Glasgow, 8th May, 2019 – Abandonment at the basket stage is losing the travel industry billions in revenue every year according to marketing technology company IgnitionOne who reported a loss of £2.4 billion in hotel bookings alone during the last quarter of 2018.
There are several factors contributing to the low conversion rate online. In particular, issues with consumer trust, price and, notably, poor user experience have been identified. Rates of abandonment as high as 81.5% have been calculated by Salescycle – a company that specialises in online conversion tracking. Comparing this with other sectors, such as fashion, the travel industry does not fare well, with rates as low as 73.5% being achieved.
What’s the Answer?
Dynamic packaging (DP) for starters, but there’s lots more to be done too. DP in the travel sector has become increasingly popular in recent years; particularly online where it gives customers the freedom to tailor-make their own perfect holiday. That’s why, behind the scenes, tech companies operating in this space are working increasingly hard to come up with solutions to help improve the B2C experience for their B2B clients.
One such company is leading dynamic packaging solutions provider, Traveltek. Commenting on what they’re doing to help combat abandonment rates, the firm’s Chief Technical Officer, Kenny Millar, said: “We’re investing heavily in our platform at the moment to ensure we’re supplying our clients with a smooth, effective and rapidly implemented user experience designed to meet the needs of their end-users.
“Our NX booking platform deploys reusable and configurable components to create compelling, easy-to-follow and intuitive booking journeys in attractive, modern formats that ensure that the consumer reaches the intended final destination; making a booking. It puts everything our front-end development team needs to construct these sometimes highly complex journeys, in one place.
“On top, we’ve bolstered our in-house UX team which is also yielding some great results. The team undertakes user-testing on client sites and gathersdata in the form of insights and findings which they then use to create new, improved product journey flows. Through this testing they’re able to identify weaknesses, as well as opportunities, and this is used to make design updates.
“It doesn’t end there either. Once the newly implemented journeys are live, another round of testing, heat mapping and an analysis of Google Analytics is carried out to make sure the site if fully optimised from a UX perspective. The end result is an improved website that’s a lot easier to use, maintain and support. Plus, with improved end-user experiences, clients benefit from increased enquiries and bookings too.”
Ease of Implementation
In terms of rapid implementation, Traveltek is going one better. A suite of expertly crafted default journeys is also being produced. They make use of a library of configurable components that allow for extensive customisation. This means they’re able to produce sites that benefit from in-house expertise in slick journey design, coupled with the flexibility to match their client’s requirements, much more quickly.
In the last few months the company has been perfecting its cruise user experiences, producing sophisticated yet customisable journeys for cruise only and cruise dynamic packaging. The journey for the company’s advanced cruise packaging product, CruisePro, has also been given a high focus and the results are impressive, with consumers able to book complete packages that address their cruise, hotel, transfer and attraction needs in a matter of minutes within a highly visual, information-rich environment.
So, What’s Next?
Traveltek intends to turn its attention to each of its other travel element booking journeys during 2019. There are NX overhauls planned for flight and hotel DP, flight only, hotel only, tours, and transfers before the end of the year.
All of which will help travel companies address the challenge of basket abandonment head-on. Providing a smooth, informative, rapid and enjoyable journey helps safeguard conversion rates, ensuring optimisation of revenues by supporting customers in taking the final step in their online journey; from basket to booking.
About Traveltek
Traveltek is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading travel technology providers. A pioneer in its field, the company has been delivering cutting-edge solutions to travel agents, tour operators and wholesalers for almost two decades. The Glasgow-headquartered company, which has offices in the Midlands (UK), Sydney, Miami, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, offers a comprehensive range of finely tuned products that meet the unique needs of the global travel trade, helping companies remain top of their game in today’s fiercely competitive market place. Traveltek’s unrivalled portfolio features dynamic packaging solutions; consumer-facing websites; integrated booking platforms for staff and clients; back office systems that produce bookings reports and client documentation; a CRM to manage clients and enquiries; a tour operating platform that controls pricing and distributes contracts; and an API that connects travel companies to a global database of leading travel suppliers. Traveltek is the industry’s leading provider of cruise booking solutions, empowering the trade to hand-pick every component of a customised cruise itinerary and sell it as one package. Recognised as the ‘World Leading Dynamic Packaging Solutions Provider’ at the World Travel Awards in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, Traveltek offers its valued travel partners bespoke solutions that help them work smarter, improve their bottom line and enhance customer experience and retention.
For more information, visit http://www.traveltek.com/