April 2011 Archives

This is a guest blog post written by Bonnie Malone, Director of Response Consulting for the online marketing company, Return Path. In this entry, Bonnie talks about keeping web and email content current.

One of the most unique and exciting elements of email, as a marketing channel, is its' ability to deliver instant gratification to marketers and subscribers alike.  In just a few days (or sometimes only hours!), a marketing campaign can evolve from concept to results analysis.  Compared with more traditional channels, like direct mail, that takes weeks or even months to prepare, print, and send - email is practically lightspeed.  However, for those of us in the throes of email planning and production, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that time, is in fact, to our advantage.

Not only can we execute a campaign in near-record time, but we can affect message content nearly instantly - and sometimes even after a campaign has been mailed (ah, the beauty of hosted images!).  However, it seems that few companies leverage this real-time flexibility, much less fully embrace it. 

Recently, I was delighted to see a reference to the Royal Wedding and the Japan Earthquake on Expedia.co.uk's website.  (example below)  Different from the typical "book now" messaging that is prevalent from travel companies, Expedia.co.uk smartly uses current events to drive interest by being timely and relevant.  This type of content could easily be integrated into an email campaign to break up the monotony of the "book now" message and encourage subscriber engagement with the brand - resulting in more revenue long term.

This month, I challenge you to read the news with this new perspective in mind - and be creative in integrating fresh events-related content into your message stream.  I look forward to hearing about your testing success in the coming weeks!

This is a guest blog post written by Nora Nanayakkara, Business Development Director at Sedo. In this entry, Nanayakkara discusses the importance of domain names and how they can help raise online visibility and boost SEO within the travel sector.

This is a guest blog post written by Geoff Galat, vice president of worldwide marketing at Tealeaf. In this entry, Geoff analyses brand loyalty in the travel industry.

When shopping online (not just for travel), we usually have a set idea in our minds about what we want: the product, the brand, the colour, the delivery timescale and, of course, the ideal price. Meeting these expectations as quickly as possible is absolutely crucial for brands.

My company, Tealeaf, conducted some research last year in which 60% of respondents highlighted price as the most important aspect of a positive online experience when booking holidays, with 32% citing the destinations on offer.

For a travel company, fulfilling specific needs is particularly problematic because booking a holiday can involve so many different travel combinations, destinations and other variables.
Some of our smartest travel customers have combatted this by analysing customer behaviour based on the search engine query they use to find the site. This approach has led to impressive uplifts in terms of time on site and, more importantly, conversions.

Having a clear picture of visitors' behaviour and using this insight in a strategic way is important. Why do visitors abandon? Can you identify behavioural patterns and optimise your site accordingly?

Trust

But, while crucial, fulfilling a need is not the only box that needs to be ticked. Trust is another essential element in online retail, whatever the product.

There are three key ways that online brands can increase the amount of trust that consumers place in their service:

1. Trust indicators - the first is by including reassuring elements like registered addresses, customer service details and even SSL padlock indicators. These demonstrate that you have nothing to hide.
2. Social proof - This is closely connected to the central theme of the social web; that we trust our peers. Recommendations and word of mouth are still incredibly effective drivers of trust, make sure they're on your side.
3. Reliability - the final element and perhaps the most crucial, is trust in the website itself. Will it let them down mid order and make them question the standard of the whole experience?
   This last point can encompass anything from ease of navigation to ensuring the pages are glitch-free and not causing any unnecessary customer struggle.

How many times have you left a site (possibly never to return) when you've been stuck in an endless loop or had an issue entering personal or payment details?

These kinds of incidents don't only result in loss of revenue for the brand, they also have an impact on the second trust driver when the person in question heads over to Twitter to vent their frustration to likeminded social connections.

So it is perhaps unsurprising that the second most important aspect of a positive online experience, cited by 44% of consumers, was the feeling that a site was easy to navigate, while 23% wanted an error-free experience when booking online.

Building loyalty and benefiting

So what does this mean for brands online?

There is no doubt that brand loyalty is one of the elements that is becoming eroded online. There was a time when your local travel agent on the high street had the luxury of strong brand loyalty from its customers. On the web, the same company will have to fight a lot harder.

Building loyalty, as the research shows, is about more than just delivering on price and product; it's about delivering on customer experience, consistently, too.

It might be harder, but it is still possible to build online brand loyalty in the travel industry. There are brands out there getting it right and gaining incredibly loyal customers who, equipped with social connections can be more valuable than ever.

So my advice? Pay more attention to your customers' behaviour and the behaviour of your site too. Consider how consumers browse the site, where are the sources of struggle and how can these be overcome. Building brand loyalty online might be hard, but the benefits will more than make up for it.