best global travel websites …and why

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Global Customer Lifecycle SM

The Best Global Travel Websites …and Why John Yunker Byte Level Research

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Why the Travel Industry Matters

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Why the Travel Industry Matters

• Travelers are, by nature, mobile

• Travelers may purchase a ticket on a PC and expect to use the ticket with a smartphone

• Travelers may have slow wireless connections

• Travelers require location-specific services

• Travelers may get awfully “social” when they’re unhappy

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Best Practices in Web Globalization

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Best Practices in Web Globalization

Local-language Social Engagement

Mobile Parity (Languages and Functionality)

Support 20 or More Languages

Localization (and Local Functionality)

Leverage Global Templates

User-friendly Global Gateway

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Benchmarking Methodology Think Global, Mobile and Social

Social Mobile Global

• Global reach (20+ languages)

• Global consistency with local flexibility

• Local content, easily found by users

• Language parity between PC to mobile

• Optimized for performance and usage scenarios

• Support market- and language-specific social platforms

• Integrate and promote social networks on the local websites

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Languages

• French

• German

• Japanese

• Spanish

• Chinese (Simplified)

Fewer Than a Quarter of All Internet Users are Native-English Speakers

If your company were to support just 10 languages, here are the most popular languages supported by global websites today:

• Italian

• Russian

• Korean

• Portuguese (Brazil)

• Dutch

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Global Gateway Tip: Consider Country Codes

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Global Gateway Tip: Don’t Overtranslate

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Use a “Universal” Global Gateway

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Website Profiles

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Global Consistency; Local Flexibility

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Using Language Negotiation and Geolocation

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Different Devices; Different Experiences

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Consistent

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An Improving Global Gateway

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Next Step: Get Down to One “Click”

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Microsoft’s Gateway: Only One Click Required

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Hertz on the PC

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Hertz on the Tablet

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Hertz on the Phone

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Hertz global gateway

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Takeaways

Responding to the device is Step #1 of many

Visuals are a luxury, not always a necessity

As real estate shrinks, functionality expands

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Mobile Globalization

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Mobile Language Leaders

• Few companies provide language parity across their websites and mobile apps

• Consider the user who accesses your Russian website at work, then goes to the airport and opens a mobile app that supports only English

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Mobile Globalization Tips

Mobile website should maintain language parity with the PC website Global gateway readily accessible

Mobile app should align automatically with OS locale Global gateway readily accessible

Mobile websites should use language negotiation (detection)

Manage mobile terminology separately from PC terminology

Strict weight limits Internationalized application (keep text out of images

and separate from code)