How Removing Features Improved Our Corporate Travel Compliance by 40%

As a company that builds enterprise software, our natural instinct is to add features. Customers ask for a new bell, so we add a bell. A competitor adds a new whistle, so we add a whistle. Over time, our travel management platform had become a powerful, feature-rich beast. It could handle any conceivable policy, any complex approval workflow, and any esoteric reporting requirement. On paper, it was the perfect tool for ensuring corporate travel compliance. In reality, our clients' compliance rates were often mediocre at best.

We had a platform that could do everything, but our users were still booking off-channel, spending out-of-policy, and filing expense reports late. We were faced with a paradox that many software companies encounter: the more powerful and feature-rich we made our platform, the less effective it seemed to be at solving the core problem. We were so focused on the "what" (the features) that we had lost sight of the "who" (the user) and the "why" (the desired outcome).

So, we decided to try a radical experiment with a few of our mid-market clients who were struggling with adoption. Instead of adding new features, we started taking them away. We simplified the interface. We streamlined the booking process. We reduced the number of choices and decisions a user had to make. The results were stunning. For one client, a 300-person tech company, we saw their travel policy compliance rate jump by over 40% in a single quarter. It was a powerful lesson: sometimes, the key to better compliance is not more control; it is less friction.

The "Paradox of Choice" in Business Travel

The core problem we had created was a classic case of the "paradox of choice." This is the psychological principle that when people are presented with too many options, they become overwhelmed and are less likely to make a decision, or they make a worse decision.

Our feature-rich platform was a perfect example of this. A traveler trying to book a simple trip was confronted with:

• Dozens of search filters.
• Multiple fare types for each flight.
• A complex display showing policy information, carbon emissions data, and supplier information all at once.
• A multi-step checkout process with numerous optional fields.

It was too much. The cognitive load was so high that the user would get frustrated and just give up. They would then open a new tab, go to Expedia (a site designed for simplicity), and book their trip in five minutes. We had inadvertently made the non-compliant path the easiest path.

Our Strategy: A Relentless Focus on the "Happy Path"

Our new strategy was to focus obsessively on the "happy path." We identified the 80% of business trips that are simple and straightforward (e.g., a domestic round-trip flight and a two-night hotel stay) and we redesigned our platform to make booking that type of trip almost absurdly easy.

1. We Stripped Down the User Interface We removed every single button, filter, and piece of information that was not absolutely essential for the core booking task. We hid advanced options behind an "Advanced Search" link. The default search interface became clean, simple, and focused.

• The Impact: This immediately made the tool less intimidating. A user could now see a clear, simple path to their goal.

2. We Made the Policy Invisible (But Still Effective) Instead of showing the user a complex matrix of policy rules, we made the policy enforcement work in the background.

• The Old Way: The search results would show 100 hotels, with 80 of them flagged as "out of policy" with a red warning icon. This created a negative, restrictive feeling.
• The New Way: We changed the default search to only show in-policy hotels. The user sees a clean list of 20 great, compliant options. They feel like they have a choice, but it is a choice within a curated, pre-approved selection. They can still click a link to "show out-of-policy options" if they have a specific need, but the default experience is one of effortless compliance. This is a core part of our philosophy of intentional friction.

3. We Eliminated Unnecessary Decisions We automated every decision that did not require the user's unique judgment.

• The Old Way: The user had to choose a payment method, enter a project code, and select an expense category.
• The New Way: Our platform, Routespring, uses centralized payments, so there is no payment decision for the user to make. It uses smart rules to automatically assign a default project code based on the user's department, which they only have to change if it is incorrect. The system makes the standard decisions for them, and they only have to intervene for the exceptions.

4. We Killed the Post-Trip Expense Report This was the most radical and most effective change. The single biggest source of friction in any travel program is the expense report.

• The Old Way: Book a trip, take the trip, then spend an hour filling out a spreadsheet.
• The New Way: With an integrated travel and expense platform like Routespring, when the trip is booked, the expense report is automatically created. Because the trip was paid for centrally, the major line items are already reconciled. The user simply has to add their on-trip meals.
• The Impact: This change in the workflow is a massive value proposition for the traveler. It turns a universally hated task into a simple, 5-minute process. It is the single biggest incentive for an employee to use the official platform.

The Results: Higher Compliance and Happier Travelers

By removing features and simplifying the process, we made the compliant "happy path" so much easier and more pleasant than the non-compliant "rogue booking" path that employee behavior changed almost overnight.

• Compliance Soared: Because users were staying in the platform, our clients had visibility into 100% of their bookings, and the automated policy engine could do its job effectively.
• Traveler Satisfaction Skyrocketed: Travelers were happier because the process was faster and less stressful. They felt empowered, not controlled.
• Administrative Time Plummeted: With automated expense creation and fewer out-of-policy bookings to chase down, the administrative burden on the finance and travel management teams was drastically reduced.

The lesson for us was clear. In the world of corporate software, more is not always better. A relentless focus on simplifying the user experience and removing friction from the most common workflows is far more effective than building a platform that is loaded with features but is too complicated to use. Sometimes, the best way to improve a product is not to add something new, but to have the courage to take something away.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. If you remove features, won't you lose the powerful controls our company needs? No. It is about making a distinction between "power" and "complexity." The controls are still there, but they are working in the background. The policy engine is still just as powerful, and the approval workflows are just as flexible. The difference is that the user is not exposed to all of that complexity in the user interface. The complexity is managed by the administrator, not the traveler.

2. What about the "power users" who want all the advanced search filters? They are still there, but they are not the default. The interface is designed for the 80% of users who are booking a simple trip. The 20% of users who need to perform a complex search (e.g., a multi-city trip with specific fare class requirements) can still access the advanced features, but they are not cluttering the interface for everyone else.

3. Does a simpler platform mean it is only for small businesses? Not at all. In fact, large enterprises have the most to gain from this approach. A large, complex organization needs a simple, standardized process that can be easily adopted by thousands of employees. A simple user experience is the key to achieving high adoption and compliance at scale.

4. How do we know which features to "remove" or simplify? You have to be data-driven and user-centric. Analyze the usage data for your platform. Which features are used by 90% of your users every day? Which are used by only 1% of your users once a year? Talk to your users. Where are they getting stuck? What parts of the process do they find most frustrating? This data and feedback will give you a clear roadmap for simplification.

5. Is the ultimate goal a "one-click" booking experience? No. This is the "seamless travel myth." A one-click booking process removes the user from the decision-making process entirely, which can lead to mindless, automatic spending. The goal is not to remove all friction. It is to remove unnecessary friction while keeping intentional friction: small, positive points of engagement that cause a user to pause and make a conscious, cost-aware decision.