Digital Marketing and Measurement Model

Executive summary:

Having entered the market in June 2015, Essence Tours (ET) is a relatively new tour operator offering luxury tour packages to seniors with a difference. The business wants to launch a new campaign called “Never Ending Summer”, which aims to increase website conversions by 10% month on month for the next year, thereby further establishing ET in the luxury travel market.

Our team has used the Google Analytics (GA) platform to track and collect data from the company’s website, to interpret that data to create a digital marketing and measurement model (DMMM) and to make recommendations as to how the company can achieve its intended 10% monthly increase. To do this we analysed ET’s website traffic throughout February 2016, paying close attention to the following GA reports: the Traffic; Site content; Top conversion path; Goal URL and Location reports.

Our team established a DMMM (see right) which outlines our key objectives, goals, KPIs, targets and segments for ET. We applied this framework to our analysis of each of the GA reports and uncovered the following key insights:

• The majority of traffic comes directly to ET’s website but so much more can be done to increase traffic from other online sources (organic, paid and social).

• Site visitors stay longest on the site’s homepage but more can be done to create engaging content that draws and directs them to its ‘Tour pages’ and to encourage higher conversions.

• ET has a long conversion process so we recommend running retargeting and Facebook ad campaigns and creating a new sign up page to simplify this process and to encourage a faster, increased conversion rate.

• Conversions are highest on the site’s homepage rather than on specific tour pages so there’s a need to test the conversion process to encourage specific tour sign ups and to appeal to audiences worldwide.

• The majority of traffic comes from the UK, although visitors from other countries, such as the UAE, offer potential growth with higher than average conversion rates.

Attribution platform:At present, we believe there’s no need for ET to invest in an attribution platform. The rationale behind this comes down to the fact that the majority of traffic currently comes direct to the site, so there’s very little meaningful digital data that can be analysed using an attribution platform, and consequently there’s no financial gain to be made. We recommend reviewing this position in 6 months time, however, when and if traffic is successfully generated from other online sources. If the volume of that traffic is significant, we would suggest using a linear attribution model.

Traffic report Recommendations:

Test 1: Run an organic campaign targeting the silver market to include SEO and content marketing of the website so it appears in SERPS for keywords associated with the luxury senior travel market.

KPI: Number of sessions resulting from organic searches Target/metric: Number of sessions from organic searches to increase by 10% month on month

Test 2: Run a social campaign focussing on one region (Africa at present) to increase sessions from social and therefore subsequent conversions, and to encourage sharing of content on social media.

KPI: Number of sessions generated from social media Target/metric: All goal conversions from social traffic to increase by 10% month on month

Test 3: Run a PPC campaign targeting the silver surfer market to increase the number of sessions and conversions for a chosen tour region, with PPC landing page being the tour page.

KPI: Increase in the number of conversions to Africa (as it’s in season at the moment) from paid trafficTarget/metric: Africa enquiries as result of paid traffic to increase by 10% month on month over the duration of the 12-month campaign.

Insight: • Such a high amount of direct traffic suggests an offline stimulus. In other words, the

majority of visitors will have read or seen something offline before going directly to the website. So offline campaigns – including advertising and PR might well prove very successful for ET. On the flip side, the business attracts very little traffic from elsewhere. Research shows that the ‘silver surfer’ market is very active online (55+ year-olds account for 20% of online traffic 1), are looking for luxury solutions2 and are responsive to online campaigns3 so there’s a clear need for ET to focus on generating traffic from SEO, advertising and online referrals. We need to capitalise on this 55+ market and aim to increase overall sessions to the site.

• Most direct traffic goes directly to the homepage rather than responding to any individual campaign to a particular page.

