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Sojern Uncovers the Modern Travelers Paths to Purchase SOJERN 2 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEEngaging with travelers as they plan and book their travel is an increasingly uphill challengeas todays modern consumers jump across websites, devices, and verticals at a rapid clip. At Sojern, weve spent over a decade understanding travelers and know what makes them tick. We have unique insights into their travel behavior and we specialize in using predictive data science and travel data to help our clients find and engage consumers before, during, and after their tripsacross all their devices. And, thanks to our rich data science and industry-leading knowledge of the travel industry, Sojern delivers world-class marketing solutions across display, search, Facebook, video, and more to build brand awareness and deliver more direct demand to our clients. In this report we offer a look at eight paths to purchase spanning verticals, regions, and trip motivations. What emerges is a greater understanding of just how unique each traveler and trip isand the importance of having the insights and marketing acumen to speak to travelers as individuals. This path to purchase report, instead of focusing on website visits, looks at travel touchpoints: every time a traveler hits a new page onlinewhether on mobile or desktopincluding searches, bookings, IP hits, as well as homepage visits. This provides a clearer picture of the path to purchase as someone may visit a website only once, but perform multiple searches once there. The travelers we see in this project are real and so are their actions. Their names, however, are pseudonyms as Sojerns data is anonymized. This report does not purport to offer the average experience of the modern travelerinstead, it works to dismiss the myth that there is an average traveler. It embraces complexity, offers deep insights into the path to purchase, and demonstrates the need for data-driven marketing at a personal level to engage travel consumers and deliver meaningful results for the travel industry. IntroductionTable of ContentsIntroduction 2Path One: “Eric” An Anonymous Mobile-First, Family Vacation Planner 4“Erics” Path to Purchase 5Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 7Path Two: “Tony” An Anonymous Skier Planning a Couples Getaway 8“Tonys” Path to Purchase 9Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 11Path Three: “Isabel” An Anonymous Cruise Traveler Taking a Caribbean Vacation 12“Isabels” Path to Purchase 13Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 14Path Four: “Paul” An Anonymous Spring Break Road Tripper 16“Pauls” Path to Purchase 17Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 19Path Five: “Leslie” An Anonymous European Boutique Hotel Shopper 20“Leslies” Path to Purchase 21Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 23Path Six: “Michael” An Anonymous International Bleisure Traveler 24“Michaels” Path to Purchase 25Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 26Path Seven: “Felicia” An Anonymous Asian Luxury Traveler 28“Felicias” Path to Purchase 29Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 31Path Eight: Alexandra” An Anonymous Mexican Amusement Park Adventurer 32“Alexandras” Path to Purchase 33Turn Insights into Marketing Actions 35Conclusion 36Endnotes 37Methodology 38UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASE SOJERN 3 SOJERN 4 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEWho is “Eric”? “ERIC”: A FAMILY VACATION PLANNERIn North America, amusement parks welcome 375 million guests annually.1 But planning an amusement park vacation is definitely no walk in the park, as it can involve flight, hotel, car rental, and ensuring the whole family can get time away from work and school to hit the coasters. The path to purchase for an amusement park vacation is, therefore, complex. But because these travelers often spend a great deal of time and money across a number of travel and non-travel verticals as they plan and enjoy their amusement park adventure, they are a prized but elusive audience for marketers around the world.Our first path to purchase sees “Eric,” a Florida residents who plans an amusement park adventure for his family of four, almost entirely on his mobile phone and around his kids holiday schedule. Travels frequently Heavy mobile user Economy business traveler Luxury leisure travelerHow does “Eric” plan travel? Primary travel origin is Port Richey, Florida Books travel for a partner and 2 kids Amusement park loyalty member Shops at retail outlets“Eric” An Anonymous Mobile-First, Family Vacation Planner PATH 1 SOJERN 5 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEDreaming Planning BookingOct 13Searches and books a car from airport for Nov 6 tripSep 6Oct 1Searches for flights from NYC to Orlando for six people for Nov 6 Sept 1 Converts on mobile for a one-day trip to Amusement Park A for Sept 4 Aug 