Comments on: Improving user experience on travel websites

By: Steve Villiers

Steve Villiers — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:56:09 +0000

Love all your ideas. I think the problem is that site owners confuse stickiness with sensory overload and I can see why this is the case. Competition on the web is fierce and what better way to increase conversions than to have a low low bottom price so you compare favorably on the aggregate sites and then once you’ve got the punter in the door show them the small print. ie that super low price doesn’t include breakfast … or towels … or a bed … for that you’ll have to pay extra. Badabing … your marketing worked. You’ve got them in the door now hand over to the CRM team to bombard them, hit them over the head with noise … you might even daze them enough to score a conversion goal.

However a smart site with usability at it’s core will realise consumers all want different things … the trick of a successful site is guiding them as quickly as you can to what they want to see then giving them loads of info about it (including videos, UGC, forums and up-selling if appropriate) so they never leave. 99.9% of the site won’t interest them. BUT and here’s the killer punch, each consumer is different and will be looking for a different 0.1%. Manage that user journey and you’ll have a success on your hands, irrespective of what technologies you use.

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By: Ricky

Ricky — Wed, 13 May 2009 08:12:05 +0000

100% agree with you! to satisfy the present web-user is not easy at all. Website owners have to adopt different means to attract and keep the visitors stop at the sites for longer time. But I am afraid most of the websites may not afford to use all the technologies.

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By: Darren Cronian

Darren Cronian — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:16:51 +0000

@ Simon

A great reply and its good to hear responses to my ‘improvements’ — I realise not all of them are possible but it is good to hear companies are listening to consumers and looking at improving experience. All great points on why you might not want to implement my improvements. Thanks.

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By: Darren Cronian

Darren Cronian — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:06:30 +0000

@ Jay

Thanks for highlighting that, I will email them and direct them to this post.

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By: Jay Houston

Jay Houston — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:09:03 +0000

The problem is, as the Chinese saying goes, point a finger at a person and 3 point back at you!

I just checked the Hotels Combined web site featured on your web site and searched for a hotel in my home town of SaiGon, VietNam.

Selecting the maps for both the Caravelle and the Sheraton I found that the displayed locations are kilometres off their correct locations!

If a web site can’t get the location right, why would anyone trust it to handle a reservation?

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