References: 1 https://econsultancy.com/blog/62338-stats-time-to-reassess-and-redefine-silver-surfers/ 2 http://www.travelagentcentral.com/trends-research/booming-senior-market-a-travel-gold-mine-29175 3 http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1283323/brands-missing-silver-surfer-opportunity

Overview: • Total number sessions on site were 1,323, with traffic sourcessplit as follows:

• Direct: 74.4%• Referral: 21.4%• Organic: 3%• Social: 1%

• The average number of pages visited per session was 4; the average session duration was 6 minutes and 21 seconds with a bounce rate of 43.61%.

• Most referral traffic is coming from the analytics themselves (70% of it to be precise) and should therefore be discounted for the purposes of evaluation.

• Only 1% came from social which is entirely Google+. Again, much more could be done here.

Key data point: The vast majority of real traffic is direct, accounting for 74.4% of sessions and 79.8% of all goal completions.

Site content report Recommendations:

Test 1: To encourage visitors to move away from the homepage and to look at the individual tour pages, we suggest making the tour page click through boxes more enticing, perhaps with more details about the tours themselves or by making the call-to-action buttons more prominent, unambiguous and brighter in colour. We would suggest A/B testing two variations of the new homepage using Google Analytics. After four weeks, ET should roll out the version which has had the highest click through rate. More information about this can be found here.

KPI: Number of sessions resulting from organic searches Target/metric: Number of sessions from organic searches to increase by 10% month on month

Test 2: To reduce the high bounce and exit rates, we suggest optimising the homepage to make it more relevant to visitors’ searches; making sure that any links ET is posting externally via its owned and paid platforms are relevant to the pages visitors land on; and using more appropriate imagery and text to introduce each tour, so that users know exactly what they are looking at.

KPI: % of bounce and exit rates from the homepage Target/metric: a decrease in exit and bounce rates by 10% month on month.

Test 3: Publishing more engaging content on the tour pages might also pay off. For example, video, route maps, hotel and transport information, customer reviews, information about activities on offer or images of the actual destinations to tell a more compelling brand story. This is likely to increase goal conversions throughout the site. More information about this can be found here.

KPI: The number of completed forms to request more detailsTarget: A 10% increase in completed forms month on month.

Overview:• In February there were a total of 5,449 page views, of which 3,739 were unique.

• The average time spent on a page was 1 minute and 52 seconds, while the average bounce rate was 43.61% and the average exit rate was 24.28%.

Data observation: • Visitors spent the longest time on the homepage.

• Those landing on the page stayed there for 6 minutes and 24 seconds, which was higher than the average session duration across the entire site.

• The percentage of visitors leaving the site at this page (exit %) was 35.75% and the bounce rate was also high at 39.20%.

Insight:• The length of time visitors spent on the homepage suggests that they weren't able to

find what they were looking for anywhere near quickly enough. It could be that the content published there isn't working hard enough to direct people through to ET’s tour pages.

• The high bounce rate could also mean that the off-site information that caused people to click through to the site doesn't match what they find on the landing page.

• Visitors might also be leaving the site here if there are design or usability issues, if the content isn't engaging enough or if they've found the information they need on that page or had no need or interest in going to other pages.

• All in all, a lack of engaging content seems to be the most logical reason.

• More detail about website usability can be found in this article.

Top conversion path Recommendations:

Test 1/Retargeting/remarketing: Run a retargeting campaign for the Never Ending Summer promotion for 4 weeks using page specific cookies that follow and track customers that visited the campaign website. This will allow ET to serve them bespoke ads based on their specific interests (for example, ads featuring Africa content to those who viewed the Africa tour page). We also suggest implementing a Facebook retargeting, campaign and using platforms such as Adroll.

KPI: percentage conversion in less than 5 daysTarget/metric: percentage conversion in less than 5 days to increase from 54% to 64% as verified by Google Analytics

Test 2 (Facebook’s Custom Audience): We suggest running a test using Facebook’s Custom Audience tool. By cross referencing all our emailing lists and database with Facebook, we can target our leads with immersive creatives that are directly relevant to the company’s tour destinations.

