AllTrails, the premier platform for hiking, biking, and running enthusiasts, boasts a collection of over 300,000 hand-curated trails across 100+ countries. As the Growth Product Designer on a very small in-house design team I collaborated closely with our engineering and data teams to identify and address key opportunities for improvement and growth.
While updating the explore and search features we discovered that users left our app frequently while looking for trails. Users left the AllTrails app to check travel distances from their home to trailheads on external platforms like Google Maps. This disruption occurred particularly when users were exploring day hikes or weekend trips in unfamiliar areas.
While our app offered filters for trail length, activity type, and features, the absence of travel time indicators to trailheads caused friction in the user journey. To reduce friction in the planning process and to keep users from leaving the platform we needed to create a solution to best serve our users.
We spoke to users to better understand their needs during the search process. We were able to identify key needs that the app was not solving and spoke to them about the external apps they used to gather time to trail head information. We were able to identify the key features that would best serve our user segments including travel time using public transit, walking and by bicycle. Working with the engineering team we were able to identify an AIP that would be a light lift to implement and would meet the needs of our users.
To address this issue and streamline the trail discovery process, we implemented a feature that integrated an API providing driving, transit, walking, and biking estimates. Users could now input their available travel time, allowing the app to filter and display trailheads within their range. This solution not only minimized user friction but also kept them engaged within the AllTrails ecosystem, enhancing their overall experience.
