Webinar recap: 3 ways to engage with guests before they leave your website

Improve your website’s conversion rate with improvements to your website, free downloadable content, and new technology and tools. Learn more about website best practices, conversions, and engagement strategies in this recent webinar.

Watch the webinar below, or jump down to the highlights and key takeaways for a high level overview of the presentation.

Quick highlights

  • Key visitor metrics:
    • Number of sessions: Total number of visits to your site, is it 2 – 5% above the previous year?
    • % new sessions: New visitors to your site, should be about 70%
    • Bounce rate: How many visitors leave after only seeing one page, should be 30 – 40% or less
    • Conversion goals: Could be reservations or wedding RFPs, should be 2% or higher
    • Engagement: How long were they on the site and how many pages did they visit, should be at least one minute and 30 seconds
  • Hotel bookings on mobile devices increased 67% in the U.S. in 2016
  • Hotel searches on mobile devices grew 137% in 2016
  • Conversions aren’t just bookings – conversions can also include guests entering your booking engine, filling out a form, or signing up for emails
  • 84% of people will check out a business’ website before making a purchase

 

Key takeaways

  • 10 questions you should be asking about your website:
    • Is your website responsive or mobile-friendly?
    • Is it a Content Management System?
    • Is your website SEO-friendly?
    • Do you have Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools on your website?
    • Does your website include links/widgets to an online booking engine?
    • Does your website have Structured Data (Schema) markup?
    • Does your website meet Google’s page speed recommendations?
    • What are your current website metrics as it relates to bounce and conversion rates?
    • What do you offer to keep people engaged on your website?
  • It’s time to evaluate your website if you notice a dip in key visitor metrics: number of sessions, % of new sessions, bounce rate, conversion goals, engagement.
  • Secure your website with an https vs. http designation
  • There should be a seamless transition from your website to your booking engine
  • Offer free content to bring in new visitors to your site, such as tours/itineraries, wedding information, dining and restaurant info, as a soft sale/introduction to your brand
  • Use exit intent technology to keep guests engaged with your brand or offer incentives to complete their booking now
  • Use cart recovery tools to email guests who abandoned their booking to help them finish it
    • Figure out your cart abandonment rate: 1 – (purchases completed / purchase initiated). For example, if 10,000 customers added something to their carts, but only 3,000 sales came through it works out to be 0.7 or a 70% abandonment rate. 1 – (3,000 / 10,000) = 0.7

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to try new strategies or technology when it comes to improving your guests’ experience on your website. Whether that’s through a website redesign or using new pop-up or email tools, you can improve your website’s engagement and conversion rates.

Watch the webinar recording and view the presentation for a deeper dive into this topic.

Further reading

Published: June 29, 2017