Providing the easiest online booking and reservation experience will attract more customers and create a loyal following of your restaurant, accommodation, or transportation business. Businesses that want to have a good online presence have to stay on top of the game. The following are best practices you should follow:
Establish your brand
The image of your business establishes its presence in your customer’s mind. It will attract and keep them, and ultimately, affect your sales.
Take care of your business image
Customers rely on other customers’ experiences to help them make decisions, especially when it comes to making reservations for accommodation, transportation, and restaurant services. After all, what is more reliable than a real review detailing the experiences (both positive and negative) of someone who has actually tried it?
Some business review sites let entrepreneurs claim their profiles for free so that entrepreneurs can review and edit their business profile content and upload photos. It is therefore important to manage your business’ online identity on review sites such as Google My Business, TripAdvisor, Foursquare, and Yelp.
Set the right expectations
Make sure that you provide the quality you promise. After all, it is the customer’s experience of your product and service that would bring in reviews. Set your customers’ expectations by listing down the features of your product/service and describing what they should expect.
Remember that a picture is worth a thousand words. It should not be a misleading photo because if the actual product (i.e. hotel room, interior of the transportation vehicle, restaurant food, etc.) is a far cry from the preview photo, you could potentially lose your customer.
Make your booking customer-centric
Make your website, application, and booking system customer-centric. Customers should know how to use your booking system.
Establish partnerships
If you are starting out with your business, it is not a bad idea to consider partnering with online travel agencies (OTAs) like hotels.com, opentable.com, travelocity.com, priceline.com and metasearch engines (such as kayak.com, trivago.com, tripadvisor.com). The good thing about these third-party sites is that you can broaden your reach and make your brand known to a wider market. The downside to this is that these companies normally take a 15 – 30% commission for each successful sale booked through their platform.
Simplify booking process
It is important to cut down the information you request to what is most important and useful for your business and the actual conversion.
Translate your website
It is vital for your business to overcome the language barrier in order to cater to an international market. Gather information and use Google Analytics to determine where your customers are coming from, and which languages they speak. Don’t rely on translation software. If you have an employee who speaks another language, it is okay to have them translate the basics, but it is still important to invest in professional translation.
Provide convenient search filters
Optimizing search filters is very important as it helps your customers find what they need in the shortest possible time. A lot of users rely on search tools and filters to help them book and reserve online quickly.
Provide the most convenient payment methods
It is essential for businesses serving international markets to provide localized payment options. The most used payment option in one country might not be available or widely known in another. Paymentwall can help you provide the most preferred payment options for different countries and territories in the world. The following are some of the most popular methods:
Credit and Debit Cards
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, DinersClub, Discover, JCB, MisterCash, Hipercard.
Cash and Prepaid
Boleto, EasyPay, Konbini, MINT, Paygarden, PayPost, PaySafeCard, Paysbuy Cash, ToditoCash.
E-wallets
AliPay, Cherry Credits, Doku, MOLPoints, QIWI Wallet, VTC Pay, WebMoney, Yandex Money.
Bank Transfers
Giropay, iDEAL, POLi, Redcompra, SafetyPay, SEPA Direct Debit, SOFORT, TenPay, TrustPay.
Offer deals and discounts
In order to attract more customers, you can provide better, more attractive deals in your own website. Since you don’t have to share your earnings with direct bookings, you can offer cheaper deals than the ones found on meta search engines and online travel agencies. Most customers make decisions based on their budget or how much they can save up. But it is still important for them to find quality service that comes with a good price.
Attract new customers with loyalty programs
By offering loyalty programs, you can encourage more users to sign up via direct bookings from your website. Offer loyalty points and rewards exclusively to your patrons who don’t use a third-party firm to book your services each time they avail of your services.
Start corporate tie-ups through company discounts
Businesses spend lots of money on bookings and reservations for various purposes such as conferences and important business meetings with potential clients. It is therefore wise to offer corporate discounts for companies who keep booking for your services in order to have a bigger and constant revenue stream. It is also very important to provide high quality service for these companies in order to ensure that they will book with you again the next time they have a business trip or meeting.
Set up online promos and holiday specials
Offer promotions when a customer directly books your service online to increase revenues. Holiday specials are popular with customers who want to have the best deal for a lower cost than the standard. Businesses should make the most of these opportunities by setting up promotions during the holidays.
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