How can I have the biggest conversion rate possible?
The days are getting difficult for the Online Travel Agencies, with Airbnb increasing its share of the marketplace and hotel “book direct” campaigns proving fruitful. The big question on everyone’s mind is whether the OTAs are winding down.
Generally, when we think of e-Commerce purchases, quick is the word that comes to our minds. One goes to a website, likes something and if the price is good, they buy it. Therefore, the purchase cycle for e-Commerce is deemed short. Except when it comes to travel, no one just says “Let’s go to Berlin”. Planning a trip involves research and a lot of reading before-hand. Furthermore, online bookings are more about attractive offers. If a competitors’ website offered you 10% additional discount, people would certainly book on that website rather than in the one they were checking first.
Let’s examine a common situation in today’s travel industry: your customer is browsing a package or destination on your site, has previously done their research, is fairly confident that your site is the one offering the best value. However, is still unsure about carrying out the booking. Their shopping cart is full, yet there is still something holding them back from finishing the purchase. This is one of the major problems Online Travel Agencies are currently facing. How do they entice or encourage this customer to click ‘buy’ and complete their booking? In the end, what we were talking about here is conversion. The scenario described above happens many times a day for OTAs. But how do they reconcile this situation? How do they turn curious clicks into purchases?
OTAs conversion rate statistics
To answers these questions, it is important to first examine in a certain detail the statistics. According to Skift, the average online customer usually engages in 50 searches for a specific booking or destination. The majority of travellers will approximately make 38 visits to several travel websites before finishing their booking. Nowadays, abandonment rates are around 74 percent. It is easy to comprehend why conversion rates are a tough battle for Online Travel Agencies. The enormous amount of information and feedback that the modern traveller is exposed to, makes it likely for them to leave the shopping cart full but never actually completing the purchase.
Many are the factors behind this conversion rates statistics. For instance, smartphones produce lower conversion rates than laptops due to their rapid nature. Today, travellers prefer to book their trips via mobile platforms, smartphones are being used as a method of quick research and sourcing of potential destination in an on-the-go context.
How OTAs can drive conversion?
OTAs ought to recognize this nonlinear method of purchasing as a critical challenge in fostering higher conversion rates and reducing the number of abandoned travel arrangements. Cold email campaigns, ebooks and other pieces of content are some inexpensive ways to keep the conversation going and keep in touch with customers who may still be weighing their options.
In addition to that, other important strategies to maximize their conversion rates can be deployed. For example, optimizing the website and having a strong social media presence are key drivers of conversion growth. Furthermore, having intelligent search capabilities is also a plus. OTAs must ensure that their products and services database is dynamic and updated. Also, providing varied payment methods could help reducing abandonment and augment the conversion rate.
These pieces of advice can seem simple and straightforward, however, there are still many OTAs who struggle with implementing such actions and prefer to continue spending money on Google Adwords or Facebook re-targeting ads. According to eHotelier, Expedia, Booking.com, Kayak and Hotels.com are compulsive spenders — on Google AdWords alone, they spend an average of $67,250 per day. This is a costly strategy of trying to improve conversion rates. OTAs forget that they are sending the user to the website they were previously having doubts with.
In today’s online travel marketplace, managing these functionalities and understanding how they factor into conversion is a core driver for growth and profitability in both the short and long-term.
Chatbots as a conversion tool
Yes, chatbots can drastically improve conversion rates. In the travel industry, one which is built around making the customer the number #1 priority, communication and information transactions must be quick, smart and insightful. Hence, chatbots are the perfect tool for this job. Moreover, they live inside messaging apps, where today’s users spend the most of their time. In this sense, OTAs are starting to develop messaging apps and services that allow customers to chat with Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered bots. Messaging bots are quickly becoming a vital tool for travellers as they can perform various functions.
Thus, it is time for OTAs to know more about HiJiffy and how we can help you improve your conversion rate. We are a company building a ground-breaking booking solution for the travel industry. Let me tell you how it works: HiJiffy answers users’ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and when the bot does not understand, we handoff to a human agent. Our AI-powered bot learns from that answer and next time will reply automatically. This is truly important for the reason that users/potential travellers want to ask questions and do research about the place they want to go. Therefore, by answering their queries, the chances they book with you will increase.
When the users’ queries are dealt with, we incentivize the guest to book directly on Messenger. Users can check availability, rates and book. The payment is also done in the messaging app. If it is not the best time to book or if the user is still indecisive, we re-engage with them in the next day. Our smart notification system diminishes the probability of abandonment because it will remind the user of what they were searching and even ask why they decided not to book. We send users the right message at the right time.
NB: This is a viewpoint by Mariana Marques from HiJiffy. HiJiffy brings chat to the hospitality industry, enabling guests to effectively connect with Hotels through instant messaging apps.
