Mobile Tools for Biz Travel Fail Usability Test

Dear Travel Manager,

Don’t take this personally, but the mobile website you or your TMC created for corporate travelers sucks. It’s old, it’s stodgy. It doesn’t give travelers the info they need in a format they can use easily. And it doesn’t look or function like the mobile sites they use for leisure travel. No wonder so many of your road warriors would rather book anywhere else!

That’s the gist of a PhoCusWright webinar earlier this month on “The Traveler’s Appetite for Ancillary Products.” The real topic was the shift in travel booking, not just from desktop and laptop to mobile devices, but from smartphones to tablets – and how to create mobile sites that attract customers time and again.

One message was clear: Business travel mobile sites that can’t compete with their leisure-oriented competitors will continue to lose influence and bookings in the corporate market.

“It is leisure travel providers that have mostly innovated and set the standard when shopping and purchasing travel,” PhoCusWright principal analyst Douglas Quinby told Travel Market Report. “Business travel solution providers have typically been playing catch-up, and poorly at that.

“The impact is not only with travelers going astray. It is all the data that’s lost, all of the friction that gets added into the expense management and quality review components of the corporate travel management program.”

Tablets take over
It is no surprise that travelers are deserting desktop and laptop computers for mobile devices. PhoCusWright found that the more travelers travel, the more they use mobile devices to plan, buy and change travel. Also, younger travelers use mobile devices significantly more than older travelers.

What’s new is travelers’ device of choice. Tablets are quickly eclipsing smartphones for travel purchases and changes.

“More people still have smartphones than tablets, but travelers with tablets are extremely dedicated to them,” said PhoCusWright Principal Analyst Carroll Rheem. “Tablet use will soon outpace smartphones for travel use, perhaps as early as later this year.”

Factors driving choice
That shift in device preferences spells trouble for travel solution providers who don’t keep up. Ease of use, or usability, is the single most important factor in website choice.

Usability even beats out price (56% vs. 50%) as the top motivator for choosing a travel website. Loyalty programs, traditionally considered a key motivator for business travelers, lag at eighth place (14%).

“These trends are universal,” Rheem said. “Everyone, no matter their age or travel frequency, wants search to work and wants the total price displayed clearly.”

Distinctions between devices
The finding that all travelers value the same usability factors – regardless of the travelers’ age, travel experience or device – is a plus for travel solution providers.

But while travelers expect the same experience irrespective of the device they’re using at the moment, all devices are not equal.

Tablets are replacing desktop and laptop computers. Tablets, with their relatively large screens, are where travelers brose and surf and buy. Phones, with their relatively puny screens, are strictly for business.

That distinction led Blair Lyon, vice president of marketing for Monetate, which creates travel solutions for suppliers, to formulate four rules for effective device marketing and sales. Corporate travel managers and TMCs would do well to keep them in mind when considering web-based solutions for their business travelers.

1. Websites for smartphones should be simple and transaction-friendly.

That may seem like a given, but too many suppliers try to condense the wealth of information they offer on a computer screen onto a phone screen. It doesn’t work.

“Most phone users need information and transactions in a hurry,” Lyon said. “Resist the urge to crowd the home page with extraneous information that is better suited to the PC or tablet experience.”

2. Focus on formatting for tablets.

Use the extra screen real estate and take advantage of touchscreen capabilities. That means bigger buttons sized for adult fingers, Lyon said.

Also, eliminate hover effects and roll-over menus, which don’t work well on touch screens. Use the extra screen space to present additional information that includes personalized messages and upgrades or additional services that are in policy and could improve the traveler experience.

3. Think web first, app second.

Among business travelers 35% go to a website to shop, buy, or change air travel, compared to just 17% who use an app, according to Google.

“An app is great for local customers, but the web has a far broader reach,” Lyon said. “The web brings in more customers and more loyal customers. Apps only bring in the customers you already have.”

4. Make the user experience relevant and contextual.

Corporate travelers are your customers, not your servants. If their in-house mobile experience doesn’t help them travel more efficiently, more productively, more happily, they will find another travel solution that better meets their needs.
 
“Use what you know about your travelers and where they are at this very moment to create their experience,” Lyon said.

“Become more customer-centric and less conversion (and policy) centric to increase your customer loyalty, engagement and lifetime value. Remember that as travelers get close to travel and in travel, mobile grows in importance. Create specific messages and experiences for them.”