uk summer travel insights
TRANSCRIPT
Microsoft Confidential
Travel allows us to recharge from our everyday busy lives.
For some of us it’s also an opportunity to test our own understandings and be wonderfully curious.
Online travel planning is a global trend
Source: visual.ly, September 2013.
8 in 10Travellers plan theirtrips online
Online travel sales by region:
Digital travel sales is a growing trendMintel1 forecasts steady year-on-year growth for UK holiday sales over the next 5 years
1. Source: Mintel Annual UK Holiday Review 2014, as reported by Travel Weekly: http://bit.ly/1f8fkFG
New competitors like Kayak, Skyscanner, and Momondo are entering the holiday package market.
Overseas market is growing steadily with a predicted 41 million overseas holidays by 2018, up from 36 million in 20131.
Trend towards spending more on holidays
eMarketer forecasts digital travel sales to grow 12.3% in 20141
Sources: 1 http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Travel-Sales-Mature-Worldwide/10105771
2 Mintel Annual UK Holiday Review 2014, as reported by Travel Weekly: http://bit.ly/1f8fkFG
Travellers are spending more on individual holidays and are booking multiple holidays.2
47% spent £1,000 and 19% spent £2,000 on their last packaged holiday.2
It’s about that time. Summer travel clicks ramp up strongly from May
Source: Internal analysis based on performance of paid clicks on top Travel queries across the Yahoo Bing Network in the UK
Clicks volume peak by up to 50% during July and August
Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-1360%
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
140%
150%
160%
Travel - All Car hire Cruises Flights Holidays / Travel Agents Lodging
Click volume for travel trending on the Yahoo Bing NetworkClick volume relative to March 2013, UK
Interest in city break destinations is on the rise
5 out of the top 10* flight searches on Yahoo Bing Network are city break destinations. (February 2014, UK)
* Source: Internal analysis based on search volume and destination of top 50 flight queries with a specified destination on Yahoo and Bing UK sites. Note: Domestic mainland flights excluded
#1 New York
#4 Malaga
#5 Amsterdam
#7 Dublin
#9 Barcelona2 of 3 new entries in 2014 are city break destinations
Bing Ads mobileAlmost 9 in 10 research and plan their holidays on their mobile
Source: http://news.weve.com/news/resources/infographic-the-growing-role-of-mobile-in-booking-holidays/. Weve survey of 1,550 UK smartphone owners, Nov 2013.
44% compare prices
and holiday packages
45% search flights and hotels on their mobile
phone
28% book flights
33% book hotels
Source: http://news.weve.com/news/resources/infographic-the-growing-role-of-mobile-in-booking-holidays/. Weve survey of 1,550 UK smartphone owners, Nov 2013.
Almost 9 in 10 people now research and plan holidays on their mobile
Mobile search optimisation is key
62% use search engines to inspire their
holiday plans
3 out of 10 travel searches come from mobile
Source: Internal analysis based on performance of top Travel queries across the Yahoo Bing Network in the UK
Share of searches by device in Travel on the Yahoo Bing NetworkFebruary 2014, UK
Travel - All Lodging Holidays / Travel Agents
Cruises Flights Car hire0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
20%
28%
14%12% 10% 10%
8%
7%
10%9%
8%6%
Tablet
Smartphone
Engagement with travel ads on mobile ads equals or exceeds desktop
Smartphone Cost Per Clicks (CPC) are 15% lower than desktop in the travel sector
Travel - All Lodging Holidays / Travel Agents
Cruises Flights Car hire0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
Desktop Smartphone Tablet
Click thru rates (CTR) indexed for February 2014, UK Travel Queries
Source: Internal analysis based on performance of top Travel queries across the Yahoo Bing Network in the UK
Source:1. xAd/Telemetrics Mobile Path to Purchase Study (Apr 2013) – UK edition
Most important mobile features for travel (top rank)
Optimized mobile site Good online reviews Being listed in top results Access to maps/driving directions
Smartphone
Tablet
40% 36
%
19%
28%
10%
11% 10
% 7%
Optimised mobile sites a key priority for Travel searchers
Ad extensions connect you to your travel customers, with strong performance
Location Extensions
Sitelink Extensions
Call Extensions Merchant Ratings
Ad extensions can also be combined to drive further engagement
• Increase click-through rate (CTR) and conversions.
