Online travel firm boosts web services

Holiday and leisure company MyTravel has increased its online booking conversion by more than 20 per cent following an extensive redesign of its online services.

The company, whose brands include Airtours, Going Places and Mytravel.com, has completed two phases of the redesign with the third phase due to be finished this month.

The first phase, completed at the end of last year, reduced booking times by up to 40 per cent by simplifying the number of steps involved in booking from eight to five and resulted in a 10 per cent improvement in conversion levels across all websites.

The second phase, which went live in June, involved a complete redesign of all sites, introducing a more intuitive navigational structure and better utilisation of page real estate, resulting in a further 10 per cent improvement in conversion levels.

The final phase will involve further enhancements to MyTravel’s web sites, with richer content to be added, 360-degree virtual tours of resorts and accommodation, video footage, maps, weather, and detailed information on activities and facilities.

‘The internet is an increasingly important channel for us,’ said director of digital marketing Russell Gould. ‘We have already experienced substantial growth via our digital channels over the last period with online sales growing from less than five per cent in 2004 to over 20 per cent since March this year.

‘We first identified the areas where we could make the most immediate impact and the booking process was streamlined, alongside the more recent changes to navigation paths.’

Foviance examined MyTravel websites and its competitors and data from customer surveys were also considered. It opted for a single web design that ensured consistency of design for both MyTravel and its customers.

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