Lee Wilson, service operations director at Vertical Leap, explains how an understanding of buyer behaviour can help travel companies attract more bookings
Consumers have a wealth of choices when it comes to choosing a holiday. What country, what activities, who to travel with? Aside from the risk of it all getting slightly overwhelming, the range of choice is fantastic. But from a travel marketer’s point of view, the amount of competition can prove challenging. How can brands capture the attention of potential customers and stand out in a crowded marketplace? The answer… utilise micro-moments.
Micro-moments are the specific actions customers take at every step of their journey: from discovery, like scrolling online and devouring blogs and articles, to the final purchase, where the book button is clicked and the sale is completed. These micro-moments can happen at any time and on any device, so they’re an important consideration when planning a search marketing campaign.
Making the most of micro-moments
To maximise the potential of micro-moments, there needs to be an understanding of the customer purchase journey.
At the very beginning of thinking about their travel plans customers are usually looking for inspiration. At this point they might not even know they want to book a holiday. Picture idly half watching TV and half scrolling through Pinterest, before stumbling across a travel blog complete with beautiful photography, suggesting an idyllic sandy beach in Thailand. Jetting off somewhere sunny then moves up their to-do list.
Once the idea has been planted, the potential customer actively starts researching different options and compares prices. Is that the very best Thai beach? What else is out there? Who should they fly with, and what sort of hotel should they go for?
Following this, the next point for intervention is when the customer is ready to book, meaning they have made a choice and they’re now ready to commit and purchase the trip.
The last stage of the purchase journey is when everything is booked – the sale has been completed. By understanding the journey, brands can target search marketing campaigns to specific audience segments, resulting in highly focused marketing messages. These messages can then be utilised across different marketing campaigns.
How to boost bookings
There is a clear procedure to follow to boost bookings. This can be implemented once a target audience and key messages have been confirmed.
Firstly, brands can use ‘audience segment targeting’ to raise their bids on search terms for a person on their audience lists. Because they are on the brand’s remarketing list, the advertisement will appear more often when the customer searches for a particular keyword. This heightens the chance of customers being interested in the advertisement and therefore booking.
Next, get specific with dynamic remarketing by narrowing the brand’s messaging as the customer advances to the consideration stage of the sales funnel. Finally, create urgency and bid aggressively when your prospect swims into the “ready to book” pool, where they are more likely to make a purchase. After these stages are complete, the next goal is to turn the customer into a repeat buyer.
By being able to understand them and their purchase journey, travel brands can use micro-moments to ensure customers move along the sales funnel. Brands that take this approach have the potential to gain and retain customers, resulting in increased market share against their competitors.
Being there at the right time and with the right messaging, travel brands can ensure that the holidaymakers will come back for more next time they want to jet off on an adventure.