• Provide direct access to relevant site content and a richer experiences
• Shorten the conversion funnel and improve profitability.
Source: Microsoft internal data, May 2013. Performance study based upon beta testing data on Bing O&O only and is not a guarantee of performance. Increase in clicks is dependent upon a seasonality and advertiser vehicle.
Sitelink Extensions are driving significant click-through rate uplift
Immediate actions in real-time and on-the-go…
22%Higher click-through rates for UK travel advertisers
60%of clicks from UK travel queries come from ads with Sitelink Extensions
Combining extensions can results in improved click-through rates
20%
Text Ads with
Sitelinks
Text Ads with
Sitelinks &
Location Extension
s
7%
Text Ads
Source: Internal Microsoft Analysis. 1 Oct - 20-Nov, 2013 Bing and Yahoo O&O, UK PC and tablet only. Data represents the average mainline CTR performance for all advertisers adopting the ad extension(s).
• Average CTR of a text ad with Ad Extensions is higher than that of a standard text ad without extensions.
• Average CTR is higher when advertisers leverage a combination of Ad extensions.
14%
Airlines and flights:
Top word combos
PC Mobile Tablet
Title Description
City Official/Official Site
Tickets Official/Official Site
City Find
Travel Flights
Tickets Find
Title Description
Find Today
Find City
Book Flights
Flights Airlines
City Lowest
Title Description
Deals Travel
Deals Find
City Travel
Travel Flights
Fares Air
Key insights
- The word “find” in the ad description ranks high when used with almost any travel-related words in the ad title, from “airfares” to “[city name]” to “deals”.
- PC users are much more interested in ads that include “official site” than either mobile or tablet users, which is indicative of the different intent depending on device. PC users have a bigger screen and are more willing to navigate a large, official site. Mobile users go directly to action, clicking on ads that include “book” and “flights”.
Source: Internal analysis based on quality of ads that served on top travel queries between Jun-Jul 2013 in the UK
Here’s how to read a heat map
Our study results show that a travel ad with “airlines” in the title and “deals” in the description has high Ad Quality.
Ad description
Ad t
itle
Great Good Insufficient dataPoor
Air Airfares
Airline Brand
Airlines
Book
Call to Action
City Deals
Destinations
Discount
Fares Find Flights
Fly
Guaranteed
Huge/Big
Lowest
Nonstop
Now
Offers
Official Site
Online
Prices
Save Tickets
Today
Trademark
Travel
Website
Your
Air
Airfares
Airline Brand
Airlines
Area
Book
Call to Action
City
Deals
Discount
Fares
Find
Flights
Fly
Lowest
Nonstop
Official Site
Online
Save
Tickets
Trademark
Travel
Website
Our study results show that a travel ad with “airlines” in the title and “deals” in the description has high Ad Quality.
Flights:Ad performance heat map
Ad description
Ad t
itle
Source: Internal analysis based on quality of ads that served on top travel queries between Jun-Jul 2013 in the UK
Very Good Good Insufficient dataAverage-PoorTop combination
Lodging:Ad performance heat map
Ad description
Ad t
itle
Very Good Good Insufficient dataAverage-PoorTop combination
Source: Internal analysis based on quality of ads that served on top travel queries between Jun-Jul 2013 in the UK
Co
py
rig
ht
/ T
rad
em
ark
sig
n
Holidays:Ad performance heat map
Ad description
Ad t
itle
Source: Internal analysis based on quality of ads that served on top travel queries between Jun-Jul 2013 in the UK
Co
py
rig
ht
/ T
rad
em
ark
sig
n
Very Good Good Insufficient dataAverage-PoorTop combination
© 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.