By: Evan Tipton, TOMIS
When you think about ways to increase your business's revenue, many of the options take more money or resources and still have unpredictable results. You don’t know if these strategies will work or how long it will take. By optimizing your website and increasing your conversion rate, you are improving what you’ve already invested in and thus creating more profit from your existing customers and traffic. Our objective is to provide actionable insights to improve your company’s most important asset - your website - which in turn, makes you more money and improves your customer experience.
Site Speed
Page speed has a large, measurable effect on conversion rates. Studies have consistently shown that the quicker a webpage loads, the more likely a user is to perform the targeted action on that webpage.
Now - not all page speeds are made equal. Make sure you get expert advice on where it makes sense to sacrifice a little page speed for user experience and engagement. BUT – know that site speed SERIOUSLY impacts conversions, and anything that slows it down needs to be strategic and be measurably adding an impact. And, really tailor it to the device your customers are searching from.
So, where should you begin? There are many tools available for getting a picture of how fast your site is loading and technical recommendations for improving the speed. Here are a few tools and items to take into consideration:
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Slow loading pages in Google Search Console
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Free speed audits online like Gtmetrix or PageSpeed Insights
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Don’t short yourself on hosting!
Example of a GTMetrix score:
Mobile Menu Bar
We all know mobile is important! Over 60% of website traffic is coming from a mobile device and this percentage has been increasing quarterly. Enter the fixed mobile menu bar.
We’ve seen the mobile menu bar help increase revenue from mobile up to 81% in some cases, and mobile e-commerce 30% on average This is because the fixed mobile menu provides all high level CTAs at every point in the customer’s journey. They no longer have to hunt for a booking button and therefore are more likely to convert.
The Tried and True Formula:
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The ultimate call to action is the book now button - it was tested for placement on the right hand side and emphasized by making it a different color than the other 3 options.
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By adding FAQs, we saw significant increases in traffic to the FAQ page which leads to decreases in contact form submission.
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Look at your historical data and see what information is missing/continuously asked about. Then add it to the booking bar. This is a great time to look at your HotJar data as well!
Mobile customers rarely visit the footer of your website so your primary navigation needs to hold relevant pages and content for your users. Ensure that your mobile customers can easily access booking information, contact information and activity-specific pages through the mobile menu.
Chat Platform
How we communicate has changed! Personalized customer experiences are no longer just a luxury. They’re the new normal.
The messaging channels we already rely on to chat with our friends and family are quickly becoming places of business. Even in the past year, major players such as Meta (or FB/IG/WhatsApp), Apple & Google have made updates in response to the evolving state of customer communication. Point being, from local businesses to global enterprises, brands are feeling the gravitational pull of this conversational evolution.
You can see here how consumers and businesses alike are adopting chat:
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Recently, it was found that 71% of customers expect brands to provide customer support through digital messaging platforms
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79% of companies say that live chat has had a positive impact on customer loyalty, sales, and overall revenue
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It was found that 81% of people aged 25 to 39 prefer to message businesses using their website or mobile app and social messaging applications.
With the rise of SMS chat, you can allow customers to start conversations on the web and then talk with them on their smartphone. Agents can respond when they’re ready without losing the lead and we don’t have to expect customers to wait around on your website for a reply.
Then, we have live chat. In many ways, live chat replaces the old toll-free numbers of the past. It’s a great way to provide your customers with additional value and increase your conversion rates during the process. With the rise of our “convenience economy” that we live in, consumers want their purchases to be convenient - when they want it, how they want it and where they want it.
By harnessing the power of live chat, you can:
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Increasing sales and revenue
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Provide faster customer support
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Delivering a better customer experience
As adoption rates for the companies that use chat continue to grow, it’s only a matter of time before all of your competitors are using it. Gain the competitive advantage, don’t lose it!
Upgrade to GA4
In order to make informed decisions about a website, we need accurate data. One of the pioneers of data-driven marketing used to say that “the price of light is less than the cost of darkness.” The point is elegantly made – it’s not a question of whether you can afford to invest in analytics, it’s a question of whether you can afford not to. Unfortunately, all too often analytics tools are bolted on afterwards rather than informing the marketing system as it is being built. In order to get more website traffic to convert, we need to truly understand how users are behaving currently.
At TOMIS our marketing team uses Google Analytics to perform analysis of our clients digital presence and incorporate findings into quarterly strategies. Just as we were all getting used to the interface of Universal Analytics, we are being forced to switch to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Unfortunately, this is not an optional transition. Google has officially announced that in July of 2023, Universal Analytics will no longer collect data.
GA4 is the next generation of Analytics, which uses event-based data instead of session-based data, and connects multiple data stream sources (i.e. website and app data) to provide a more holistic view of the customer journey.
So what can you do? Make sure you configure a GA4 property for your business and push the reservation systems to complete their integration so we can capture all GA4 data we can! Preparing for the switch to GA4 is a daunting task so don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional to ensure your tracking and GA4 properties are configured correctly.
Use AI to Write Content
Tour operators can use AI, such as ChatGPT, and natural language processing to create personalized and engaging content for their customers. ChatGPT can be trained on existing data such as destination descriptions, customer reviews, and FAQs, which can then be used to generate new content quickly and efficiently. Additionally, AI algorithms can analyze customer data to determine their preferences and tailor content to their specific interests. This can include personalized recommendations for destinations, tours, and packages. Furthermore, AI can assist in automating customer service by providing instant responses to common questions and concerns, freeing up time for tour operators to focus on other important tasks. Overall, AI can help tour operators to save time, resources, and increase customer satisfaction.
Oh, and by the way, ChatGPT wrote the last paragraph.
About the Author:
TOMIS grows tour operator businesses through innovative marketing software and services. Our software serves as your digital marketing assistant automating previously manual processes, saving you valuable time to focus on running your business and driving real increases in revenue. TOMIS is also a full digital marketing agency offering turnkey services such as Google Ads management to SEO, website development to blogging, and many more. As a result, TOMIS is truly a one-stop-shop to grow your business!