Website familiarity yields high satisfaction, task completion rates
Like almost all online customers, travelers comparison shop to find the best deals. So it should come as no surprise that a Q4 2011 report on worldwide visitors to travel and hospitality websites by web analytics company iPerceptions found that price was the main barrier to shoppers completing online reservations.
According to the survey, 30% of those who visited a site to make a booking—but did not complete one—said price was the reason they stopped shopping. But after price, functionality and site design were among the biggest stumbling blocks for prospective customers. iPerceptions found that 12% of those who did not finalize a reservation experienced a booking problem, while 8% gave up after being unable to find the information they sought.
Of those who visited a travel or hospitality site, 26% said they did so to make a reservation. One in five arrived at a site in search of information about hotels, and the same percentage of respondents said they were looking for price information.
When iPerceptions broke down the data, it found that leisure travelers sought out information about hotels or prices more often than did business travelers. Additionally, business travelers were more likely than vacationers to complete a reservation.
The highest percentage of respondents, 28%, said they arrived at a website by typing in a web address. But search was a close second, at 27%.
Visitors who arrived at hospitality and tourism sites via search were slightly less satisfied with their experience, but this is not surprising since they were likely to be navigating the sites for the first time. Once vendors help new customers learn the layout of their sites, satisfaction levels and task completion rates should climb.
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Check out today’s other articles, “For Brands, Social Media Shows Returns but Measurement Hurdles Remain” and “Latin American Web Users Highly Engaged.”