In the early 2008, the french tour operator IBERICA Voyages commissioned me this project for an Internet web shop distributing a wide range of entrance tickets for the Zaragoza Universal Exposition and Fair.
This project involved working on a VERY tight budget and an even more tight due date (I was allocated only a couple weeks to design, code and deploy the whole project). Since costs included all the backend programming and the SSL certificate price, applying Agile development practices was the only way to achieve the project on time while ensuring a high standard of quality on the deliverables committed.
Only four weeks after launch the site ranked for #2 SERP on related queries in Google.fr. In less than 4 weeks the site surpasshed the 500,000USD sales bar.
The main page featured an AJAX powered cart where users only needed to select the type of visitor (adult, child...) and the quantity and type of ticket requested, hence allowing multiple and complex product orders.
Items were added to the cart by AJAX upon selection in the dropdownlist controls. Quantities for each row could be easily modified or even deleted at all, and user could check the total amount of his order before proceeding tot he next step..
Before proceeding with the order, customer data was required first. The whole interface included the official logos and mascots for the event. In the customer data pages user could fill out the form with his data and update the entire order.
Popup tooltips served as helpers tot he user, assuming that not everybody would feel familiar with these kind of shopping experiences.
Once all the information had been collected, user was requested to review all the data provided before proceeding to checkout.
Payment exceptions and validation errors (both performed server-side) redirected users to the confirmation page again, where friendly messages helped them to detect and correct the information entered.
Finally the confirmation page informed the user that the order had been succesfully processed and accomplished. Meanwhile, emails and SMS (delivered worldwide through the Clickatell XML gateway) were sent to both the customer and the site administrator.
Several support pages (FAQ, legal info...) contributed to help the user get all the information needed. The user could check these pages and return to the purchase step he was before at any point so the overall purchasing experience was never disrupted.
