According to the latest results from Voice of the Customer specialists eDigitalResearch, the mobile websites of some of the world’s top travel brands offer an experience that is almost as good as their desktop sites.
eDigitalResearch measured the digital customer experience, including mobile apps, mobile sites and desktop sites, for 18 of the top travel brands in the UK. They discovered that for some areas of the customer experience, the mobile website was just as good as the traditional website. They ranked all of the companies in their study in a league table, analysing the quality of the website experience they offered based on a number of different criteria.
Mobile Travel Planning Becoming More Popular
These days more travellers than ever before are booking their trips on their mobile devices, including on their mobile phones and tablets. It can be much more convenient to book a hotel, flight or bus ticket on a mobile device and this allows travellers to book and make last minute plans on the go.
The demand for mobile travel planning means that if hotels, travel agencies, transport companies and other travel brands don’t ensure that their mobile website is user friendly – they will get left behind. The top brands have invested a lot into designing a website that will be easy to use, attractive, functional and complete even when viewed on a mobile device.
Mobile searches have seen a significant increase in overall satisfaction. According to the detail analyses, this is due to the higher quality images that are being displayed on Mobile Websites. Also, there is better clarity of pricing which is also a driver behind higher satisfaction rates.
Booking.com is one of the industry leaders in the multi-channel travel experience – with a strong score for mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers. Users of this website enjoy a well optimised experience no matter what type of device they are using and the search results are very efficient.
The eTravel study ranked a lot of other hotel agents high on their league table, with Hotels.com and Late Rooms being named at the second and third spots. Expedia and KLM were the brands that finished out the top five. This brands will enjoy the benefit of increased mobile sales, since their mobile websites are so appealing and easy to use.
Holiday Inn has also been recognised for the performance of their app, following a recent update. Their brand new booking app has been praised by users for how it looks and feels, as well as the easy to use welcome page that introduces first time users to new features.
Director of Research in the UK Steve Brockway says that “after several years of trying, travel brands are starting to offer holiday makers as good of an experience on their mobile as they are getting on a more traditional desktop site.” The mobile experience has been improving for the last few years and these days users are getting the same brand experience no matter what device they might be using.
Will Mobile Websites Surpass Desktop Sites?
Will there ever come a day when mobiles become more popular than desktop browsers for travel planning and the mobile website experience will overtake the desktop site? Brockway says yes and he also believes that it could happen as soon as this year.
However, in order to make these experiences stand out from the competition the brands need to invest in their customer support and service. Users will think highly of brands that have customer service contact details that are easy to find.
For example, Best Western display their customer service phone number prominently on their homepage, while Booking.com offers frequently asked questions that are searchable as well as contact details for their international customer base. This makes it a lot easier for users to seek the help that they need whenever they have a customer service issue.
Only time will tell what the future will bring for travel planning technology. However, it is clear that those brands that offer high quality Mobile Websites will stand out above the rest and will have a competitive advantage in this quickly changing industry.