Global travel giants lead in delivering personalised mobile experiences to UK users

Global travel giants lead in delivering personalised mobile experiences to UK users

Booking.com offers the best mobile travel experience in UK travel sector followed by Expedia, according to a benchmark report published by EPiServer.

Booking.com offers the best mobile travel experience in UK travel sector followed by Expedia, according to a benchmark report published by EPiServer.

The report looked at the ten most popular travel sites in the UK and scored their Apple and Android apps and mobile websites on 25 factors.

The study found many of the most popular sites are failing to deliver a consistent experience across devices, despite widespread adoption of mobile.

David Bowen, e-commerce product manager at EPiServer, said: “Mobile has become a disruptor in the digital commerce sector.

“In order to differentiate in what is fast-becoming a mobile-first sector, travel brands must connect their content with the commerce experience, leading visitors seamlessly through the entire customer journey from search, to reviews, to transaction.

“There is a thirst among consumers for researching and booking travel via a range of mobile devices.

“The challenge for brands is to deliver personalised content for every visitor, and efficiently being able to provide the same, quality experience regardless of whether they visit you through an app, mobile site or desktop to keep them engaged on the path to purchase.”

The EPiServer report wanted to find out whether brands are “meeting consumer demand for rich, personalised experiences and seamless journeys from browsing to booking”.

It found Booking.com, which came our marginally ahead of Expedia with a score of 72%, offered “clear navigation and design, scoring highly for ease of use, the ability to find essential information and support for touchscreen gestures”.

However, the top two were said to be rare examples of firms providing a seamless and quality experience across devices.

EPiServer said brands were focusing attention on just one or two devices, and giving far less than satisfying customer experiences to others, particularly Android tablets.

Scores from the 10 travel companies varied from 72% to 31%, with an overall average score of 54%.

The scores for the ten travel brands:

1. Booking.com – 72%
2. Expedia – 71%
3. TripAdvisor – 67%
4. Thetrainline.com – 54%
5. LateRooms – 52%
=7. easyJet – 51%
=7. SkyScanner – 51%
8. British Airways – 49%
9. lastminute.com – 40%
10. Ryanair – 31%