Booking engine update October 2011

Having had few developments made during the summer period due to the server move, today we will perform two releases into the booking solution with versions 2.7.6 and version 2.7.7. The focus of the improvements is to reduce the number of errors handled in CRC and improved text and content in both our agency booking solution and consumer booking solution.

Fixes set for 2.7.6 are as follows:

• Removal of American Express card payment in B2C France
• Improved B2C France content in XML file
• Improved error messaging and texts in B2C UK/US/ROW
• Removal of no price option presented when choosing packages in B2C
• Server Error in ‘/’ application found in B2C DE
• Errors in 0 NOK pricing when selecting MS Lofoten and 1 person
• Removal of infant option in Antarctica tours
• “View All” on excursions page to avoid reviewing multiple pages

Fixes set for 2.7.7 are as follows; 

• Removal of bookings canceled when a user clicks the “back” button
• It is no longer possible to cancel a booking when payment has been made
• Improved text and grammar for B2B
• Corrected CHD prices for 2012
• B2B reporting list allowing reports to be pulled based on agencies logged in to B2B
• Improved text to DE travel searchbox
• Improved error message when ship is full to contact CRC for available sailings
• Clicktale implementation in B2C and B2B

The next release will take place in November as we look to remove any outstanding bugs and errors that are handled in CRC. Many of the improvements between now and February 2012 will be focusing on improvements required from the upgrade to our back end systems.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below.

How to improve conversion rates and increase online sales

“The web is not just another medium, another sales channel. More than anything, it is another culture, another way of living and thinking.” – Gerry McGovern, 2011

A new sales channel has emerged
Between 2009 and 2010, web traffic, conversions and revenue increased. As of June 2011, the numbers continue to increase. This has made Hurtigruten take note of the web and change the strategic direction and put the web first.

Online spending continues to increase
It’s no stroke of luck that these figures continue to rise. Sure, E-Commerce continues to grow year on year with expected sales to reach 133.6 billion EUR by 2015, but it’s also down to hard work, continuous improvement and implementing like hell, but not just the online booking process, the entire customer interaction line.

E-commerce is not a separate activity
E-Commerce no longer only affects online sales, but customer service and operations. We have gone from a control oriented marketing, website only, top down business approach to a more multi-channel, customer centric approach that begins when the customer finds out about to Hurtigruten to booking via the phones, email or web.

Once they reach the web, our goal is to convert as many visitors as possible to complete their goal. This is not a “sales” type way of thinking, but if a visitor wants to book, we should make that as easy as possible for them.

The top 10 converting websites in E-Commerce
The best converting website in the world has a conversion rate of 40% (Schwan’s). Hurtigruten’s conversion rate is currently 0.04%. Blair.com, QVC, Proflowers and Office Depot have been included in the top 10 converting websites for the past 3 years, with QVC and proflowers appearing in the top 10 list since 2005!

But not everyone will book online. A Forrester Research study in 2010 found that most web visitors abandon the shopping cart due to hidden charges at the checkout and requires registration before purchase. Yet, 9 out of the top 10 converting websites require login and hide shipping costs. Amazon.com includes 3 of the top 10 reasons for not completing a booking online:
* Hidden charges at checkout (Shipping)
* Having to register before buying (Create Account)
* Few payment options offered (Only accept Credit Card)

So if the world’s leading E-Commerce websites are not following the “rules”, why do they have such a high conversion rate?

Key to their success
* Deliver excellent Customer Service
* Large selection of products
* Make it easy for people to buy
* Remarketing

Through analysis and research, I have created an approach for Hurtigruten that can increase the online conversion rate, but the same can be applied for any website as it addresses all the conversion needs and ways you can optimize for the web visitor. If the below is applied to your site, I am convinced that the conversion rate will increase by at least 25% within the first year.

10 ways for Hurtigruten to increase the conversion rate
* Prioritize home page content to increase cross-sell opportunities
* Capture e-mail early and remarket
* Make it easy to browse catalog offline and purchase with catalog ID online
* Accurate images and product descriptions
* Adding manufacturer content and customer reviews
* Tweak the location and appearance of key buttons to boost click-through rates
* Eliminate unused content to improve user experience and save money
* Prevent “No results” site keyword searches to help users find products
* Focus on the end of the funnel to boost conversion rates
* Use Clicktale analytics to remarket in real time

While analyzing the top 10 converting websites, the 10 suggestions were all clearly implemented. Many of the points do not require big budgets to implement and could be done within the space of a month. Clicktale’s silver package costs $300 per month. Adding accurate product descriptions and images just take time and improving the end of the funnel could be completed with simple A/B testing using Unbounce or Optimizely

Now all that’s left to do is to start implementing!

