Of all online shopping experiences, the travel industry may have the most cumbersome. The booking process hasn’t changed since it was invented. In fact, the travel industry has an 81.6% abandonment rate. This means that possibly over eight out of every ten exit their initial shopping experience.
A modern solution to lead conversion is live chat. Live chat is a web application which allows businesses to speak with their website visitors directly in real time and it’s shown to significantly increase conversions in traditional ecommerce experiences.
Travel and hospitality management professionals are starting to notice its importance. Travel industry research leader Skift recently published their Megatrends report which highlighted the necessity for messaging as a customer service and sales tool.
When we first talk to hostel and hotel management, they are curious about the time commitment required to chat with website visitors. But, once they see a demo or try it themselves, they see the value. Live chat is the most favored customer service channel; it has a 73% satisfaction rate (compared to just a 44% satisfaction rate with the phone!) and it takes an average of less than 48 seconds to answer a simple question. Also, customers are 63% more likely to return to websites with live chat. In other words, live chat is quicker than a phone call and is more likely to lead to a satisfied customer.
“Your knowledgeable front desk staff and management are already more than capable of addressing any worries or questions of potential guests.”
If your staff is too busy being pulled in every other direction, you can safely relax because any live chat worth working with will have a “call back” option which allows people to submit questions that can be answered later.
These days, more people are traveling than ever before. If someone is looking to make a reservation on an OTA and cannot determine from the information provided if your hotel is the right place or not, there’s pretty good chance they are going to end up on your website. Is your website enticing enough to close the deal?
With live chat, not only will you grow your business, but your digital experience will mirror the physical guest experience, and your guests will have a relationship with your staff before they even arrive.
This post first appeared on the Hoperator blog, where we regularly share our perspectives on technology, messaging and strategy as it relates to the travel industry. Photo by Anubhav Saxena.
Hoperator helps travel and hospitality businesses chat with guests like they’re best friends.
