Icelandair's New Award Winning Websites

Increased Speed, Greater Stability and Powerful Service

Overview

VYRE's Icelandic reseller, TM Software, and Icelandair have been working together on one of the biggest web solution projects ever executed in Iceland. The project evolved around the installation of VYRE Unify and the ambition to gain competitive advantage, increase service to customers and increase sales on the websites.

Mr. Hjörtur Þorgilsson, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Icelandair, says: "VYRE Unify is a very powerful web system that enables us to take the next steps and design even more powerful web solutions in the future. We did put a lot of effort into finding a system that would fulfil all our expectations and requirements and it has been proven that Vyre was the right choice, as the system leads to great opportunities that will make all future work at Icelandair much easier."

Redesigned from the ground up, the new Icelandair websites bring the company's Internet presence into the realm of what has been dubbed "Web 2.0" a second-generation of Internet-based services. The sites are also based on established technologies such as AJAX, XML, CSS 2.0, and XSL. In short, Icelandair has taken a bold leap into the future.

Project objectives

The objectives for this project were to relaunch the online presence of the Icelandair websites and to increase revenue from web sales.

The technical goal of the project was to improve the architecture, increase the websites' uptime, reorganise the processes, as well as improve the access of employees and customers to web-based activities and information.

The implementation of VYRE Unify, as the new content management system and portal was fundamental to the project. In addition to this the project also included:

• Redesign the nine websites of Icelandair, which are unique language-specific domains

• Rewrite functionality modules

• Increase functionality and redesign the booking system

• Redesign and develop a business layer on top of the customer database

• Search Engine Optimisation 

VYRE Unify

Icelandair has put itself on the forefront on the Internet among airlines today with the installation of VYRE Unify, new structure and new websites. Mr. Hjörtur Þorgilsson, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Icelandair, says: "VYRE Unify is a very powerful web system that enables us to take the next steps and design even more powerful web solutions in the future. We did put a lot of effort into finding a system that would fulfil all our expectations and requirements and it has been proven that Vyre was the right choice. The system can lead to great opportunities that will make all future work at Icelandair much easier."

Easy access to information

A core aim of the new websites was to optimise intuitiveness and ease of use for users when booking trips and accessing information. To ensure this Icelandair used the Webtrends Web Analytics and Web Statistics software to analyse user behaviour. With this analysis as guidance the booking processes, sitemap and the information flow were redefined.

Clear and easily accessed shortcuts were set up where the user can access most information with one click of the mouse. Among them are departures and arrivals, access to a Lucky Fares club, e-tickets and flying routes. The service has also been made more interactive. For example an interactive Route Map lets users view the flying schedule and thereby see all the flying routes of Icelandair and then book flights based on the route that is chosen. Users can also receive various information about the route such as weather, flying time and distance.

Icelandair's Corporate Client section also facilitates a seamless method for corporate clients to transact their Icelandair business. This was achieved by way of the corporate minisite which is embedded within the larger Icelandair web presence. Accessible via a unique password-protected URL it provides corporate clients with corporate travel tasks, staff flight booking, user permissions, contract calculation, file upload, invoice display, and employee travel reports.

The Frequent Flyer section for Icelandair Customer Club members has also been restructured and redesigned. Members can earn reward points and redeem them against flights, hotels and car rentals. The Frequent Flyer section is really a world of its own with a great deal of information and user friendly functionality.

On the whole XHTML coding, which is built into VYRE Unify, gives greater accessibility to the Icelandair sites. This is because XHTML code avoids the kind of errors that can make web pages fail even in traditional browsers. Furthermore, XHTML documents can easily be "transported" to wireless devices and other specialized web environments.

Redesign of the booking process

The key goal for Icelandair is to increase efficiency with enhanced sales over the

Internet. One of the largest parts of the project was therefore to make changes to the booking process and simplify it. Many of the most common services are now more dynamic with the use of AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), which makes the websites faster and enables users to change areas without refreshing the whole website. This allows Icelandair to provide the responsiveness users expect from desktop applications.

This new service also makes it easier for users to finish their booking in a much more convenient way. The calendar on the sites has been redesigned. It has been styled to match the Icelandair brand, and its form and function have also been improved. With a new two-month view, users can now quickly select travel dates. Customer Club members are also able to book Reward Flight tickets in the Frequent Flyer section of www.icelandair.is. Browsing through airports is now much faster too, because users do not have to download the whole site, even though they have made some changes to their preferences. For example flights can be quickly added to users' itinerary without reloading the page. The user therefore experiences a seamless booking process.

Accessibility

Work to improve access for the disabled was performed, to ensure that those who have difficulty reading a computer screen can nonetheless obtain information from the website. The implementation of VYRE Unify makes this possible by providing a clear separation of content and presentation. The structure of the software code on the web makes it also possible for screen readers to understand the structure of the website which makes it easier for blind people and those who use screen readers to browse on the web. The principle of accessibility was applied at the most granular level as well. For example the HTML "Alt" tag enabling users to understand images which they cannot see was a mandatory facet of the site's code.