Good service is the new sales and marketing

Great service is priceless. For another human being to go out of their way to make me feel special is something you cannot buy. When was the last time you felt like you were treated in a special way?

For me, it was when I checked into Radisson Blu in Riga, Latvia and they gave me a free upgrade to a business class suite. That was good service, and I haven’t stopped talking about this since.How much did it cost Radisson to provide me with this upgrade? Very little, but my friends have heard nothing but good reviews about the hotel chain and I highly recommend they stay there.

In comparison, the restaurant located on the first floor of the office building I work at is renowned for slow service. Sure, the food is good but when on a lunch break, I want food served quickly. In fact, the service is more important than the food itself. The service has forced me to eat at an alternative.

A recent RightNow survey found that “85% of consumers say they would pay up to 25% more to ensure a superior customer experience”.

Would you pay an extra $2 if the next time you tried on a T-Shirt, the store clerk gave you advice on how to wear it and in what size, or what colour suits you better? Or what if you paid an additional $1 when calling a customer service line if it meant you could reach a cheerful, qualified customer service agent directly and not have to wait in the queue? I know I would.

Over the past 20 years, companies have lost focus on delivering good customer service and instead, focused on other areas such as product or marketing. Zappo’s company goal is to deliver excellent customer service and in 2010, they sold more than $1 billion in revenue.

You can have the best product in the market or the best marketing campaign in the world but if your service is poor then you don’t stand a chance.

Embracing Social Media is not just limited to the consumer & brand relationship

Social media is everywhere. Or is it? A lot of brands dealing directly with their fans or followers yet I do not see many third parties using social media. This blog post will review how B2B can embrace social media and increase leads, engagement and sales.

The return of the Travel Agent

When it comes to booking a vacation, a customer may begin by browsing Expedia and compare prices, then review the websites and customer testimonials. Perhaps they will visit the Facebook page before sending an email to customer service to ask for the best time to travel to Norway. In fact, according to InsideView, 70% of the B2B buying process happens online.

Many travelers are finding it complex to book a trip online and ultimately may not help make the decision.

People like simplicity. Whether online or offline, simplicity will always triumph. With the abundance of travel options, many travelers have found that by visiting a travel agent and allowing the agency to handle the booking process, the only decision the customer has to make it where to go.

How you can embrace social media for your business

Going social is working with your clients who are already browsing the products you sell. A quick twitter search for Hurtigruten produced 8 tweets in the last hour, with a search for Norway producing 30 tweets in the last 5 minutes.

As a B2B brand, I recommend becoming active in the following channels;

• Find people talking about your products and brand on Twitter
• Create a community for your brand on Facebook and engage
• Blog about your brand’s history, current goals and your experience on WordPress

To convince you further, the following articles provide support on why you should be active:

• 7 Ways your sales team can use Twitter more effectively
• 5 Ways your sales teams can make use of Facebook
• 5 reasons to encourage your sales team to blog

In return, you will become more visible online and create brand awareness for those who do not use travel agencies, which ultimately could convince them to start using when booking their next trip.

“We need to transform the business conversation the same way Facebook has changed the consumer conversation. Market shifts happen in real time; deals are won and lost in real time and data changes in real time” – Marc Benioff, CEO & Chairman of www.salesforce.com

How will Hurtigruten embrace social media with your business?

With a range of social networks at your fingertips, we will keep it simple by only selecting 3 key platforms to engage with you in social media in the near future. A workshop will be held internally on Monday, August 29^th to move these forward:

LinkedIn

A travel agency group on Linkedin specific to Hurtigruten is a great start to networking online and within the industry. At a recent sales meeting with partners, I found there was a strong community spirit within the agencies and that information was very much shared. By building a dedicated agency on Linkedin, we can plan events, travel fairs, network and build your personal brand.

WordPress

By introducing a blog for travel agents, we can use WordPress to provide selling tips, techniques and advice from our inside sales teams.  With years of experience and dealing with cultures worldwide a platform to share this information is a great way to build up our own knowledge of the product. And not only will this support the community but blogging is a great way to build links to your websites and increase SEO rankings in Google.

