IN-DEPTH: Companies are underestimating what it takes to run a successful, ROI-producing customer experience optimisation programme. It takes a specialist skill set, experience and training to reap maximum benefits from such initiatives, says Mark Simpson, founder and president, Maxymiser.

By Ritesh Gupta

The travel industry is more competitive than ever with suppliers competing with intermediaries and OTAs as well as each other.

Consumers want fast shopping whenever and wherever they feel like shopping, better selection and attractive prices. Travel e-commerce sites have been looking at significantly improving speed, flexibility and overall site experience for customers while vastly reducing the time required to test and deploy enhancements. Overall, in their quest for acquiring customers and retaining them travel companies have realised that brand loyalty is more important than ever.

Travel companies acknowledge that testing and optimisation can not only help improve revenue and customer retention, but will also help in providing a better experience that caters to travellers’ needs, preferences and behaviours.

As a specialist in multivariate testing, personalisation and optimisation solutions, Maxymiser believes that the biggest opportunity to increase engagement and loyalty is in customer experience management – empowering customers to give direct opinion on how your digital sites should look through A/B and multivariate testing and personalising the customer experience – so a company becomes the most relevant travel brand for that individual.

By testing and targeting, a travel company can test what is working in its favour and accordingly can enhance the overall online customer experience. The only way to accurately measure the performance of new content, whatever that content may be is to test it in a live environment against a default and measure the change in desired response. Every change needs to be measured by its impact on conversion rates, revenue, lifetime value and overall success of the visitor completing the objective.

EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta spoke to Mark Simpson, founder and president, Maxymiser about the latest trends and the utility of such initiatives. Excerpts:

How do you think the travel industry went about conversion optimisation in 2011?

Mark Simpson:

In 2011, we really saw Customer Experience Optimisation (CXO) move into the mainstream digital marketing arena. Now, most of major brands in e-commerce are utilising some form of website testing and personalisation, and have hired dedicated staff to handle these programmes. We see the topic of Customer Experience Optimisation more and more in the media and press, conferences and social media. It’s obvious now that those who aren’t employing these solutions are falling behind quickly.

What do you think are the major challenges that the travel industry needs to address when it comes to CXO?

Mark Simpson:

We still see a lack of people with true expertise in CXO and therefore, companies underestimating what it takes to run a successful, ROI-producing CXO programme. It takes a specialist skill set, experience and training, which there is not much of today.

What do you think are the major roadblocks when it comes to travel companies shifting their budget and planning optimally for a conversion management programme?

Mark Simpson:

Customer Experience Optimisation is not just a low level tool in a business. There must be buy-in of CXO programmes at a senior level. The reason being, so they can understand how dedicating budget not only can help improve customer experience, conversion rates and revenue on a daily basis, but it can also inform high level business questions that senior management have about customer experiences and preferences for their entire business. Those companies who truly commit are reaping huge rewards right now.

Hotels and OTAs are increasingly opening avenues on their websites for their guests to contribute ratings and reviews directly. At the same time, specialists point out that consumers are savvy enough to know that not all social commerce content is equal. What do you make of the situation? Would it be right to say that hotel websites are often quite static in terms of their content, and they exist principally to sell room inventory?

Mark Simpson:

Without a doubt, providing un-biased traveller ratings help conversion rates on these booking sites. I personally have never seen a case where posting reviews have hurt conversions. What is really important is how that content is presented to the user.

The key to making reviews work in your favour is to make sure they are honest, un-biased and un-filtered. It’s also important that companies respond to both negative and positive reviews. Not all social content is equal and pro-active management is required in order to make the most of it.

I’ve seen the more advanced hotel sites move away from static content, and begin to personalise content for different segments and groups of travellers, as well as at the individual level. Initial tests have seen a dramatic positive effect with this type of targeting, but there still needs to be a lot of intelligence that goes behind this--both human and artificial.

What new trends have you witnessed when it comes to travel companies working on new features on their websites in order to improve customer experience?

Mark Simpson:

I’ve seen the more advanced companies move from simple A/B and multivariate testing to providing personalised, specific and targeted content for individuals who are on the site. I’ve also seen a better integration of social media and social commerce, as well as more and more travel companies building optimised sites and apps for the mobile environment.

As your company points out, each visitor that comes to a website has a unique profile with a wealth of data that can be used to personalise their experience on a site. What do you think is being done to capitalise on such opportunity?

Mark Simpson:

Well, this depends on which area of the travel market a brand sells into. But we are using individual profile data to target more specific offers. For example, using that data to target specific offers based on previous flights, trip searches, hotel preferences, and so on. With this approach, we are looking to make sites more relevant on the individual level using interactions to target across multiple channels.

How do you expect the outlook of travel websites to evolve in 2012?

Mark Simpson:

On the whole I expect to see much more personalisation and behavioural targeting for the masses. Secondly, the capitalisation of mobile and mobile optimisation and personalisation. While the explosion of mobile apps and sites continues, many aren’t getting right by testing, designing and optimising for the small screen.

What major trends do you foresee in the conversion optimisation arena in 2012?

Mark Simpson:

I think we’ll see more of a cultural shift in marketing departments and testing becomes more mainstream, like SEO did a few years back. It’s no longer a “nice to have” or “try-out”, testing and conversion rate optimisation are a must-have for any brand who wants to stay competitive.