Paytm Bus: Reimagining the Paytm Bus Desktop Experience
Introduction
The Journey's Starting Point
Our Paytm mobile app made booking a bus ticket super easy. But our website? Not so much.
People who used their computers to book tickets found our website old messy and confusing. Many would give up and leave the site. We knew we had to fix it.
My job was to lead the redesign of the website. The goal was to make it just as simple and trustworthy as our mobile app so booking a bus on a computer would be a great experience.
Platform: Paytm Website (Desktop)
Timeline: 3 Months
The Problem
The Bumpy Road to Booking
The old website was frustrating for users. When we looked at the data and read customer complaints, we found a few big problems:
Too Much Clutter: The SRP Page showing the list of buses was a jumbled mess of information. It was hard to compare prices and times.
No Clear Focus: On the homepage, the most important task—searching for a bus—was lost among too many links, buttons, and sections.
Hard-to-Find Buttons: Important options like filters to choose an A/C bus were hidden in menus. People couldn’t find them.
Outdated Look: The website looked old and didn't match the clean look of our other Paytm products.
Confusing Seat Picking: Choosing a seat and pickup spot was a slow, clunky process. This was the step where most people gave up.
Simply put, the website was making travel planning harder, not easier.
This data revealed two critical points of failure:
Massive Drop-off at Search: A staggering 78% of users dropped off between the Search results page and the Seat Selection page. This indicated that users were overwhelmed by the presentation of bus options, unable to find relevant information, or discouraged by a confusing layout.
High Abandonment at Seat Selection: Of the users who did manage to reach the Seat Selection page, another 78% abandoned the flow before reviewing their bus details. This pointed to major usability issues with the seat map, pricing display, and the overall process of confirming a selection.
The Solution
A Smooth, Redesigned Path
Knowing the exact problems, we redesigned the entire experience from the ground up starting with the homepage.
A Clean and Focused Homepage: We created a brand new homepage that put the search box front and center. It is clean, simple, and guides the user directly to the most important action.
Better Search Results: We cleaned up the search page to make it easy to compare buses and find the best option quickly.
Simpler Seat Picking: We designed a new clear seat map that made choosing a seat simple and stress free.
A Trusted Paytm Look: We rebuilt the whole website using our official design system. Now, it looks and feels like the main Paytm app which helps users trust it more.
The Results
Did It Work?
The new design was a huge success. We looked at the numbers to see how much things improved.
The results were clear:
More Visitors Became Customers: The number of people who successfully booked a ticket nearly doubled.
Website Sales Grew 3x: The website became a much more important part of our business.
We Fixed the Problem Pages: Far fewer people got stuck or gave up during their booking journey.
THE END