Facebook

A Hurtigruten agency Facebook group is a great platform to share questions about Hurtigruten voyages and can be used for sharing videos, images, press releases and newsletters. As a partner, you can use these images and videos on your website to show to clients interested in Hurtigruten. A recent study found that web visitors who viewed video on Hurtigruten websites were 107% more likely to “add to cart” than other visitors. Using this statistic, we can increase the number of visitors initiating the purchase and thus completing the buy.

See an example of how Hurtigruten use Linkedin, Expedia use blogging and Via Travel use Facebook below:

Use social media and build your brand presence online

Social media may not be here to stay but each day that passes that you are not active means your competition is one day stronger in building a relationship with your potential client. I hope the above give you some inspiration on how you can increase leads for four your business when selling a Hurtigruten voyage so get ahead of the competition and start engaging today.

How one website improvement increased sales by €15.8 million

Redesigns are fun. They involve big budgets and senior management buy-in. Continuous improvements and  tweaking of a website are considered “boring”, yet ultimately prove to be more successful.

Our most recent continuous improvement to the website is valued at €15.8 million (124 million NOK). Here is our success story.

Simplify and eliminate bad complexity

In 2008, Forrester Research released a report titled “Small web site investments that pay off”. The report summarized what web professionals around the world consider to be low-cost web activities that have a strong positive impact on the bottom line. 

In a post published on the 10^th March titled “Key functionality on front page drives online sales” we wanted to launch key functionality onto the website in order to increase online sale. Launched in February, we saw an immediate impact, which resulted in a 68% traffic increase into the booking engine.

Since launching the functionality, we have taken one step further by raising the searchbox above the fold and in plain view. This was summarized in a post published on the 6^th June titled “Why not increase Hurtigruten online sales some more? “.

“In order to use the search box, the customer needs to scroll down on the page. Out 10 people in the UK usability tests, only 2 (!) saw the search box feature!”

Below you will see how the home page looked before the improvement and after.

Successful websites focus on continuous improvement, not redesign

• Earlier this year, Gawker, a news website launched a redesign of their website. The result was a 54% loss in direct web traffic.
• Breeze media clients report that sales dropped as much as 40% when using a web design company to redesign their website
• Usability expert Jared Spool once shared a story of a big-box retailer that spent $100 Million on a redesign which lead to sales dropping 20% after its roll-out, and it took 3.5 years to recover from it.

People don’t like change and immediate reactions are negative but small tweaks and improvements are met with praise and can be measured using Google Analytics. We have successfully combined an improvement to our website and increased online sales.

Improve web usability and increase online sales

Internet folklore insists that BestBuy increased online sales by $300 million within the first year of launching the “Checkout as guest” button. I first heard of this story in 2008 and just like web managers around the world, I have since been looking for the one improvement that doubles online sales.

The search box had an immediate impact to Hurtigruten online sales. With sales per week increasing from 2.2 million NOK to 4.6 million NOK, Hurtigruten have found its answer. Have you found yours?

The impact of the world’s longest live TV documentary

The general opinion formed around the €15.8 million improvement could be based on the NRK broadcast, which was held between June 16 and June 23 this year. However, the success of the broadcast lead to the removal of the searchbox for several days during peak booking hours as price and availability searches were taking as long as two minutes.

Having reviewed June 2010 and June 2011, consumer sales increased by 200% year on year but if we review February to July 2010 with the same period in 2011, sales have increased by 121%. The searchbox is key to this increase, as we have made it easy for web visitors to complete their task.

What is more important to an online marketer; a Facebook Like or web visit?

As the importance of both the web and social media grows, we soon meet a crossroad as to which becomes more important and where budgets and resources should be shifted towards. This blog post will discuss what is the fast becoming the more important of the two.

Facebook is the most important marketing channel

Facebook was recently ranked the most important marketing channel in a survey ran by Smart Insights with 65.7% of respondents using the social network – 10% higher than Google, who came in second.

Online markets are already moving towards Facebook pages to promote and market their product but that does not necessarily they are using it correctly. In fact, most companies approach Facebook the wrong way and could be doing more negative than positive to their brand.

Marketing on Facebook could ultimately damage your brand

A recent study by ExactTarget and CoTweet shows that more than 90 percent of consumers have stopped “following” or “unliked” at least one brand on Facebook.

