Mr. Tarasofsky

Website / Online Mechandising / SEO

Enhancing Your Web Site's ROI

By Jerry Tarasofsky, CEO, iPerceptions Inc.

Increasing your site's "look-to-book" ratio and converting browsers to buyers begins long before your web design team puts their first ideas down on paper. It really begins with the realization that to be successful your site must foster lifetime loyalty and true value with your web users.

In order to do this, you must better understand and accommodate their needs. Increasing your site's conversion ratio begins when you design your site so that it satisfies customer needs and encourages them to make your site their final destination when it comes to making online reservations.

This process of listening to your users to obtain a better understanding of their total web site experience will give you the answers you need to move forward and maximize the channel for your primary and most important users. By listening to these users, you optimize your web site's value and effectiveness. You make sure that the user, your targeted audience, is being satisfied, and you properly focus your advertising efforts to make certain your web initiatives are in line with your organization's overall strategic objectives.

Having said that, I want to share with you a recent example of how listening can help you increase conversion rates and change browsers into buyers.

One of our clients is Six Continents Hotels, who have a corporate e-reservation enabled web site, as well as branded sites for its hotel properties including Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Staybridge Suites and their Priority Club Rewards loyalty program.

In order to improve, enhance and maximize their site's overall performance, including increasing their conversion ratio, Six Continents asked us to help them listen to, understand and clarify the main issues and concerns of their site users. They wanted to understand why users leave their site(s) before making/completing a reservation or other transaction. They wanted us to help them determine levels of user satisfaction with their sites and finally they wanted us to help identify their site's main strengths and weaknesses from a users perspective.

By listening to their users we found that visitors left the site without making an online reservation because they were wary about sharing confidential information. With this in mind, Six Continents increased the visibility of their privacy policy throughout the site. As well, our research revealed users felt they could find better prices using an alternate channel to make a reservation. To counter this, Six Continents established a "Low Price Guarantee" which has been aggressively promoted throughout the site. Finally, Six Continents learned that their web site content did not meet their user's expectations - that their users felt better photos and descriptions were needed to help them make buying decisions

By listening to their users and asking the right questions, Six Continents learned that their users were extremely pleased with their overall experience. In fact, 84% of all visitors indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with their experience at the site. This rating is one of the highest ever generated from studies we've conducted in the hospitality sector and will be used to benchmark future activity of Six Continent web site(s). It also allows them to measure and track their level of user satisfaction against other industry web sites - something that down the road will be an extremely important competitive advantage.

What did all this listening and analysis produce? To begin with, Six Continents realized that listening and reacting to their web users overall experience was not a one-time exercise. It is something that must be integrated into their entire web channel methodology. To insure this occurs, they've introduced a new users experience management process that includes quarterly surveys to identify improvement opportunities, a critical activity-path analysis and iterative redesign, systematic iterative testing of all proposed enhancements and finally a commitment to roll out new ideas and test, test, test on a continuous basis.

In terms of concrete measures, coordinating the activity of 3,500 + hotels was not easy, but their web marketing team introduced the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee in June 2002. They tightened hotel standards for information page content with minimum image requirements and long and short descriptions mandated, and increased the prominence of privacy and security standards by wrapping all their enhancements in the "Book With Confidence" program. This insures their guests can book with confidence knowing they are getting the best available rate, knowing they actually have a reservation when they arrive, knowing there is no hidden booking fees, and knowing that above all else their security and privacy are always protected.

And the results?

To quote from one of Six Continents most recent press releases, "One of the most important elements in the success of Six Continents Hotels' Internet bookings has been the company's industry-leading Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee". According to highlights in the release, revenue growth for Six Continents Hotels' Internet bookings have shot up 80 percent over last year -- compared to Internet bookings in general, which averaged 40 percent. The release goes on to state, hotels are regaining control of their inventory and capturing the margins that would have otherwise gone to the wholesalers. Challenges to the guarantee average about 1 out of 1,000 bookings, or less than 1/10 of one percent of people who book on the Internet confirming Six Continents Hotels' pricing remains the best available.

In summary, I believe that if you create a web experience that meets the needs of your users, your company creates a loyal user following. And a loyal user following increases user retention and conversion rates while at the same time reducing site abandonment and user frustration. Look-to-Book ratios will increase

The skill of listening to a variety of web site users and responding in a timely and appropriate manner is more than a simple opportunity. It is a management responsibility that must be adopted if a web initiative is to succeed. It is my belief that the profitable and enlightened web sites of the future will be shaped by their community of users by empowering those users to direct the relationship.

Because relationships are dynamic, what users need today to build a strong relationship with an organization may be different tomorrow. By continuously monitoring and responding to what users like and don't like about an organization and/or it's e-commerce media, a strong relationship is created that turns users into repeat customers, and repeat customers into loyal advocates-in effect, these users become the visionaries for the organization.

The key to building such loyalty is not only discovering those previously invisible connectors, but also knowing how to use them to increase the bond between the organization and the user. The deeper the bond, the greater the value each brings to the relationship and the more chance to insure your users continue to make online reservations at your web site.

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...

HotelExecutive.com retains the copyright to the articles published in the Hotel Business Review. Articles cannot be republished without prior written consent by HotelExecutive.com.