More holiday bookings made on the go via smartphones and tablets and increasingly-personalised websites for consumers are among the key digital marketing travel trends predicted for 2013.
_w=800_h=600_pjpg.jpg?v=20230522122229)
More personalisation and mobile bookings among top travel trends for 2013
More holiday bookings made on-the-go via smartphones and tablets and increasingly-personalised websites for consumers are among the key digital marketing travel trends predicted for 2013.
Next year will see customers with “high expectations of personalisation”, said Nishma Robb, chief client officer at digital marketing agency iProspect, whose clients include Visit Sweden, Monarch and Trailfinders.
“We don’t want to be targeted with random content, we want sites that are easy to navigate, optimised for different devices and personalised for us individually,” she said. “You can expect your customers to demand more in 2013.”
Another key trend for next year revolves around “Big Data”, said Robb.
“With the vast amount of data now available, it is easy to lose sight of the objective,” she said. “This coming year will be about getting to grips with the potential offered by ‘Big Data’ whilst always focusing on what we are about – the customer.”
With 40% of last-minute bookings already made via mobile, said Robb, “without a defined multi-channel, multi-device strategy travel, companies will see their competitors succeed where they are failing.”
According to figures from Google, 72% of searches were made on PCs, with 13% on mobile and 15% on tablet devices in the second quarter of 2012.
“Having a clear digital strategy across all devices that ensures that the customer experience is seamless is critical and an area which some of the big players are stillfailing to get right,” said Robb.
“Local search has really developed in the past 12 months with the expansion of keyword terms for Google Places.
“This has had a significant impact in the travel sector as companies such as Travelodge have optimised their sites and Google Places pages to drive and convert local search results.”
