Mr. Tarasofsky

Reservations / Online Pricing / Booking Engines

The Wired Hotel: Make Your Website 'Look to Book' Friendly

By Jerry Tarasofsky, CEO, iPerceptions Inc.

It goes without saying that probably the most important people who visit your web site are those that are there to make a reservation. Satisfying their needs quickly and allowing them to get the information they need to complete the reservation process will translate into increased revenue, increased customer loyalty and a high probability that your visitors will refer friends and associates to your web site.

One of the first things you must do to make your site "look to book" friendly is understand who is visiting your site and for what purpose. Put another way, what percentage of your total visitors are bookers as opposed to lookers?

In a recent report we published with HSMAI and Cindy Estis Green, information from our own client database revealed 41% of all website visitors to hospitality websites come with the intention of making or changing a reservation. Think about that number. Four out of every ten visitors to your site are there to make or change a reservation. What is disturbing is that 21% of the people visiting your site to make or change a reservation abandon the site before completing their purpose of visit.

Your challenge is two fold. Increase the number of visitors coming to your site to make a reservation and more importantly decrease the percentage of those bookers who are abandoning the site before they make a reservation.

To this end, the research we just published, which is available from HSMAI confirms that those bookers who frequented the site more often, rated satisfaction highest. It might seem like common sense but this is positive proof that if you can keep your visitors coming back, they develop an affinity for your web site and will tend to make more reservations.

As study author Cindy Estis Green says "There is no doubt that a higher level of engagement yields higher satisfaction levels with a website". Engaging your website visitors is a key factor to insure that they become frequent visitors and satisfied customers.

There are many ways to engage your visitors. First and foremost is insure that your site is constantly updated and contains current relevant information. I recently visited a major national multi branded website that if you can believe it, was promoting a "Fall" promotion in the dead of winter. Climate change aside, I find it hard to believe anyone would find a "Fall" promotion in January makes any sense yet there it was.

A website's overall architecture and layout has a direct impact on your guest's perception of your property's brand and image as well as impacts engagement and satisfaction. Sites that provide a positive web experience will help create a positive impression on your guest -- impacting their behaviour both on and offline.

Interactivity is another key factor. Websites must provide consumers with an interactive experience that is informative, helpful and easy to use. Your site should offer tools and features that encourage guests to return.

Continual improvement is another factor in making your website "look to book" friendly. You must be continuously monitoring the key elements of your website that impact satisfaction and a bookers intent to make a reservation. Even moving the satisfaction benchmarks a few points will impact your look to book ratio.

The only way to truly understand whether or not your site is performing well in this area is to listen. You need to understand what your most important customers need and expect, whether they can find what they want on your site and if not, what you could have done better.

By listening to your visitors, you will be able to understand not only what they are doing online, but also why they are doing it. And no matter what tools you use to listen, remember you must be able to segment and listen to the voices of those visitors you most want to influence - those 41% coming to your site to make a reservation.

In examining other factors that impact a guest's propensity to make a reservation, the speed with which visitors can make a reservation on your site also has a direct impact on the look to book ratio as well as their perception of your company. It is also important to remember that these guests have different expectations. If it takes 20 seconds to retrieve room photos at other hotel websites, then they will expect a similar response time on your site.

Another factor you might want to consider in making sure your site is "look to book" friendly is industry data that you can benchmark your site against. By comparing your site against industry norms, you can set benchmarks for satisfaction and web site perfomance and set targets accordingly.

On the net, the booker is king and you should be using your site to engage them in a dialogue.. Even more important, every opportunity you give your customers and visitors to interact with you is another opportunity to extend your relationship with them and increase lifetime value. It builds goodwill and fosters a sense of community that is so critical if you want to increase your overall percentage of bookers.

Communicating with and getting to know your site visitors and guests also allows you to gather a wide variety of other extremely important information that could be helpful in evaluating the success of your site and related initiatives.

Use the information gathered from your site to gauge brand awareness and effectiveness with your most valued customers to understand if your brand delivers on its promise in your customers' own words.

Use feedback to determine what site visitors really want from your company. Getting to know your customers better can also help determine where to direct new initiatives or how to modify your advertising. As I indicated earlier, giving your best and most influential customers the ability to communicate directly with your company also extends your relationship with them and in many instances, it is these loyal customers with strong feelings towards your company that also provide the most accurate insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your site and hotel.

To sum up, we believe that making your site "look to book" friendly is not a one-time initiative. It is a process and strategy that must be reflected in everything you do. From keeping the site current, to responding to customer needs to monitoring what's being said about your brand on blogs, it is imperative that if you continuously listen to what your customers are telling you, your site will become more "look to book" friendly

Jerry Tarasofsky is CEO of iPerceptions Inc. Its webValidator® "captures the voice" of the online customer, helping companies learn more about their customers. Using a comprehensive perceptual framework to evaluate key elements of the visitor experience and, algorithms and modeling to identify attributes that drive satisfaction. The webValidator solution turns data points into easy-to-understand strategic and tactical decision support. iPerceptions’ clients in the hospitality sector include Crowne Plaza, Omni, Savoy, Wellesley, Homestead, Radisson and Holiday Inn. Mr. Tarasofsky can be contacted at jerryt@iperceptions.com Extended Bio...

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