The study, titled “The Social Break-Up,” surveyed 1,500 consumers and identifies how people are changing their online behaviors and with the top 2 leading reasons being closely related with spamming such as “posting too frequently” and “being crowded with marketing posts”, many companies have seemingly lost their chance to get it right with social.

How many times does a Facebook fan visit your website?

According to a report by Hitwise surveying the top 100 retailers in the UK, each fan of a Facebook page produced an extra 20 visits to the website. The study also found that brands utilizing Facebook saw increased brand searches on Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

This conclusion supports the results we have seen lately in Google Analytics as Facebook referring traffic to the Hurtigruten website has increased by 200% compared with 2010 and 2011. Facebook is now a top 10 referring traffic source and a top 5 referring traffic site. The traffic has surged within the last seven months and once we have Google URL tracking implemented we will be able to see the exact number of bookings and revenue converted from Facebook – And provide ROI on social media activity for senior management.

Can Facebook replace a company website?

Having been involved with the recent user tests lead by Spotless Interactive in the UK, Germany and Norway we found that even with all the information found on our websites, there still was not enough.  Our websites have more than 1,000 pages each and in 15 different languages. Hurtigruten could not replace the websites with a Facebook page, but I can see how it would work for small businesses. The opportunity to build the brand easier at a low start-up cost, engage with smaller audiences and targeted ads is much more appealing and cost effective and I fully understand those in favor of doing so.

What becomes more important to online marketing and brand building?

Before the web, before traditional media on TV and radio, developing a relationship was the key to the success of a business. If no relationship was formed, the business would go bankrupt. With social media, the following applies, which is why I choose a Facebook “like” over a web visitor:

• People buy from people but more importantly people buy from people they like. Using Facebook allows us to create context and connect with our audience
• An accidental visitor is common on a website. A Google search for Norway could lead to an accidental visit but this is less common on Facebook for a fan to accidentally click the “like” button.
• Publicly acknowledging a brand on Facebook is announcing to your friends and family that you support this brand. Brand advocates do have this opportunity on the websites.
• Engaging with the audience in real time is a competitive advantage. Email customer service response times can take up to two or three hours and calling customer support costs money. Providing real time responses is what the audience expects in the modern day and with Facebook, we can deliver this.

Ultimately, both are important and cannot replace each other. Without a website, a customer cannot review product and pricing information and book. Without a Facebook page, we cannot engage with our audience. However, the added value of having a Facebook page is that we can create context with our fans and we get to create the relationship before the buying process and in the world of today, creating a relationship is what brings in the business.

Will the shift of online marketing continue to move towards to Facebook?

As Google have now entered the social networking equation with Google+, a new marketing channel has emerged. However, in the war between Google and Facebook and the importance of visits and “likes”, another question surfaces in that will search marketing now lean more towards Facebook than Google?

There is nothing worse than an idea not executed

A company I used to work for sent out an email asking employees to suggest a slogan for their logo just before I left. I had a great idea for the slogan but hesitated in submitting it and wanted to save the slogan for a “better  time“ or company. I felt like it was a waste to submit it before I left and that I could use this idea for when I joined a new company.

What happened? I didn’t use the slogan again, the idea was wasted and instead of leaving the company with a great idea, I left the company with a useless idea. How many of you have done the same? To hold on to your idea but then never execute. Execution is worth millions.

Execute your idea; get the credit you deserve and then move on to the next one. My selfish idea lead to nothing. Don’t let your idea be wasted.

Going social results in record web traffic and sales

During recent weeks,  ‘the world’s most beautiful sea voyage’ has been subject to the world’s longest live documentary. Streamed live on the web between 16-23 June by the NRK, it is estimated that 3 out of 4 Norwegians (3 million) viewed the broadcast and has been viewed online across the globe from Congo and Sudan to Mexico, Indonesia and Cambodia.

During the mammoth event, Hurtigruten engaged in social media and the results gave us record web traffic and sales results.  Our average web traffic rose from 17,000 views per day to over 75,000 views whereas sales increased by 200% during the broadcasting period. This is partly due to:

• Hurtigruten live stream page
• 24/7 Twitter coverage
• Facebook event
• Continuous engagement in all customer service channels

We also took a strategic approach on Twitter by “following” travel journalists across the globe. This lead to articles being picked up by CNN, Yahoo news, MSNBC and Reuters as well as the entertainment website Variety and tech website Wired.

