LONDON, November 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Major travel companies and airlines see significant uplift in conversion rates using Optimize

Many of the travel and airline industry's most well known brands have chosen Webtrends Optimize to improve online performance, Webtrends announced today.

In recent years, overall travel bookings have seen flat growth, while online bookings have been rapidly growing to become the main channel for flight and travel purchases. 37% of British adults said they conduct all of their holiday research online, and 26% make their booking online^[1]. Forrester predicts that leisure and unmanaged business travellers will spend $102 billion online, and will climb 41% to nearly $143 billion during the next five years.

Standing out in this crowded marketplace is not easy, so keeping visitors and customers engaged on a website, Facebook page or mobile site as they shop for their next holiday or business trip is vital to maximise revenue opportunities.

Among those to have implemented Webtrends Optimize - its A/B and multivariate testing and targeting solution - into their e-commerce strategy are Lastminute.com, Alitalia, Hotels4U.com and many more.

These major brands have turned to Webtrends Optimize technology and services to dramatically increase online conversions, and feedback includes comments such as:

• Alitalia:  "[Optimize] allowed us to increase the number of online bookings by 7.09% in three months."
• Hotels4U:  "This service is made even better with the positive results we have had from the tests we have run so far. Hotels4U experienced 5.52% uplift in bookings as a result of multivariate testing."
• Lastminute.com:  "We chose to work with Webtrends...to move our A/B and MVT testing and targeting strategy to the next level."

Optimize makes sophisticated testing simple and allows non-technical marketers to efficiently test content, segment visitors and target those segments individually to deliver more relevant content and significantly increase online conversions.

Mobile can also present significant percentage uplift. 39% of British respondents have a travel app installed on their mobile device and 14% of British respondents have reviewed a hotel, restaurant or attraction using their mobile device while on a trip.^[2] As a relatively new channel, best practice is still being identified, but Webtrends, as an expert in digital channels, works with brands to identify the best strategy through testing and targeting.

Hugh Kimber, Director EMEA & Australia- Optimize, Webtrends, comments: "The travel and airline industry are increasingly reliant on online sales and therefore their e-commerce channels need to deliver the best experience to customers to maximise conversions and revenue opportunities. However, to achieve this, brands need to understand what makes their customers buy. This is where A/B and multivariate testing, targeting and optimisation have proven to be invaluable. Webtrends Optimize enables brands to run tests in a live environment, empowering them to roll out only the most successful tests, in order to achieve the most optimised version of their site."

Click here to find out more about Webtrends Optimize.

1. http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/18-uk/151-online-travel-market

2. http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/18-uk/151-online-travel-market

About Webtrends Inc.
Webtrends power digital marketing success and are at the forefront of real-time digital marketing relevance and customer experience management through unified customer intelligence. Our industry-leading analytics and optimisation solutions, delivered across mobile, social and web enables marketers to optimize campaigns, maximize customer lifetime value and deliver highly relevant digital brand experiences in so much more than just real-time.

Webtrends dramatically improve digital marketing results for more than 3,500 global brands, including Alitalia, Lloyds Banking Group, Lastminute.com, Barclays, HSBC, ASOS, Orange, T-Mobile, Microsoft, BMW, Toyota, Play.com, AllSaints, The Telegraph, and many more.

Webtrends EMEA is headquartered in Staines, UK, with regional offices in Germany, France and Italy.

Web: http://www.webtrends.com
Twitter: @webtrends
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SOURCE Webtrends