According to Sales Cycle, 81% of online travel bookings are abandoned, with 13% saying it’s because the booking process is too long and complicated, even after selecting rooms and dates. But why would a potential guest secure rooms, dates, rates and perhaps even add-ons, only to abandon at the last moment?
According to the survey:
53% of visitors abandon their booking when shown the total price.
26% of bookers drop off when asked for personal details.
The remaining 21% give up when asked for their payment details.
There are real reasons behind their abandonment, just as there are real reasons why a shopper chooses to make that last move and book. In this article, I’m going to let you in on a few simple ways to minimise the motivation to abandon, so you can improve your direct booking revenue.
1. Get the right price tag
First, let’s tackle the majority of abandoners – the ones who don’t do their maths properly the first time round; or maybe they do get their maths right, but they’re daunted when they see the number written out in front of them. All those zeroes – is it worth it? According to more than half of the booking population, it isn’t. So it’s your job to assure them that your hotel most definitely is worth it.
You just need to remind them of – and strengthen their confidence in – their initial incentive to book. Do this by displaying an image of the room type and any add-ons they’ve selected, next to the price. This will divert attention away from the expense and balance it with the reason they decided to book in the first place.
Visual content like this also evokes an emotive response from your potential guest, which will build a stronger connection with your brand and the room they wish to book. Emotion leads to conversion, as a study by the Missouri University of Science and Technology into human-computer interaction revealed, where websites with a stronger emotional impact produced a greater intent to buy.
Most leisure travelers don’t have a specific destination in mind when planning a trip, so visual content is critical to paint a picture of the experience hotel guests can expect. To incentivise them to convert quickly, it’s important to show these images at every stage of their booking journey.
