The purchase path of travellers today is anything but linear. Multi-device usage and its impact on content consumption and booking behavior continues to evolve, providing travellers with more options than ever before – leading to an extensive research and booking path. Today at Phocuswright Europe, I revealed the findings of our new British Traveller’s Path to Purchase study to help marketers understand the complex booking journey and navigate the growing number of touchpoints that influence destination and purchase decisions.
The research, which we commissioned with comScore, examined how consumers in the UK can be influenced as they plan and purchase travel during the 45-day period leading up to online booking. Here are a few key takeaways:
More consumers are engaging with travel content on mobile devices than desktops, though in general, people are moving more fluidly across devices
- Nearly half of users engage with travel content on multiple devices, compared to 28 percent of mobile-only users and 21 percent of desktop-only users
Travel continues to be a considered and time consuming purchase, and the average British online travel booker visited travel sites more than 121 times during the 45-day path to purchase
- By the end of the booking path, average visits per booker increased by more than 200 percent, resulting in close to daily visits to travel sites, on average
Destination decisions are influenced by many factors, and nearly 55 percent of online travel bookers in the UK started the research process with multiple destinations in mind
- OTAs and search engines were the most common initial online resources when deciding on a destination, while recommendations from family and friends were the most common offline resource
The travel advertising marketplace is crowded, but full of opportunity – especially given that those with a propensity to book travel are five times more likely to see travel advertising than non-bookers
- Nearly a third of travellers who were considering multiple destinations were influenced by advertising
For more findings and insights, download the full study {{cta(’12d4bf5a-b28d-4d60-87f7-3b5daf02cc8b’)}}
Our press release can also be found here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160512005128/en/British-Travellers-Spend-2.4-Billion-Minutes-Engaging.