6Four days later, converts for Nov 6 trip on desktopAug 2 Searches for Amusement Park A on mobile for seven-day trip on Nov 6Jul 23Converts for Amusement Park B on mobileJul 9Two months after planning starts, books different Christmas trip with Amusement Park A on mobileJun 13Jul 9 On mobile, compares Amusement Park As Hotel with upper-upscale and luxury hotel brandsMay 2930Continues with 14x mobile searches on Amusement Park Bs homepage June 13Hits Amusement Park As homepage on mobile & selects travel date of July 22 May 26 One month later, narrows travel dates with 10x mobile searchesApr 25 Hits Amusement Park A homepage four times on mobile“ERIC”: A FAMILY VACATION PLANNER“Erics” Path to Purchase“Eric” plans his perfect family amusement park vacation from dreaming through planning to booking. SOJERN 6 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEBooked Lead Time by Vertical“Erics” Path to Purchase “Erics” path to purchase starts a full five months before his trip, as he bounces across verticals and websites. Because “Eric” is loyal to Amusement Park A, we see “Eric” book four trips across his five plus months. Whats interesting is each trip has radically different lead timesdemonstrating the importance of knowing your traveler and their behavior to most effectively reach them at the right time. As he moves from dreaming to searching, it takes him nearly a full month to narrow down his travel dates. He then hesitates to pull the trigger for a summer vacation and changes his dates to a Christmas tripthe next window where all the kids are out of school. Once he settles on his date and location, he books in quick succession. Whats also interesting to note is that as soon as he returns from his trip, he immediately starts dreaming of his next tripindicating the path to purchase never truly ends.“ERIC”: A FAMILY VACATION PLANNERConversion Lead Time 167 0 93 3 DaysDaysDaysDaysTrip 1 Trip 2 Trip 3 Trip 4451Touchpoints Across 5+ Months241 113 402813AmusementParkHotel Air Brand & MiscCar SOJERN 7 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASETurn Insights into Marketing Actions“Erics” path to purchase highlights the importance of building brand awareness and engagement early on so that you can reach travelers before, during, and after their trip. We also see with “Eric” that travelers start dreaming of their next trip as soon as they return and its the perfect time to retarget them to build loyalty with your brand. Whats more, “Eric” demonstrates the importance of knowing the particular motivation and behavior of individual travelers, rather than aiming for the average. For example, “Eric” travels frequently for both business and leisure, but depending on his motivation, he has varying price points for hotels: economy for business and luxury for leisure. If you know the motivation of your travelers, you can better target them with ads for the kind of hotel and amenities they are likely to book.Additionally, “Eric” does the majority of his travel planning and booking on his mobile phone: he has 445 mobile touchpoints and three mobile bookings, and only 6 desktop touchpoints and one desktop booking. While our work with Google continually shows mobile searching as popular, mobile bookings arent performed in the same numbers.2However, travelers like “Eric” are huge smartphone searchers and planners, moving across devices in their path to purchaseand in this case, booking almost exclusively on his mobile. Knowing “Erics” travel planning behaviors and motivations are only done through big data, but its the data science combined with industry expertise that allow travel brands to understand and engage with him as he plans and books his ultimate family vacation.“ERIC”: A FAMILY VACATION PLANNERMobile Desktop99% 1%Device Usage for Travel Planning and Booking“TONY”: A SKI TRIP PLANNER“Tony” An Anonymous Skier Planning a Couples GetawayStates like Colorado derive a significant portion of their tourism and economic growth from their reputation as ski havens.3The states 2015-16 ski season, for example, saw an all time high of 13 million travelers, with 2016-2017 looking to break records yet again. Because of the wealth of skiersboth in terms of their number and their spending powerthere is stiff competition in the travel industry to find and convert skiers to a state, city, or resort. Lets look at a skier on such a path and offer insights as to how you can think more strategically about your marketing to ensure the right travel consumers rush to you.Inspired by a business trip, “Tonys” fear of missing out brings him across competitors, and websites to plan his seasonal vacation.SOJERN 8 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEWho is “Tony”? How does “Tony” plan travel? Primary travel origin is New York Books for a couple Travels domestically for business International leisure traveler Ski searcher Upper-upscale hotel traveler Frequent traveler Desktop searcherPATH 2 SOJERN 9 