Hotel website usability — Are you making these top 10 mistakes?
Hotel website usability — Are you making these top 10 mistakes?
There’s one thing worse than a poorly designed website, and that’s bad usability.
Do you remember the last time you visited a website and couldn’t find what you were looking for? The reviews were hidden away or the contact form asked you to complete 20 different fields.
It’s frustrating, isn’t it?
On your hotel website, if you confuse or anger customers through a bad user experience, they won’t make a booking. It’s as simple as that.
Great design usability removes barriers to purchase — it creates a clear journey from first glance to making a payment. You need to delight customers through every stage.
We’ve put together our top 10 usability errors that can harm your booking rates. Are you guilty of any?
Poor quality photos
Before a customer makes a booking, they want to visualise your rooms, communal areas, bar and restaurant. Blurry, poorly framed photos damage your credibility. If your images aren’t up to scratch, this drags down the overall quality of your website.
Consider investing in a professional photographer who can enhance the distinctive features of your hotel. Carry this quality across every OTA you work with as well as your social platforms to attract more visitors and improve your visitors’ browsing experience.
Confusing navigation menu
Your navigation menu is key for helping visitors sail through your website. If they’re confused by where they should go next and you’re making them work hard to find what they want, your visitors may leave and go elsewhere.
Your navigation menu should show visitors they’ve landed in the right place, and allows you to focus on the customer journey to convert visits into bookings.
Have a friend or family member navigate your website and ask them if it’s frustrating or disorienting. If there’s room for improvement, think about how you can change it to appeal more to the end user.
No clear call to actions
Your main aim is to get visitors to book with you, but are your call to actions clear and are they on every page of your website?
You need to make it easy for visitors to interact with your hotel and ensure they understand the next steps they should take. No matter what page your customer lands on, they need to be clear of its purpose — book now, sign up for a newsletter or follow on social media.
Poor quality content
Content is often an afterthought on most websites, but that’s a big mistake to make. Your website must communicate the benefits of your hotel and get people excited about making a booking.
You should use language to spark emotion in your visitor and make it clear why they should choose you. If your content is riddled with errors and fails to get your message across, your user experience will suffer. For content lacking enthusiasm, consider hiring a professional copywriter.
Missing contact info
When a visitor wants to call you, they’re likely one or two steps away from making a booking. They may want to confirm your exact location or transport options before committing, but chances are they’re getting in touch because they’re more than interested.
Always include a phone number and email address at the top of every page in your header, and make it visible on both desktop and mobile. It’s always surprising to see how many websites hide essential information in the footer.
Music on your website
Please don’t do this! If music automatically starts playing when people click on your site, you’re inviting people to click that little x.
Your visitors may be listening to their own music while browsing at home or searching in the office at work. Any noise will be unexpected and unwelcome. Especially if their boss is directly opposite! You don’t want to turn people away before they read even a single word.
Downloadable PDFs
If your visitors have to download a PDF to view your restaurant menu or spa packages, you’re making a major usability error. On mobile, PDFs take time to download, the resolution may be poor and they may have issues opening your content in the right app.
Don’t create unnecessary blocks that stop customers viewing the information they need. Be sure to make your menus accessible online on its own designated page.
Laborious booking processes
Your booking engine is the last step to converting your visitors. You’ve gone through all that effort to attract the right customer and convinced them you’re the one, so don’t fall at the last hurdle with a bad booking experience.
Your booking process needs to be clear and understandable, quick and easy-to-use, and compatible on desktop and mobile.
Dead links
If you restructure your website or it moves to another domain, the old links you had in place may no longer work. Your visitors will see or 404 page error where they expect to discover more about you. This results in a bad user experience.
Be sure to set up 301 redirects so they’re forwarded to the right location. Now if they arrive at your website through an old link your visitor will be none the wiser. Here’s how you set up a 301 redirect, or contact your web developer if you’re struggling.
Outbound links are pushing visitors away
So you’ve conducted a successful PPC or social media campaign and brought significant traffic to your site, but users still aren’t booking.
The secret could lie in the amount of outbound links which direct visitors away from your site. Review sites and social networking sites are important for building social proof, but they shouldn’t hinder your chances to convert.
When drawn away, customers can lose focus and start exploring a competitor’s rating or something else entirely. Use outbound links sparingly and intelligently so they don’t distract from your main goal.
Remember, it’s all about giving your customers what they want and showing them what you want them to do next. Which should eventually lead to your booking engine to make that all-important sale.
If you liked reading this then there is another list post by Vikram that covers some of the same points but has others also: http://wordsofvikram.com/hotel-website-design-and-usability-top-10-mistakes/#.WLWS-hLyuup
The Booking Factory
