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Capture web customer in 11 seconds or they will get bored – Amadeus
Travel companies have only about 11 seconds to capture the customer on their websites or risk them getting bored and going elsewhere.
The figure was revealed by Amadeus vice president of multi-national customer group Gillian Gibson as she drew parallels with how long it takes consumers to choose a product in the offline retail world.
Gibson added that despite the competition in the market place no one had yet managed to crack the loyalty and profitability issues in online travel and that online retailers fail to convert 97% of shoppers.
“The fight for owning the end consumer is on. Airline sites, online travel agents, tour operators and meta-search sites are all trying to grab the consumer and make their websites the favourite.”
She also cited figures from Forrester Research and Shop.org demonstrating that the internet shopping experience is still lacking with only 26% of consumers saying they have enjoyed a web shopping experience compared with a 70% satisfaction rating for consumers shopping in a store.
Gibson said: “Companies need to draw on lessons from offline retail and simplicity is the message. Organise your products to encourage upsell. It’s difficult to be profitable because the cost of attaining customers is never-ending and when we do attain them we only manage to convert 3%.”
She went on to give examples where Amadeus was providing technology for airlines to help companies organise their websites and highlight more profitable elements.
“Research shows customers would be willing to pay for some itemised services such as films, mobile phone services, aisle seats and lounge access and we need to build products to help airlines provide them.
“It will allow the industry to increase yield by upselling, differentiate ourselves, keep consumers loyal and increase rates of conversion.”
Report by Linda Fox
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