We’ve all been hearing in travel about the “year of the mobile” for, well, years – but now that such predictions have come to fruition, what does it mean for travel websites?
And, more importantly, how can websites ensure their services are optimised for devices and prevent users from abandoning their activity if they have a poor user experience?
The simplest answer is this: make sure you have a mobile-ready website.
But there is more – this handy infographic from Moovweb has collected some of the data-points kicking around which demonstrate the shift from desktop to mobile and how travel sites might be prepared for the onslaught of activity via mobile devices.
[Note the travel-specific examples and experiences in other industry sectors]
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About Kevin May
Thought-provoking infographic, and interesting to see travel lumped in there with those other industries.
Where I see our industry differing significantly is in the extent to which the underlying industry itself is ready to go mobile. A far greater proportion of banks, insurance providers, healthcare companies, etc. are already very well established online, and have been for some years. One stat is particularly telling: if 52% of retailers “do not yet have a mobile optimized website”, that means that fully 48% do, which is massive!
In the long tail of travel (ie. all those millions of niche providers whose unique products and services make travel such a beautiful place), I’d be surprised if 48% even have a reliable website, let alone are ready to go mobile. Perhaps travel will be unique in that many companies will go straight-to-mobile (like with banking in many parts of Africa), but for that to happen we need to see innovation away from flights and hotels and more in that colourful long tail.