Chart of the Day: How OTAs reach online vacation buyers?
With the rise of online price comparison sites and review sites now offering hotels and flights for purchase, the competition for the ecommerce travel industry has never been so fierce.
So what are the top channels for reaching online vacation buyers?
Well, new research by Global Web Index shows that there is no one dominant channel that vacation buyers use to research and discover brands online. Therefore a holistic marketing mix of different channels is necessary to reach potential customers at different touch points of the research stage.
46% of respondents stated they discover brands via search engines, this yet only 34% discover vacations via brand/product websites. This shows that your keyword strategy needs to be based on user search queries “cheapest holidays to France” “best places to visit in Australia”, rather than branded keywords, in order to rank your site and persuade them to buy. However, as shown, your marketing mix also needs to include traditional marketing like TV ads, online ads (these could be text ads on search, display ads on third-party sites, or social ads), but how do you tap into the ‘word-of-mouth’?
This needs to be utilized via the digital word-of-mouth. Review sites can be the make or break of any business and many people now trust the word of others before buying products. But this requires providing current customers with an excellent service so they leave good reviews. Tapping into travel influencer marketing can be an excellent way to do this – using influencers and travel ambassadors to showcase destinations, hotels and fights can persuade followers to buy.