Time to brush up digital

AUSTRALIAN travel brands need to ensure they are presenting travellers with a smooth mobile digital experience if they want to maximise sales in 2022, according to a new report compiled by digital analytics company ContentSquare.

The study found that 41% of all online traffic for travel in Australia was being conducted via smart devices, suggesting an opportunity for more investment to ensure the user experience is as efficient as possible.

“Only by understanding their mobile journey and the unique needs of customer segments can brands streamline their travel site’s user experience to increase conversion rates and revenue,” the report noted.

Conversion rates from browsing to booking also remains lower than expected for the travel and hospitality sectors given the resurgence in holiday planning, the report suggests, showing that conversion rates have only grown from 1.9% in 2020 to 2.1%.

“As travel restarts for Australia, travel brands will need to optimise their customer journeys to increase the number of people taking the desired action on their sites... and analyse conversion rates against industry benchmarks,” the report advised.

While mobile devices may be a growing area for browsing travel products, Aussies are still spending more time browsing options on their desktop than mobile devices for each session.

Users currently spend an average of 5.8 minutes per session researching travel, while mobile sessions were shorter on average at just four minutes.

Meanwhile bounce rates were also found to be too high for travel brands, with over half of users abandoning their sessions after viewing just one page.