You can read more about our web-marketing activity Here

The live broadcast was an immense success and the coverage gained for Hurtigruten was originally estimated to be worth over 8 million NOK in marketing (I now see that figure closer to 80 million NOK). However, the most important factor is that every single Hurtigruten employee is now proud, and with morale being high the company is motivated once again, and that is something we cannot put a price on.

NRK Broadcast – Webmarketing Activity

This week saw the launch of the NRK broadcast, which streams a Hurtigruten voyage North in its entirety. Streaming began at 19:45 CET last night and is currently being watched by thousands across the globe. Watch the live stream here.

To promote Hurtigruten, the Global Web Team has created a set of activities to help spread the word of this fantastic event.

These activities include;

• A dedicated landing page for the live streaming of the broadcast – www.hurtigruten.com/live
• A dedicated Facebook event with more than 520 people attending so far
• An email sign up form for those of you wanting to receive notifications about the broadcast – www.hurtigruten.com/NRK
• Live minute by minute updates via our Twitter account – www.twitter.com/hurtigrutenlive
• A live blog update including images and coastal general knowledge (in Norwegian) – www.hurtigruten.no/live

Download a visual document on all the above mentioned activities.

Read a full indepth article at NRK BETA (in English)

We hope you enjoy the broadcast!

Why not increase Hurtigruten online sales some more?

During the last 18 months, Hurtigruten has increased online sales by approx. 3300% (and we didn’t start at $0 …). We want to increase online sales even more and soon we will make some more adjustments.

Online success is easy

Sales is very easy. If people can’t find you, they will go somewhere else. If people don’t talk about your product, you will sell less. If they come to your store, but can’t find the product they want, they are less likely to buy. If your customers can’t find the checkout counter, they won’t buy! There’s all kinds of theory that support these simple facts. The behavior model is valid in all purchasing situations offline and online. You don’t have to be a scientist to get the point!

There are two basic ingredients to online success for travel companies:

1. Increase sales – If you don’t have a website, customers won’t buy from you online. If you don’t show up in Google when people search for your name, it’s less likely that they will buy from you. If people arrive on your website and can’t see where to buy, they will end up calling or buying somewhere else (thereby increasing distribution costs). The basics are taken care. My point is that minor changes can have a huge impact on online sales!
2. Cut costs – The other side of sales is distribution costs. The internet gives companies a chance to lower distribution costs drastically. By automating business processes for end-consumers and for valued travel agency partners, we make our business more efficient.

The key principle is: Increase sales – lower costs.  It’s not rocket surgery.

I want to show you how one small adjustment lead to a significant increase in online sales and then explain how another adjustment can boost our online sales even more.

Success story: Double sales with one minor change

On February 16 2011, we introduced a travel search box on our front page (click link for explanation). The immediate impact was a doubling in traffic (as seen below) to our booking engine (also known as the checkout counter). The traffic to our website did not increase, but more people found what they were looking for, and they proceeded to the checkout counter. Sales increased significantly and we wondered why we didn’t implement this a long time ago. What would our online revenue be today if we had made this change 12 months ago?

The investment minor. The ROI was huge.

The graph shows the traffic to the Hurtigruten booking engine after introducing key functionality on the front page

Here’s how the front page on Hurtigruten.no looks with key functionality on the front page:

The front page of Hurtigruten.no with key functionality on the front page

Next steps: Increase sales even more with another minor change

Now we have new insight! In March 2011, Spotless Interactive and Netlife Research presented the findings from usability tests performed in London, Hamburg and Oslo. Lots of interesting insights, but more importantly we now have supporting documentation from some of the best usability/psychology web experts in the world that our websites and booking engines have lots of improvement potential. One simple and quite obvious observation was that most of the people that tested our websites did not use the search functionality on the front page. The reason: In order to use the search box, the customer needs to scroll down on the page. Out 10 people in the UK usability tests, only 2 (!) saw the search box feature! Since we know that this feature drives traffic to the checkout counter, we want more people to see it! The picture below shows (very roughly) how we potentially can increase the traffic to our checkout counter from 2 out 10 customers to 6 out of 10 (an educated guess). If more people see it, more people will use it.

Front page with key functionality above the fold

Next steps

The business case is obvious. A similar modification in February basically doubled our online sales. We expect the modification described in this blogpost to have an even stronger impact.  The change will be implemented on June 6th, 2011.