Great emphasise was also placed on user tests where the typical user of an Icelandair website got the opportunity to try the web and express his/her opinion. The web consultancy, Sjá ehf., was in charge of the user tests in Iceland and otherconsultancies made the tests abroad.

Response time

One of the goals of the project was to decrease the time users spend waiting for answers to their requests, as well as to make the process more dynamic, which in most cases means waiting longer for information. However, with the new Icelandair websites this is not the case. Now, the waiting time is much shorter than before. Better procedures, less complicated templates and newer technology such as VYRE Unify and Ajax means Icelandair websites have achieved and surpassed industry standards.

Furthermore the use of Ajax makes it possible to update one part of the website at a time. Therefore, there is no need to download the whole site, but only the part that changed with a new request of the user.

TM Software and VYRE Unify also fulfils the requirements of CSS, XHTML standards and uses the design and presentation that the greatest specialists regard as the best one available today, often called "One True Layout". This ensures simple templates, better presentation, better visibility for search engines, increased interoperability and makes all maintenance easier. XHTML coding will also facilitate a painless transition to more advanced technology. With the web now moving to XML, which is a powerfully enabling technology, well formed, valid XHTML pages provide the easiest way to begin this transition.

Efficiency and service

Web services are a very important part of today's websites and that also applies to

Icelandair. About 100 web services were built for more than 30 functionality modules on the new websites, which are designed according to the Java JSR 168 Portlet standard, which is supported by VYRE Unify enabling interoperability independent of the portal vendor solution.

To ensure the response time with other systems of Icelandair a special communication layer is built into the system. This layer is called WSL (Web Service Layer) and is based on Java Spring and Hibernate. The main aim of WSL is to ensure the highest possible uptime and a good response time between functionality units. Furthermore, all connections will become as streamlined as possible in comparison with the usual SOAP communication that result in greater system load.

Site maintenance

VYRE Unify supports CSS and XHTML, which separates the presentation style of documents from the content of documents and in turn significantly simplifies web authoring and site maintenance. As a result Icelandair was able to implement a new look in less than a week after the launch of two sites. In the past this would have required extensive recoding of the site.

Post project, new options such as Google Earth integration are also easier to implement. Google Earth allows visitors to "fly" between destinations and view offers and points of interest, such as restaurants, theatres, or museums. Such integrations give users even more interactivity and a pleasant web experience.

Increased sales

Icelandair closely monitors web analytics and feeds these back into the web design cycle. Since the site launch Icelandair has been able to obtain a better overview of traffic and behaviour due to more sophisticated web tracking measurements. This means that Icelandair has been able to maximise its efforts, and the results speak for themselves:

• 16% increase in total visitors (2006 vs. 2005)
• 40% to 50% increase in main page views (between July 2005 and July 2006)
• Increase from 90% to over 500% in referrals from Google for selected phrases since launch
• An average of 60% increase in referrals from local Google Search Engines (September 2006 vs. September 2005)
• More sales channels on the website leading to increased sales conversion
  • 38.7% increase in sales per visitor 2006 vs. 2005
  • 3.5% increase in visitor conversion rate 2006 vs. 2005
• Significant decrease in complaints to Icelandair call centres

VYRE Unify - Post launch and future objectives

In addition to the main customer facing sites, an intranet was built on VYRE Unify. This site provides Icelandair with a tool to announce news and track projects and tasks.

Icelandair is currently working on a new multi-lingual (2 languages) In-flight shop site called SagaBoutique, which will be ready later in the spring of 2007. Furthermore, during 2007 Icelandair will add two new Italian and Spanish mini-sites, extend the Reward Ticket booking engine to all international websites and implement the Corporate Client service to at least two to three more sites.

A brand management site is also in production. This will form a new section of the Icelandair Intranet and will be ready for use in February 2007. This area will store and manage print media and advertising material and its key goal is to make the maximum amount of material available online, providing quick and easy access for all Icelandair staff.

Awards received

The new Icelandair website is a state of the art example of one of the best websites in the airline business. Since its launch it has won several awards:

• Amadeus e-Travel Conference 2006: Winner in small to medium sized airline category: Best International e-Merchandise Conversion Rates
• Winner of Icelandic marketing award 2006
• Best Corporate site award in Iceland
• www.icelandair.is awarded Best Icelandic Website at the IMARK and SVEF Icelandic Web Awards

 

"The web plays a key role in our marketing efforts. The Best Icelandic Website award clearly shows that our redesign project has been a complete success, as we are also getting positive reviews from outside of Iceland. Not least the nomination for the Technology For Marketing award, were we are competing against the likes of Orange, Tesco, Hewlett Packard and Nike." said Gunnar Már Sigurfinnsson, SVP Sales and Marketing Icelandair. "Our developments continue as we strive to improve our services and offer new products and services. This award is therefore, a happy acknowledgement of a job well done, both for us and our development partners"

Jon Karl Olafsson, CEO Icelandair also acknowledged the importance of the Icelandic Web Award: "We consider this award to be an important achievement for Icelandair. It reflects, in our view, how advanced we are in the utilization of this medium. The web is an important part of our sales and marketing efforts. We've put considerable effort into web development and this award reflects the fact that the Icelandic web development community believes we're doing things right."