I like hearing stories about UX benefit companies' bottom line in the wild.
As designer, all too many times do I give advice and get strongly told - "that's nice, just design it this way.." It's sad because if I don't want to design it, there'll surely be a fresh upstart that'll do it to take my place.
She wanted to remove a display banner ad that was harming the UX, her boss told her that she needs to find alternative revenue if she wants to remove the ad. Therefore she make a comparison toolbox that opened in a new window Expedia & other competing websites upon a user selection, which brought revenue to Hotwire and at the same time proved to their customers that they do indeed have the lowest prices.
At the end of the talk she mentions how important it is to find good metrics to watch during any change, and how analytic insights guaranteed her a spot at the table and the respect she was looking for.
