Island Cruises admits low conversion rates

Island Cruises has undertaken a massive overhaul of its website after admitting its online strategy had been hampered by low conversion rates and a reliance on pay-per-click advertising. The new website has been completely redesigned and created by Five By Five Digital following a in-depth usability study carried out by CX Partners. Sections on the…

Island Cruises has undertaken a massive overhaul of its website after admitting its online strategy had been hampered by low conversion rates and a reliance on pay-per-click advertising.


The new website has been completely redesigned and created by Five By Five Digital following a in-depth usability study carried out by CX Partners.


Sections on the new site include information about the company’s ships, destinations served and online booking facilities.


E-CRM manager Tom Brett said the existing site had suffered from a “disjointed customer experience” due to it being built in stages since 2002.


Digital marketing agency PropellorNet has also been used by Island Cruises to take some of the pressure of the company’s pay-per-click marketing budget by working on the site’s search engine optimisation.


Brett said since the appointment of the agency the cruise company had “climbed considerably” for keyword results, often achieving a top three position in organic search.


“We have concentrated very much on the functionality of the site, [but] there is still work to be done to enhance the content, images and tools.”


He added: “There is also further work planned which will include additional customer feedback sessions to validate the intuitiveness of the site.”