4 travel industry must-haves for mobile marketing
With mobile bookings fast becoming the number one contributor to the billion dollar travel industry, it’s worth the extra time and budget to ensure that your pages are your highest contributor to conversion through ease of use.
Optimise for mobile
There is an ongoing debate about the pros and cons of mobile sites vs responsive sites. If you are not sure of the difference, a mobile site is one specifically designed for a compact device whereas a responsive site automatically squashes and stacks information to “respond” to the device it’s being viewed on.
Basically, a mobile site is a little more work and means more man-hours are required to optimise both mobile and desktop sites with new information.
A mobile web experience is quicker both in time spent online and decision making. Simplify your mobile site and make it easy to navigate with only the necessary elements. Helpful but not vital icons can be shrunk, and conversion buttons such as “booking” and “contact” can be made larger on your landing page. Cut information or images that might hinder navigation, pages need to be able to load fast and not block or confuse navigation through the site.
Know what’s most important
Imagine navigation on your site being like viewing your location on Google maps – as close as you can get will offer basic information pertaining to a single location, but as you zoom out information becomes more general. Consider the most vital information people would be looking for in an emergency situation, and make sure that elements are loud and clear on your mobile site.
A hotel for example should have opening hours, contact numbers, address and pricing and booking information on their landing page, as well as one or two incentives to book with you that will help to turn browsing into conversion. From there, visitors might look for your proximity to transport and other towns, and then tourist attractions.
Be font smart
You don’t want visitors to your page instantly navigating away to search for the nearest optometrist. Readability is key to conversion. Try not to be too precious about aesthetic consistency to a desktop site. If your background colour choice and font on your website doesn’t work well on mobile, then don’t use it. It is extremely frustrating to have to pinch, zoom and then scroll around trying to find where you were because the font is difficult to read on a smaller device.
Equally frustrating is using a white calligraphy font on a dark background, for example. Mobile users want quick information that is easy to read the instant the page loads. Choose a font size that is large enough to read without squinting and small enough to allow for enough text per line to read easily and reduce scrolling.
Use clever calls to action
A clever call to action is your way of using subtle psychological tactics to get visitors to act and not just browse. A click to call phone number is one of the most useful additions to add to a mobile site. Instant access to communication is vital. If someone has to navigate away from your site to dial your number this is going to cause frustration, particularly in an emergency situation.
Offer a booking option, a call-back option or any means of communication options that will elicit real-time connection – this will greatly increase your chances of conversion. Make sure that these call to action buttons are larger, more visible and easier to click above all other text and images.
Being mobile-smart and having a properly optimised mobile site is vital for any business in the travel and tourism industry. It can have a profoundly negative or positive effect on conversion potential of both new and existing clientele, depending on how well you pay attention to the needs of your clients and keep up to date with the changing booking habits of 21st century travellers.
