We posted a mobile commerce infographic earlier this week, and a comment from Pankaj Gabba really hit on one of the most insightful nuggets of that graphic: “80% of consumers abandon a mobile site if they have a bad user experience.”
Indeed, many mobile apps aren’t even apps; rather, they are basic copies of the web version. And those that are fully realized applications are not necessarily any better, lacking a clear focus on user experience and the desired outcome: a purchase.
In a recent blog post, Jeffrey Breen of Atmosphere Research Group laid out “3 keys to building a better mobile booking experience,” and got into the thick of the discussion on how apps can move beyond window dressing to becoming significant profit centers for OTAs and other travel operators.
It’s useful to frame this discussion by highlighting that Atmosphere’s research found that, among US leisure traveler smartphone users, 39% are interested in using their phones to book a hotel, 37% to book a flight and 34% to book a car.
Beyond booking travel, 49% would like to use their phones to book restaurant reservations or entertainment tickets, 46% to check into a hotel or airline flight, and 35% to book a sightseeing tour.
This information, outlined in the chart below, clearly shows a significant interest in using mobile phones to complete traditionally Web-based transactions.
Now let’s consider another intriguing statistic from the aforementioned infographic: 34% of mobile shoppers make $100,000 or more. Could it be that these 34% are the same ones interested in booking high-value travel on their mobile phones?
There’s not yet data to back that claim up, but using Orbitz‘s recent deployment of their re-engineered iPhone app as a case study is quite revealing. The OTA saw twice as many people – 6 million – shop on their mobile devices in May 2012 than a year earlier.
So what are they doing right?
Breen identifies three key concepts for building a better mobile experience. Let’s distill this “better mobile experience” into three concrete qualities of a world-class user experience on a mobile device:
1. It’s seamless
The screens are small, and the keyboards are even smaller – so why force users to suffer through repeated keystrokes every single time they want to book?
The most compelling mobile experience is virtually indistinguishable from booking online – account information comes pre-filled, the system remembers TSA-related details, credit cards can be stored for later use.
There’s absolutely no excuse to make a customer type out their full credit card information – number, expiration, billing address and all – when that information has been stored online.
Sure, requiring a CCV is acceptable, but demonstrating that the technology is incapable of interfacing securely with its servers is not going to make people feel safer – it will lead to a feeling of vulnerability and distrust that any information is secure at all!
2. It’s smart
There’s no excuse for not leveraging the available data – most especially location – in a mobile application. No user wants to look at tonight’s availability for local Philadelphia hotels if they just booked a flight to Hawaii in 3 months!
Successful – ergo profitable – user experiences are smart and adaptable; by taking advantage of data entered during both mobile and online sessions, in addition to booking histories across platforms, the best mobile interfaces seamlessly deliver exactly what the user is looking for.
3. It’s straightforward
OTAs and other travel operators cannot possible hope to have a simple, straightforward experience if the technical and business teams are siloed.
This separation may lead to a lack of insight into the consumer’s needs, thus creating a user experience that stands in the way of the desired outcome – booking travel.
By integrating teams working across disciplines into one larger “mobile group,” organizations can most effectively build mobile tools that both play to their core competencies and satisfy consumers. This then sets the foundation for a thriving business on mobile devices.
Summing up
The lesson here? If you’re going mobile, don’t just optimize your web presence – consider creating a wholly mobile-centric user experience that reduces friction and makes it easy to buy.
Give people what they want, when they want it, and how they want it – it’s simple, but it’s clearly working for big players like Orbitz.
NB: Smart Phone With Money image via Shutterstock
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About Nick Vivion
The most potent function of a mobile/smartphone website for hotel commerce, is the click to call – we have over 50 hotel mobile websites in circulation thro’out the UK and rising, and this is overwhelmingly the most popular feature, putting pressure on hotel telesales and front office people to be excellent at conversion, concierge and upselling!
It might be different in other parts eg USA, but this is the predominant position in the UK right now
The click-to-call feature is definitely something that many hotels are ignoring – how can there be a phone number on a hotel’s mobile website that is not click-to-call? It’s infinitely frustrating, and again highlights how essential it is to understand what your user wants to do – and reduce friction to get them to that goal.
Good point. It still kills me that so many mobile apps forget that a mobile phone is actually a phone.
I know right! It’s absolutely one of my biggest pet peeves – trying to quickly get over to the keypad before forgetting the number!
Among smartphone users, 38% of the US online travelers in our study who are interested in booking a hotel have annual household incomes between $50,000 and $99,999. Twenty-six percent have household incomes of $100,000 to $249,999 a year, and 4% have household incomes of $25,000 or more. The remaining one-third have annual household incomes of less than $50,000.
Clearly, there is interest in using smartphones to book travel at all incomes levels in the US (we also have data for UK, France, Germany, China, and Brazil). The message here is clear: From budget to luxury, hotels must have mobile strategies, and those strategies need to include commercial activities such as booking. Airlines, rental cars, and other travel services must also be similarly prepared.
Good points re: the click-to-call, and Nick, yes, travel firms mustn’t forget the ‘phone” part of “smartphone.” A critical element to a successful mobile strategy is recognizing the need for different prioritization of tasks, functionality, and content between not just between traditional websites and mobile, but between smartphone and tablet apps. Smartphones and tablets are distinct, and they’re used in different ways at different times. This must be factored into a travel organization’s “mobile” strategy.
Thanks for drilling down into those numbers more. I’d like to pursue the tablet vs smartphone thread – that’s quite an important distinction in strategy, and totally right on that people use those two devices in a very different way. Have you done any research into how tablets are used versus smartphones – ie. what actions, what end goals, average value of transactions?
Good salient points. Not sure I follow the comment about CCV – do you mean requiring this for a saved card somehow undermines perception of security?
No, actually the reverse – it makes users more comfortable to provide a CCV, as they know that there’s a minimal amount of data to enter that proves you actually have the card. But by having to re-enter an entire credit card each time, users may think that the company isn’t confident in their own security to allow users to store a card.
Also keep in mind that well over 50% of hotel bookings through a mobile device are done within 24 hours of the guest’s stay. These are last minute, distressed travelers, so give them the easiest path to booking as you can. I couldn’t agree more with the click-to-call feature, and would go further and say you must have a mobile booking engine as well. They should be a given on every single mobile site.
That last-minute booking statistic is quite telling – it makes sense that you would book from your mobile if you were traveling and looking for a place to stay that evening. This statistic probably also makes some properties skeptical about the longer-term value of mobile. However, if you can use the wider Web to get those earlier bookings – say 2+ weeks out – and then use an integrated mobile strategy to fill those beds last-minute, it seems like a complete win-win. Less rooms empty and more customers satisfied with their booking experience.
I don’t know about that…
Certainly, storing CCV data can save time, and for a person using a smartphone or tablet to make a booking, saving even a second or two can be helpful.
But…a minority of travelers in our research say they feel comfortable sharing personal information with a travel firm (about 3 in 10 US online leisure travelers feel comfortable sharing personal details with airlines or hotels, for example). A traveler may feel comfortable sharing a credit card number, but not the CCV. It’s also possible that a travel seller’s executive leadership, legal department, payment provider, or insurance firms may advise against storing CCV data as a way to limit the firm’s liability should a database breach occur.
Personally, I’d much rather have a travel website store my credit card but not CCV. Remembering the 16 or so digits in my credit card account is not easy, but remembering three or four numbers associated with a card’s CCV — that I can do.