webinar: optimize your direct booking funnel

WEBINAROptimize your direct booking funnel

through smart digital marketing

© 2017 OPTIMIZING YOUR HOTEL BOOKING FUNNEL | 2

Panelists

CRAIG BISSONAgency Development Manger

TRISTAN HEAWORDDirector of Digital Marketing

BENJAMIN HABBELFounder & VP Global Business Development

IMITIAZ ALIRegional Director of Revenue & Distribution


Agenda

Insights into the hotel booking funnel and the omni-channel traveler

Search marketing and other key digital strategies for driving the right kind of traffic

Optimizing for conversions—how to ensure that travelers book on your site

Measuring for success and balancing instant results with a long-term marketing strategy

Personalization marketing in a data-driven world

Audience Q&A

Proprietary + Confidential

Craig Bisson

Source: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis non erat sem


1 Source: eMarketer,2015Digital:includestimewatchingdigitalvideoviagameconsole,connectedTCorOTTdevicesuchasRokuorsmartTVtoaccess digitalvideocontentlikeNetflix.

Consumers have shifted their time significantly toward digital

OnlineVideo:20

OnlineVideo:68

+61%-11%

+240%inOnlineVideo


Proprietary + ConfidentialTravelers are influenced by family/friends & Online

1 Source: Base: Personal Quota (n=3500)Q6D: Which of the following sources typically inspire you to start thinking about your personal or leisure trips? (Select ALL that apply.)

Source: Google Travel Study, June 2014, Ipsos MediaCT


Proprietary + ConfidentialSearch is the top source used in travel planning

Source:Google’sTraveler’sRoadtoDecision,2014.



Source:GoogleAnalyticsMetaAnalysisfromMay‘14toMay‘15.DataisUSonly.

Decreasing time per visit on Travel mobile websites year-over-year.

Almost 2x increase in mobile conversion rates on the Travel mobile web year-over-year.

50%+ increase in mobile searchesin the Travel category year-over-year.

Today’s traveler books their hotel online

50%

82%

Incremental clicks from

Ads

Top Organic

Organic 2-4

Organic 5+

96%

Tris Heaword


PAID SEARCHBe seen by customers at the very moment that they’re searching on Google for the things you offer. And only pay when they click to visit your website or call.

ORGANICOrganic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements.

BUSINESS LISTING (Google My Business)A product that lets you create and manage free business listings in Google products so that people can see your business when doing a local search.

METASEARCHA search engine that sifts through hotel rates and availability on other websites and shows the combined results, all in one place.

So how do I get people from Google to my website?


What are people looking at on a Search Page?


Highlight what makes you uniqueAre you a luxury property, rated highly by your visitors, in a fantastic location or just simply affordable – highlight your strengths at the earliest opportunity

Include prices, promotions and exclusivesClick Through Rates (CTR) are directly influenced by the strength and appeal of the offer that you display

Empower customers to take actionEvery hotel has competition, even for their own brand term. Highlight that clicking your ad is best way to get a great deal and book direct.

Include at least one of your keywordsKeywords in your ad text show your ad’s relevance to what people want, plus it is an essential element to improving your quality score.

Match your ad to your landing pageWhat is it that people are searching for? Does your landing page answer this need for that person?

Appeal to customers on mobileMobile searches are most likely the first contact many new customers have with your website and brand image

ExperimentExperiment with everything – not just ad language, but ad styles, special offer terms and landing page.

Check for mistakesYou will be amazed how many ads go live with spelling mistakes, point to the wrong landing page or have incorrect offer details.

Paid Search: Tips & Techniques


Paid Search: Tips & Techniques

AUDIENCE POLLHotels, what is your typical Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for search marketing campaigns?


A. Less than 5:1

B. 5:1 - 10:1

C. 10:1 - 15:1

D. 15:1 - 25:1

E. 25:1 and over

Hello.Benjamin HabbelFounder, VP of Global Business

Voyat

18

What are the key challenges for hoteliers in eCommerce?

Problems

Driving direct, high-margin business via your website is a vital component of any healthy distribution strategy

The OTAs’ massive scale enables enormous technology and marketing spend that even the largest hotel chains can’t compete with

Consumer behavior is evolving quickly – travel discovery and booking trends change monthly, not annually

Hoteliers have a lot of tools at their disposal for acquiring traffic, but converting that traffic can be a lot harder

19

How can you turn your website into an effective eCommerce channel?

Voyat

Three ways you can personalize and optimize your website

Tips & Tricks

Use static data points like geolocation, device, acquisition cost and more to serve dynamic messaging to each person

1. Smart Segmentation

Use dynamic signals like time on site, exit intent, inactivity, scroll depth to keep users engaged and convert into bookings

2. Behavioral Triggers

Leverage each person’s Facebook or Email identity to provide true personalization across all user devices

3. User Identity

20

21

Dynamic Messages keep users engaged & convert traffic effectively.

Dynamic Messages

Notifications & Messages Interactive Widgets Overlays

22

Measuring impact is the cornerstone or an effective eCommerce strategy

Measurement and Performance

237%

Imtiaz Ali


Why do digital marketing campaigns fail?

Lack of strategy for the campaign

Revenue management and digital marketing

team working in separate silos

Not using data to drive the decision-making

process


Types of digital campaignsThe strategy for your campaign will dictate the type of campaign you implement.

INCREASEAWARENESS

INCREASE CONVERSIONS

INCREASE WEB TRAFFIC

Used to promote new and exciting changes at your property, usually through email, social media, etc.

Tools and campaigns intended to drive

conversion on your hotel website

Bring increased traffic to your hotel website,

whether via search ads, SEO, banner ads, etc.


Measuring for success

For each campaign, ask yourself the following questions:

Did you achieve the goal that you set at the beginning of the campaign?

Did you A/B test or A/B/C test your campaign? What worked the best? What didn’t work well?

Would you run this campaign again? If so, what changes would you make for the next one?

If the campaign didn’t achieve your goal, how would you modify it? What would you do differently?

AUDIENCE POLLHotels, what percentage of your bookings are direct bookings?


A. 0-15%

B. 16-30%

C. 31-50%

D. Over 50%


A look into the future: Personalization Marketing

Audience Q&A

Thank you!

Please send questions and comments to [email protected].

Replay and presentation will be made available to all webinar registrants.