CRO, an acronym for conversion rate optimization, is a method that helps website owners get more out of existing traffic. While your website traffic may be high, and you may enjoy seeing how many visitors you gain from search engines, social media, and other funnels, you still need CRO to deliver more value to site visitors and increase the number of bookings.
To calculate your conversion rate, you can either use an online calculator or use a formula like:
Leads ÷ Website Traffic x 100 = Conversion Rate %
So, if your site has 5000 visitors and 50 bookings, your conversion rate is 1.0%. Of course, you will want to take advantage of your traffic by improving your conversion rate, and here are a few strategies to achieve your goal.
CRO Strategies
Your CRO strategy should convert more website visitors into hotel guests. Start by identifying how they use your website: use a heatmap tool like CrazyEgg, Mouseflow, or Hotjar to see how visitors engage with your site: what links they click on, how far they scroll on a page, and mouse movements.
There are a few technical issues you must address before using a CRO platform: website speed and design, particularly when it comes to UX/UI (user experience/user interface) and CTAs (calls to action - particularly the "book now" button). Your booking engine should offer a seamless, straightforward experience. So, address the technical issues first, and then choose a CRO platform to enhance your pages with engaging elements like price comparison widgets, reviews, lead flows, messaging, etc.
With an intelligent CRO platform, businesses gain access to a set of digital tools that help convert more website visitors into leads and customers. Here are a few examples of ROI-generating tools offered by CRO platforms to boost sales on a hotel's website.
- Add a price comparison widget: users can compare accommodation prices offered by OTAs without leaving your website. Offer a best rate guarantee to motivate guests to book directly on your website instead of opting for third-party agents. Include other incentives to book directly, like free welcome gifts and room upgrades, only available on your hotel's website.
- Add lead flows: pop-ups re-engage distracted visitors to prevent cart abandonment. For example, if a website visitor decides to exit your site without booking, an exit pop-up will grab that visitor's attention with a special message.
- Add a chatbot to your website: enable your visitors to get answers to FAQs in real-time and contact customer support as needed. Ensure your live chat box displays a direct booking link based on the website visitor's preferred arrival and departure dates, number of guests, including children, and rooms.
- Display reviews on your site: being transparent about guest feedback boosts trust and puts forward your property's best features.
RateParity CRO Platform for Hoteliers
Hotels can only benefit from the long-term, sustainable growth driven by CRO: more leads and sales resulting in higher revenues at lower acquisition costs.
RateParity is one of the best CRO platforms for hoteliers: it offers a suite of premium tools, including an AI chatbot and live messaging, reviews widgets, price comparison, and exit pop-ups.
Besides these features, the RateParity platform has a tool for creating vouchers and gift cards that will enable hoteliers to upsell extra services, like spa treatments, dining, etc. With vouchers and gift cards, hotel sales teams can secure additional cash, while guests can take advantage of Buy Now – Stay Later offers to make a booking when they afford it 9save money) and plan a trip when it's convenient.
All sales through the vouchers and gift cards creator dashboard are trackable: hoteliers can see performance, sales, and revenue. In addition, there are many other benefits derived from offering vouchers and gifts on a hotel website:
- building customer loyalty;
- better ROI and more income through upselling;
- boost sales for underperforming services;
- more marketing power;
- enhancing brand recognition;
- more business insight (through tracking and analytics);
- more website visitor engagement.
Another feature that makes RateParity a powerful CRO platform that can boost sales on a hotel's website is Quotelier.
Quotelier enables hoteliers to track proposal requests made through RateParity's Super Widget. The Super Widget transforms a hotel website's landing page into a conversion machine, integrating a price comparison tool, hotel reviews, special promotions, vouchers, and gift cards within one convenient frame.
Hoteliers can use the Quotelier software to create customized proposals to sell accommodation and other services. In addition, the software comes with an email automation tool, which is useful for sending out personalized messages based on specific actions that customers take while visiting the hotel's website.
Lastly, the Quotelier software offers robust analytics hoteliers can use to track sales and identify new opportunities for boosting ROI based on customer actions. Through integration with Google Analytics, Quotelier analytics enables hoteliers to understand their marketing efforts' efficiency better and optimize the conversion funnel for maximum impact.
RateParity is affordable and suitable for hotels, large or small. In addition, it supports multiple hotels and users who can access the platform's intuitive dashboard to track all the relevant data: site clicks, sales, revenue, and more.
You should also designate a CRO team to track the data, set goals, monitor results, get real user feedback, and implement the right tools to convert website visitors into guests. CRO is not a guessing game: it is based on constant monitoring, analytics, and testing. Therefore, you cannot implement CRO tools and forget about them.
To conclude, a good CRO platform can help hoteliers shift away from dependency on OTAs while boosting direct bookings and upselling other services.