel confident to secure room early over their travel uncertainty

MAKE THE PAYMENT MORE FLEXIBLE

We decided to remove the barrier of early financial commitment

We introduced a scheme that lets users secure a room without paying upfront. As an OTA, we leverage hotel partners that allow reservations, and in other cases, place a refundable deposit if users cancel before the due date.

EXPLORING CONCEPTS

How we introduce this flexible payment scheme that appeals the early bookers?

We explored multiple naming directions to ensure the feature clearly communicates value and drives adoption.

After discussions with stakeholders and considering scalability, we went with Alt A "Pay Zero Now." It's the simplest name and the most aligned with what early bookers actually need.

Not a price promise, not urgency, just the reassurance that they can secure the room without spending anything today.

DESIGN SOLUTION

Deliver low risk & flexibility values so early bookers can be more confident to book over their travel uncertainties

We create two design principles that guide on how we communicate Pay Zero Now values throughout the booking experience.

1

Show flexibility value upfront

We put a simple nudge color text on the search results page and room list page, keeping the design clean. The key was copywriting that not pushing users to buy but reminding them they have a smarter option.

We also added Pay Zero Now as a filter option so users who intentionally want to book early can set their preferences when exploring.

2

Empower user through clear benefit

We made the Pay Zero Now more prominent compare to pay now through showcase the benefit that address the doubt barrier early bookers have at the moment of decision. No upfront payment, quicker and easier cancellation.

3

Clear scheme info page

To reassure the calculated early bookers, we display clear value benefits with a table explanation on the refundable policy. This ensures we deliver that "flexibility" value in a way that feels transparent.

4

Reminding user after booking

To minimize the risk of users forgetting to pay complete the payment, we placed several reminders across multiple touch points: email, push notification, order detail page at D-7, D-3, and D-24h, and upcoming booking section on the homepage.

5

Cancel easily, no fee charged

Plans changes. that's exactly why we built this.

Since users haven't paid anything upfront, cancelling before the due date costs them nothing. No penalty, no hassle. Just a clean exit that showcase the same low-risk promise that got them to book in the first place.

RESULTS

Three months after release, Pay Zero Now helped early bookers to be more confident to secure room earlier which also leads to increase of overall GBV