Conversion rates soar as Thomas Cook adds Q&A feature to its website
Thomas Cook has seen online booking conversions more than double since it launched an ‘Ask & Answer’ feature on selected acccommodation on its website.
John Straw, chairman of the Digital Advisory Board at Thomas Cook, said the new feature has pushed up the conversion rate of bookings by 147%, the booking value by 9% and the time people are spending on the website by 127%.
The tour operator received 4,200 questions in the first 12 weeks of going live with the new system, which allows customers to ask detailed questions about the holiday they are hoping to book.
Queries such as how many power sockets there are, how long the transfer from the airport to the hotel is and whether are towels provided.
He said he was "astounded" at how bad the travel industry is at having the right content on websites, with only three people in every 1000 booking a holiday when they search.
He added that Trip Advisor was the best at ‘longtail’ keywords due to the amount of content on its site from holidaymakers’ reviews.
Straw said: "Most people come from Google to a site and then come back as they are not satisfied with the content we’ve shown them.
"We are very good at dragging people into our collective websites but then we’re not converting them into bookings."
by Diane Evans
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
TAP Air Portugal to operate 29 flights due to strike on December 11
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Strike action set to cause travel chaos at Brussels airports
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent