TRAVEL INDUSTRY, HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS RESEARCH USING WISHLISTS

Can’t travel but can only wish for time away. Restrictions are starting to lift, and are getting clearer week by week, but there is still so much uncertainty about when and where we can travel. With school holidays approaching and travel restrictions still in place, customers can only wish and research on their options.

Many people will now start to reminisce about ‘where they were this time last year’ or whether to stay in the UK or travel abroad. However, many people will hold off from making any decisions until further guidelines are announced. However they will probably still be starting to research where they could go now (if they haven’t already).

This means they will start looking at destinations, prices, temperatures, Government rules for each country etc. Is your website fully equipped for the browsing needs of your potential customers? If you’re an online travel agent, then it’s time to consider how you can make your website work for you and your customers during this time.

Wishlists

Wishlists are great tools. Allowing customers to bookmark on your website their favourite pieces of content, destinations, hotels etc. Wishlists will make their life much easier when they return in the mindset of feeling confident to book.

Yes; they may take another glance through your site on returning, but what we can assume is they will definitely look back at what they added to their ‘wishlist’ as a starting point – and if not you can remind them!

Optimising your wishlist

Here are a few scenarios you should check:

  • Is it easy for people to see there is wishlist feature available?
  • How do people add items to their wishlist?
  • Does the wishlist automatically save for a user or do they need to create an account?
  • What happens when users return?

All the questions above relate to usability. You may think your wishlist might not have the best functionality currently. However could you be making it easier for your customers to understand? Are your icons for ‘saving’ clearly marked and placed in a logical order? Are there tooltips to support any quirks that need explaining? What are the rules, or logic? If this needs further explanation, then what about a progress bar?

All of these elements can, and should, be AB tested. This is to ensure that your wishlist functionality performs at its optimal capability for your website. Providing your potential customers with the best possible user experience.

No Wishlist? No worries

Of course, you may not yet have wishlist functionality on your website. You may not be sure as to whether there is ROI in getting your development team to deliver such functionality. And you’re right to have those doubts as nothing can be taken for granted and no website is the same.

There are however ways to validate elements of this functionality and usability to see how it works for you and your website. This can be done without hardcoding and using up your developers’ valuable time and resource.

Simply think of this as a re-targeting test. A user comes to your website:

  • we could place wishlist icons on specific content, which customers can click on
  • then, when they return, we re-show them the content as either a homepage update, ecommerce shopping basket style drop down, a pop-up etc.

We don’t even have to go as far as adding an icon. We could just remember the last 5 destination or hotel pages each user looked at for example. Then relay this information back to them when they return.

From past experience, we’ve found that the trick here is not to over think the functionality, but instead look at what would your potential customers find beneficial and easier for them when they return and are in the frame of mind to purchase.

In Conclusion…

There are lots of different ways that you can test this functionality with personalisation and testing. We have a lot of past experience working with clients in the travel industry. 3 of our directors have a very strong background in travel (and worked for a client of ours for a time!). If you’re looking for more ideas and support please do get in touch.

We are even offering a free ‘clinic’ at no cost or obligation to try and help in these strange times.