Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 94 – Shocking Revelations About Converting the Customer: EyeforTravel Report Takeaways

Today we are talking about our takeaways from part two of a three-part study performed by EyeforTravel in the Behavioral Analytics Report Series. This report is all about driving consumers through the purchase funnel and ways to improve conversion rate.

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SHOW NOTES

When is the perfect time to pitch?

• Based on data from 3,000 consumers, more than 90% use price comparison sites at least occasionally, with 73% using them regularly when booking an accommodation.
• Research takes place over one to two weeks of active research and longer for general browsing and dreaming about vacation.
• Pre-trip happiness peaks just before and during vacationers’ trips.

Now is the time to work with engaged customers, but finding the precise time and right content or offers is challenging:

Inspiration, Planning, and Conversion

• Address the customers’ needs before they reach the checkout stage with optimized content that helps them when dreaming about their trip.
• Don’t confuse “stay” types of content (pictures of rooms, bathrooms, and the buffet) with the inspirational stage of content.
• Build content around the attractions and unique features of the destination, and how the property relates to them.
• Use social media to reach consumers during the dream phase using engaging content, like video, so you can be top of mind when they are ready to plan.

    Interpreting Intent

• The best time to advertise varies depending on what you are selling and your customer profile.
• Build an accurate conversion funnel, and consider each step of the journey – build content to support each step
  • Aware> Inspired> Informed> Confident> Convinced> Purchasing> Purchased
• Put all the data point together to give the most relevant content and offer, in the most meaningful way.
  • Do you have historical data of what customers have booked before?
    • What time of year did they come?
    • What time of year did they book?
    • What other items did they book aside from a room?
    • What discount did they receive?
• Actively be evaluating content in each for each stage of the process and test new hypotheses to improve performance.

Dynamically Delivering

Why Personalize?

From a 2015 study: Personalized banners result in substantially higher revenue than non-personalized ones, even if the personalized ones are more expensive.

From Marketing Science Institute: The optimal window for highly-personalized content is shortly after a consumer has visited your website, because there is a time-decay effect where super-personal banner ads become less effective at later dates than a constant, moderately-personalized approach.

Cunning Content

Consumers are not just looking for a hotel – they are looking for a great experience of a destination.

• Combine information about things your potential guests want to know, with striking content that grabs their interest
  • Webcam
• If you have the right destination content available that keeps consumers on your website longer, they will have a better chance of converting
• Use findings from reviews from TripAdvisor and other sources to spark content ideas.

Optimizing Conversion

    How Do You Stop Customers Abandoning Their Carts?

• ABT

Color Me Bad? The Ugly Widget Creator

• Sentient Technologies has an AI system that hotel chains use to test their web and mobile site to find the best colors.
• Results of test show some unusual shades can be winners. One really odd (ugly) combination fo the search widget had a 45% increase in conversion.

Cross-Selling vs. Quick Selling

• As much as there is always room to try to sell the consumer on extras, be careful where you give them the option.
• You may make more money from selling other products on the way to the payment page, but you could be losing it too.
• Look at average order value AND conversion rate.
  • You could have a better conversion rate but lower revenue per booking if you offer the additional products later in the purchase process. Can you make up the lost revenue later?
  • You could have a lower conversion rate, but better average revenue per booking with the additional products available before booking. Is the lost conversion rate made up by the additional revenue?

Do You Deserve a Second Chance?

• Average abandonment rate for travel customers was 81% in a June 2018 study.
• This doesn’t mean they truly have abandoned the shopping process, and you still have an opportunity to reach those people.
• Send cart abandonment emails
  • Personalize to the extent you can, based on the behavior on the site
• Third-party remarketing

The Proof Is In the Product

    Social Proof…and Why We Stand in Line for a Crowded Restaurant

Your hotel probably doesn’t have a line out the door of people waiting to get in, like a busy restaurant on a Friday night.

• The best way to prove that you have happy customers is to encourage social media reviews.
• Create sense of urgency/scarcity messaging in the booking process

Summary

You can make more of your online presence and investment by making small tweaks to existing tactics.

• Ensure content on your website reflects YOUR consumer and market, and has compelling information available for every step of the purchase cycle.
• We’ve said it a million times – always be testing. This doesn’t just apply to your website. Look for ways to improve your paid campaigns through imagery, messaging, retargeting, etc.
• Evaluate your cart abandonment efforts.
• Use social proof to provide new customers confidence in your property.

Link to download the report:

http://1.eyefortravel.com/LP=21727?extsource=fuel

DOWNLOAD THE 2018 HOTEL TECHNOLOGY STUDY

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In The Newsaroos

Google hotel search results testing ‘price insights’
https://searchengineland.com/google-hotel-search-results-testing-price-insights-302446

Hotel Direct Bookings Remain Flat Despite Big Marketing Push
https://skift.com/2018/07/25/hotel-direct-bookings-remain-flat-despite-big-marketing-push/

Google Hotel Ads launches Promoted Hotels
https://www.mirai.com/blog/google-hotel-ads-launches-promoted-hotels/

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