TravelPost is a good example of best practice for branding and usability. The site is simple, friendly and comprehensible at first sight.
On the landing page, three blocks of content serve as a starting point: “Unbiased Hotel Reviews”, “New Travel Blogs” and “Explore Travel Destinations”, plus there is a sidebar with contextual navigation. Atop of the main information you have a prominent search bar, and above it all you have a global navigation with logical taxonomy. This flexible IA gives you options to explore places virtually, but you can also explore opinions, photo blogs and ratings. In its best sense, TravelPost is a site about exploration, a voyage in itself.
I think this all makes perfectly sense. You probably came to the site because you wanted to look up a place. Your main interest is to look up information about a trip you are planning on, or to look up a couple of places you had in mind. At the same time you don’t mind being allured to look into other places, because the site applies a well balanced mixture of push and pull. Commercial offers live in harmony with folksonomy.
Before creating a website like TravelPost, you have to ask yourself a couple of simple questions. And you have to be not afraid of the answers. Take them as your road map for marketing, branding and usability. Being honest to yourself and to your client can actually give you an advantage when your site hits the market of competing websites.
What are the most important questions?
- Why do people come to travel-websites? To book a hotel right away, or to spend time traveling before the actual trip?
- Before they will book a room in a hotel or resort, what will convince them to choose this particular offering over a different one?
- Is pricing the only or most important issue for your visitors?
Pricing has a certain relevance if it comes to city traveling, weekend trips and short business trips. If you are traveling to a foreign country and you are staying there for more than one night, you want something decent, reliable, comfortable. And you care more about “what can I do in this neighbourhood” than about low rates.
Conclusion
Combining folksonomy with brand values is what makes the true art of creating conversation websites. The example of TravelPost shows how you can build a solid foundation for your branding platforms, by using best practice in design, user experience, and most of it all by not being afraid of putting people’s opionions and commercial offers on the same page.
Being unobtrusive and not pushy about your offers is paramount. People have a tendency to accept ads (text and links) more easily once they are allured by your site content. Microsoft’s Expedia, for an example, is considered a leader in travel websites. But if you compare the two examples, which one appears friendlier to you?
On Expedia, the most prominent element is “Plan your trip, book a flight and a hotel”. That might be of importance to me at some point, but I first want to find out about the place I’m visiting. I could look it up at Wikipedia, but given its straight forward name, I would expect Expedia to give me all information I want, providing a great travel experience in itself.
Resources
SimpleBits has helped redesigning TravelPost and creating a better user experience
Microsoft Expedia
TravelPost
To answer your questions, I think people “do research” for several reasons. First, to seek destinations that fit their interests/activities. This is not something that is contained, but rather a cumulative gathering of information from a variety of sources. Secondly, travel and related products are unique products. It is not something you physically take back with you, rather you purchase an experience. This experience is both something that gives satisfaction during the consumption phase, but also after in long-term memories and as artifacts to share socially. Because of its unique nature, many times you pay before you consume, there is often much risk in a travel purchase decision, often with little recourse. (A good parallel is reading movie reviews before going to the multiplex) I’ve found that the most satisfied customers are those that have realistic expectations and have done as much as they can to minimize uncertainty in their travel. That is where destination sites, Travel 2.0 sites, and the like become huge. Look at the growth and popularity of TripAdvisor.
The ability to aggregate, filter, and distribute information so easily now has put the power back into the hands of the consumer. No longer are we drones that listen to the corporate message. If that message conflicts with reality, the web now insures that the truth will come out. We as marketers must recognize this important shift and engage the community, play a role in the development of the folksonomy of our niche, and guide the conversation within the blogosphere. By doing this effectively, we can become credible resources for our products and at the same time respond to feedback to hopefully improve our offerings.
When it comes to choice, there are just so many factors. In the past, it was the power of the message - who has the biggest marketing budget. But that paradigm is on its last legs. I do think price will always be a factor, but as information becomes more available I think value will be a much better determinant of competitive advantage. And value is always a function of expectations and reality. And so it goes.
TourPro, September 19, 2006 6:53 PM