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEDreaming Planning BookingJan 1223 Tony flies into Denver, bringing his device and visits Vail two days later. While in Vail visits Ski Resort As homepageJan 23 While in-destination, he searches for his flight back to New York City on Jan 25Feb 10 While searching for a business trip, he searches for flights to Vail in MarchNov 17Dec 9Narrows down dates as well as origin and destination airports for January alongside visits to Ski Resort As siteDec 10Conducts five flight searches to Aspen in March alongside Ski Resort A. Books a trip to Denver for Jan 12 for two shortly afterOct 31Compares flights on OTA to Denver and Vail for a two-week trip in JanuaryNov 69Visits Ski Resort As homepageOct 27 Four days after returning from Denver, hits Ski Resort As homepage twiceOct 6 While searching for a business trip to Denver, “Tony” is inspired to look for flights to Vail“TONY”: A SKI TRIP PLANNER“Tonys” Path to Purchase“Tony” traverses devices and destinations to plan a couples ski getaway from dreaming through planning to booking and into in-destination searching. SOJERN 10 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASESearches Conducted by Phase in Planning Funnel Dreaming Searching Booking255Touchpoints Over 4+ Months127 52292114Air Ski BrandHotel CarBrand & Misc“Tonys” Path to Purchase Inspiration for travel can strike at any time. As “Tonys” path illustrateshis business travel to the state seems to get him dreaming about a ski getaway. After he visits Denver, hes fired up about the trip and his researching begins in earnest. But, like many travelers, hes uncertain about his final destination. As Henry Harteveldt notes, 1 in 5 travelers are destination agnostic when they begin their searching.4“Tony” has an extended planning phase and narrows down his destination and dates over the course of a month. But he also has his anchora brand page for resorts that made such an impression that he continues to visit it alongside all his other planning. And even after hes completed his ski getaway, hes itching for more: as soon as he returns from his trip, hes looking to come back. “TONY”: A SKI TRIP PLANNER28%10%62% SOJERN 11 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASETurn Insights into Marketing Actions“TONY”: A SKI TRIP PLANNER“Tony” spends much of his path to purchase in the planning phase narrowing down destinations, time frames, hotels, flights, and more. His path certainly illuminates much of the growing complexity in travel planning thats become the norm. Cutting through all that noise can be a serious challenge for travel marketers. For engaging with travelers like “Tony,” native ads can offer a successful strategy. Theyre highly effective for nurturing brand awareness and engagementand they have an 18% higher lift for purchase intent responses than traditional banner ads.5By seamlessly integrating quality content and information on websites that “Tony” visits, native ads offer value to travelers in a non-intrusive manner. “Tony,” then, is reminded of your brand, destination, or offering as he visits sites unrelated to his travel searching, keeping you top-of-mind.“Tony” also illustrates the importance of having access to real-time data about your travelers. Knowing he is on his mobile device while traveling makes him an attractive prospect for tailored offers and relevant local marketing experiences related to skiing, local activities, dining, shopping, hotel/resort upgrades, and more. Use a combination of geofencing and proximity targeting with rich mobile ads to reach people near you, like “Tony”presenting them with relevant local offers while theyre in-destination and looking to buy. Flight Search Ski Site Misc50% 15%35%Type of In-Destination Touchpoints“ISABEL”: AN ANONYMOUS CRUISE TRAVELER“Isabel” An Anonymous Cruise Traveler Taking a Caribbean VacationCruise vacations offer a unique vacation experiencebeautiful ocean views, new destinations every few days, and allinclusive offerings. With over 20 million annual passengers having an average household income of $109,000its no wonder the Cruise industry is booming.6Capturing the hearts, minds, and dollars of potential Cruiser Travelers requires knowing when theyre dreaming and planning their next getaway and ensuring your beautiful vistas and abundant amenities are front and center as they shop. Lets look at one travel consumer in order to understand how shes inspired to plan and book her cruise vacation.“Isabel” dreams of a cruise to anywhere in the world, stocks up on vacation supplies, and books her dream Caribbean cruise. Marketers better be ready to act quickly though“Isabel” makes her decision and books in just one day! SOJERN 12 UNCOVERING THE MODERN TRAVELERS PATHS TO PURCHASEWho is “Isabel”?How does “Isabel” plan travel? Primary travel origin is near Syracuse, NY Books travel for a partner and 2 children Uses international passport Visits retail sites S
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