Eurostar has been revamping its website over the past two years which it re-launched in March. At yesterday’s Travel Distribution Summit in London the company shared what it has learnt on this journey.

When you are looking to boost conversions and improve the customer’s experience on your website, the first rule, says Neil Roberts, senior e-Commerce manager at Eurostar, is to forget about conversions. He has a point. Travel is seasonal and so your metrics will be too. “It is very difficult to see what is happening on a month-by-month basis, so rather look at long-term trends,” says Roberts, who was speaking at the EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit in London yesterday.

Visits will fluctuate throughout the year, as will sales booking and conversions. In the UK, for example there will be a boost around January (when people want to escape the weather), at Easter, in the summer and perhaps at the autumn half term. Using a 12-month rolling average tool allows you to see trends over a period of time. However, as with everything, there are disadvantages to this as changes and trends emerge quite slowly. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything you can’t do right now.

Focus in and keep it simple

Roberts says it is relatively easy, with a few tools, to establish where people are dropping out and why. Google Analytics, ClicTale SessionCam and TeaLeaf are all tools he has tried.

There are four main micro areas to drill down into to understand what is happening with users on your site. These are:

1.      The error type or the frequency of the error

2.      Exit rates and bounce rates. An exit rate refers to be people who hang around a while, a bounce rate applies to those who arrive and leave immediately (the ones you really want to bring back). Google says if you have a bounce rate of over 30% you are not doing well.

3.      Form field drop out – when people have left because they have just got stuck point. ClicTale is a useful too here to show where people have refilled a form most. Eurostar, discovered for example that 90% of people were dropping out when trying to fill out the international dialling code.

4.      Payment profile – when you get to the payment page, there often be huge exit rates. Interestingly cards can vary depending what language they have been issue in. 

Eurostar learnt the hard way from its original site. It was just way too complicated to log in and the user was expected to answer too many things. With the new site the user doesn’t even have to log in to book. So it is really important to consider performance because time is money. Here is why:

·         47% expect to open a site in 2 seconds

·         40% will abandon it after more than 3 seconds

·         In 1 second you could see a 7% drop in conversions

Roberts recommends setting realistic goals for your own business. Establish key performance indicators and benchmark yourself both against the competition and yourself.

Use analytics and human insights

Another key point is to combine analytics with genuine customer insight although you may need a thick skin. There are many ways you can do this by user testing or something called session recreation. “Session recreating is user testing on much grander scale,” says Roberts who recommends using SessionCam for this as you get better return on investment.

In addition, get feedback from exit surveys (such as 4Q Kampyle Qubit) and also from front line staff in the call centre, for example, who often get the short end of a customer’s dissatisfaction. “ This stuff is like gold,” says Roberts. Then you need to cross-reference this with your analytics.

To get your website in tip-top condition takes around 7-8 months and the “whole process is hard graft,” says Roberts. The bottom line is this: you need to gather feedback from all sources, then centralise it and redistribute to those who can make a difference.

And his top tip is: Use free tools and invest in people.