Why Meta-search, Search, Social, Local, and Mobile Conspire to Kill Conversion Rates

Paid search. Organic search. Metasearch. Email marketing. Daily deals sites. Ratings and reviews. Social and local and mobile. How in the world is a poor travel marketer to navigate the myriad choices facing your customers today?

For that matter, how is your poor customer supposed to navigate that landscape?

Anyone familiar with “The Paradox of Choice” understands why this creates a challenging environment in which to try and sell travel.

It’s not all bad news, of course. Savvy travel marketers are using these very tools to engage their guests and get customers to tell stories on their behalf. But, there’s little doubt this “paradox of choice” environment will affect one part of your online marketing: your conversion rate. I explain why in more detail in my latest Travel Tuesday post on Tim Peter Thinks: “Kiss Your Current Conversion Rate Goodbye.”

And if you’re interested in learning more, egister to receive a free copy of my new special report, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World,” produced in conjunction with Vizergy, here. While it’s targeted to the hospitality industry specifically, most of the lessons apply across verticals.

Oh, and, if that’s not enough, you might also enjoy some of our past coverage of growing your conversions (and your conversion rate), including:

• Today and Tomorrow: Mobile and the Changing Customer Journey
• What is a “Conversion Rate” Anyway?
• Why Conversion Volume Optimization Isn’t Better than CRO
• Conversion Volume Optimization vs. Conversion Rate Optimization: The Ultimate Showdown
• The Truth: How the Local, Social, Mobile Web Affects Sales Online and Offline

What Voice-Powered Search Will Do For Travel Marketing

The drive market (i.e., folks traveling by car with no reservations booked) has long represented the holy grail for travel marketers, an almost mythical creation, promising fabulous rewards if only someone could figure out how to reach it.

Not that no one’s tried. Obviously, outdoor media has dominated the push for drive market travelers. But the returns from print and outdoor have proved mixed and attribution almost impossible (and, yes, there is some correlation there).

But, there’s hope on the horizon. Search is changing in a big way. And with those changes comes the opportunity to reach drive market travelers — as well as loads of other folks, too.

You can read all about this development in this week’s Thinks Travel Tuesday post: What Watson, Xbox, and Google Are Telling You Right Now. Check it out if you get the chance.

You can also register to receive a free copy of my new special report, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World,” produced in conjunction with Vizergy, here. While it’s targeted to the hospitality industry specifically, most of the lessons apply across verticals. And, if that’s not enough, you might also enjoy some of our past coverage of the social, local, mobile web, including:

• Today and Tomorrow: Mobile and the Changing Customer Journey
• What’s the Future of E-commerce? Look to the Past to Find Out
• Why You’re Slowing the Growth of Mobile E-commerce

How to Get in Your Customers’ Pocket

Your customers increasingly browse, shop, and buy their travel via mobile devices. Unfortunately, getting your product in front of customers seems harder than ever. The diversity of choices available means you have to continually find new ways to attract and engage customers. Travel, in particular, faces the additional challenge of representing a “sometimes” purchase for your customers, that is, one that they typically make just a few times a year—if that.

But… it ain’t all bad news. The key word in the paragraph above is “seems.” The diversity of options mobile provides your customers also offers you creative, innovative ways to engage your customers not just once a year, but every day. And that’s the subject of this week’s Travel Tuesday post How to Get in Your Customers’ Pants… Pocket over on Tim Peter Thinks. Check it out if you get the chance.

Interested in more? Register to receive a free copy of my new special report, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World,” produced in conjunction with Vizergy, here. You might also enjoy some of our past coverage of mobile, including:

• Today and Tomorrow: Mobile and the Changing Customer Journey
• What’s the Future of E-commerce? Look to the Past to Find Out
• Why You’re Slowing the Growth of Mobile E-commerce

The Future of Travel Search and Mobile (Travel Tuesday)

I posted my regular Travel Tuesday piece over on Thinks this week, highlighting remarkable comments made by Google’s UK head of travel about the where the growth in search volume is coming from. You can read all about it in this post The Future of Travel Search and Mobile.

Oh, and it’s worth noting that this shift will affect what you must do to reach customers going forward. If you want to learn more about how you can adapt to the changing realities of customer behavior, you can register to receive a free copy of my new special report, “Digital Hotel Marketing in a Multiscreen World,” produced in conjunction with Vizergy, here.