The mobile experience of the UKs top travel brands is better than some experiences offered on desktop sites, according to the latest multichannel eTravel Benchmark results from IORMA and Voice of the Customer specialists eDigitalResearch.
eDigitalResearch measured the digital customer experience – including desktop, mobile sites and mobile apps – for twenty one of the UK’s leading travel brands and found that, for some leading travel brands including Booking.com, Marriott and IHG, mobile experiences are now better traditional websites.
Multichannel leader Booking.com have made significant improvements to their mobile site wave on wave resulting in an almost three per cent increase in their overall multichannel score. Booking.com’s mobile search is rated better than its desktop counterpart suggesting that certain search features, such as geo-location functionality, are rated extremely highly by mobile users who could often be looking for information in a hurry.
Overall, mobile first impressions and design & usability have seen an increase in overall satisfaction wave on wave. Detailed analysis reveals that those sites that are able to mirror their desktop counterparts with optimised imagery, messages and functionality thanks to a responsive design – such as benchmark newcomers Thomson and First Choice – will be rated higher.
First Choice and Thomson claim the second and third spots respectively in the overall multichannel league table. With a top score of 87% for their desktop score, Thomson lead the way in this channel thanks to their ease of navigation and visual stimulus.
The results demonstrate how users now expect the same seamless experience across all channels. Since Google’s algorithm update earlier this year it is essential that all brands now offer a mobile optimised site. However, if travel brands want to make their multichannel experience stand out from the competition, it is essential that optimised sites provide the exact same functionality and usability as their desktop site.
Derek Eccleston, Global Operating Officer, comments, “Customers now expect an excellent customer experience across all brand touch points and many brand’s mobile sites and apps are now on par with traditional sites. However, our results reveal that too often this is not the case suggesting that some brands are still getting to grips with optimising the digital travel experience for mobile users.
“With a growing number of us researching and booking our holidays online, along with travel brands increasingly competing against one another on price and destination, a good user experience is often the only way to differentiate a brand from their nearest rival – the digital customer experience really is key to the future success of travel brands big and small”.
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