Why Every Travel Business Should Go Mobile
Travel businesses that do not adopt mobile strategies and practices will unequivocally be giving up bookings, revenue, and a competitive edge.
Travel companies that are resisting the mobile revolution may change their minds after seeing these charts from eMarketer. They demonstrate that travel businesses that do not adopt mobile strategies and practices will unequivocally be giving up bookings, revenue, and a competitive edge.
In the coming years, as mobile adoption rates increase and security issues get resolved, more people will be booking travel on their mobile devices. The projection is that by 2019, 86.4 million travelers will book on mobile, which will account for nearly 70% of all digital bookings.
In fact, while desktop sales will remain unchanged (or even slightly decrease between now and 2019), the growth of digital sales in these coming years will come only from mobile conversions.
There are four main reasons for travel businesses to make the paradigm shift to prioritize mobile. The order of their importance may differ based on company goals and missions, but all four are important for travel businesses.
1. Google
In May, Google rolled out a second version of its mobile-friendly update, which improves rankings for sites that are mobile-ready (for mobile device searches) over those that are not. Travel businesses that rely on organic traffic (which is usually the least expensive and most effective traffic source) are poised to view mobile friendliness as a must-have. Google offers this Mobile-Friendly Test to help you determine your current standing and whether you should invest in mobile optimizations. (Hint: Yes, you should!)
2. Reach
According to Think with Google:
- 53% of business travelers and 31% of leisure travelers have booked travel on their smartphones.
- 88% of travelers with smartphones will switch to another site or app if yours does not satisfy their needs.
Because travelers are using their smartphones to research and book travel arrangements, having an optimized mobile experience allows travel operators to reach more prospects, so having a mobile site becomes one of your greatest marketing assets.
In addition, as mobile is becoming the go-to device for travelers, not having the mobile experience will undoubtedly mean that prospects will go elsewhere to make travel arrangements.
The importance of incorporating a mobile strategy then becomes twofold: First, it is a clear way to reach more travelers. Second, it is a necessary tool for not losing prospects to competitors.
As we saw from the eMarketer research, growth in the travel industry in the coming years will be made possible by mobile sales. Without mobile sales, the industry will remain stagnate.
3. Revenue Growth
Many travelers use their mobile devices while on the go for last-minute or same-day bookings for accommodation, excursions, car rentals, and a number of other travel arrangements. Providing them with a convenient way to research and book their travel arrangements for when they are not next to a desktop computer can help travel businesses get more customers and thus increase revenues.
For travel businesses to grow, mobile access is a prerequisite.
4. User Experience
Even those travel businesses that are experiencing stable digital sales from desktop devices should not shun the mobile experience. In fact, today’s travelers may book their travel on their home computers, but they still perform two very important actions on mobile:
- Their initial research and comparisons are often done on their smartphones or tablets. Once they select a winner on their mobile devices, they may then go to their desktops to make purchases. Not being included in their research phase due to incompatibility with mobile will preclude you from being included later in their booking phase.
- Their sharing of images, reviews, and positive feedback on social networks is often done on mobile. Being there and being ready will help your loyal customers evangelize about your business. As referrals are an important revenue generator in the travel industry, making the connection is quite important—and that happens most often on mobile.
The optimal user experience is a cross-device journey. Travelers who do not end up booking via mobile will still perform other actions while on the go, and enabling that is an important differentiator for travel businesses.
To review these four reasons is to understand that mobile is no longer a right or a privilege for travel businesses. Without ranking on Google SERPs, reaching prospects on mobile, growing revenue, and optimizing for a cross-device user experience, a travel business will become obsolete.