User Experience Report on Travel Websites

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:00:00 GMT

Web-based usability testing tool Usabilla published an interesting report today on the user experience and usability of websites within the travel industry.

Participants who tested the hotel and comparison websites were asked questions about what they liked best and least on each company’s homepage, while participants who tested the airline website home pages were asked to locate where they would click to print their boarding pass and were timed to see how long they took.Airline sites tested include American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and travel sites inclde Sharaton, W Hotels, Priceline, and Travelocity among others. 800 people participated in the study.

“The travel sector occupies a very recognizable corner on the Internet, and there are a myriad of ways to book an airplane ticket or accommodation,” said Paul Veugen, CEO and founder of Usabilla. “Given the intrinsic customer-centric attitude of the travel sector, these companies strive to deliver a pleasurable online customer experience by embracing the importance of usability and user experience, which is why we decided to test and highlight them.”

So did the travel websites in focus live up to the high expectations?

Among airlines, The Delta Airlines homepage scored highest in terms of accuracy (67%) of participants locating the boarding pass, and Delta also scored best in terms of the time (15.3 seconds) it took to find it.

Those testing hotel sites revealed some interesting information as well. Those sites with a “clear header, ease of navigation and beautiful visual design” all stood out in a positive way. Sites with “scattered testimonials, social media buttons, buttons that don’t fit with the navigational structure” received negative feedback.

Perhaps most surprising was the responses related to the Facebook ‘Like’ buttons on these travel websites. The reaction of participants to the buttons was overwhelmingly negative across all travel sector tests according to Usabilla. Participants "strongly disliked" the buttons and stated they “really hate the pushy appearance of a company asking for an endorsement” or “begging” a user to ‘Like’ their company or brand without any benefit to the user.

The New Rules of Website Design, Usability and Revenue

Linc Wonham — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:30:00 GMT

Your website can be your business’ greatest asset or its biggest liability, depending on how well you understand the relationship between visual aesthetics, usability and sales. Digital marketing leader OneUpWeb has released a new study that breaks down the keys to success in today’s ultra-competitive environment.

The white paper, Revolutionizing Website Design: The New Rules of Usability, reveals the new standards in website form and function and shows how they directly affect sales. To identify the formula for building balanced websites that deliver maximum returns, OneUpWeb evaluated 100 sites across four different industries: e-commerce, business-to-business, travel and hospitality, and higher education.

Among the findings on which they based the report were the following:
•    E-commerce websites had a 45-percent task failure rate
•    Participants in the study were “skeptical” of companies whose sites lacked professional-quality design, regardless of the ability to navigate those sites
•    Travel and hospitality sites received the lowest user-experience ratings of the four industries

Follow the above link to download the free report and determine if your design is driving customers to or away from your business.

'Net Features : usability report

User Experience Report on Travel Websites

The New Rules of Website Design, Usability and Revenue