KPI: Numbers of conversions to Never Ending Summer Target/metric: A10% increase in conversions for the Never Ending Summer campaign as verified by Google Analytics

Test 3 (Tell a friend conversions): We recommend encouraging or asking people to add their own email addresses when sending or sharing a destination suggestion to a friend or their network.

KPI: Conversion to tell a friend campaign Target/metric: A 10% increase in conversions as verified by Google Analytics

Insight: • The number of same-day conversions suggests that a segment of users research and make up their minds offline. And yet over half have a longer conversion cycle, which means they are active online potentially researching for other travel options and recommendations on websites, blogs, social media and other communities. Research into our target market shows that:

• 92% of UK internet savvy over 50’s use Facebook• Those over 55 are more likely to book their entire trip online• The direct conversion metric for referrals was 2.50 (much higher than direct

alone)•Lead generation has a much faster conversion rate. ET should capitalise on this trend to further its relationship with those who expressed an interest in the company and in travelling by subscribing to its newsletter, entering a competition or referring a friend.•The company should also try to align its sign up process by making the two forms identical and allowing customers to sign up for both a newsletter and request information about a particular destination. References: 1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/goodlife/11751851/Facebook-is-the-most-popular-social-network-for-the-over-50s.html,2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2162537/Travel-trends-Over-55s-likely-globetrot-young-generation-theyll-book-online.html,

Overview:• Of the 52 conversions for Never Ending Summer campaign, over half happen over

the course of 1 day or more, with a high concentration (36.5%) happening between 12 and 30 days. In addition, the majority of conversions (59.5%) occur after 2 to 5 sessions.

• Of the 168 lead generation conversions, 80% happen within 3 sessions, while 72% converted on the same day.

Key data point: 46% of the Never Ending Summer campaign conversions happen between 5 to 30 days and with an average of 19 sessions. Lead generation conversions have a much shorter sales funnel, converting on the same day.

Goal URL report Recommendations:

Test 1: When visitors to the site make a purchase as a guest, we believe the confirmation page needs to work harder to encourage users to create a new account. In addition, once someone submits a contact form, the thank you page that appears should encourage them to sign up to the mailing list. KPI : Number of completions increased as a direct result of enhanced form design and user experience Target/metric: Sign ups and account creations increased by 10% month on month throughout the campaign

Test 2: Moving the location and placement of all sign up buttons from individual pages to the homepage and running an A/B test on goal completions might well be beneficial.

KPI : Number of completions as a result of changed sign up button locationTarget/metric: All goal conversions from changed button location to increase by 10% month on month

Test 3: Creating a destination video for the Africa tours page and running an A/B test on it, while using YouTube analytics to monitor the number of views on each version is recommended.

KPI : The number of sign ups with and without videoTarget/metric: Engagement rates of at least 10% month on month

Insight: • The goal completions on the individual destination pages were noticeably lower

which suggests people were stopping their search at the homepage and not following through to the specific tours on offer. We need to direct traffic to the tour pages more effectively by making the calls to action more engaging.

References:1. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/what-converting-websites-do/2. http://www.pangeanic.com/knowledge_center/the-importance-of-having-a-good-translation-for-an-arabic-website/3. http://marketingland.com/every-marketer-leverage-retargeting-96352

Overview:• There were a total of 233 goal completions during the month of February with

the highest number coming from the ‘thank you sign up’ and the ‘thank you competition buttons on the homepage.

• 12.45% of the total number of goal completions took place on a Monday, making the start of the week the most popular time and day to search. 0% of the goal completions occurred on a Friday or Saturday, which is something to consider when planning any AdWord or retargeting campaigns.

• Of the highest goal completion, the ‘thank you sign up’, 44.86% completed their goal using a mobile device compared with19.84% who used a desktop to complete the same goal.

• The most visits after those from the UK are from the German part of Switzerland and the UAE with high bounce rates (40.82%, and 48.39% respectively).

Key data point: Sign ups on the tour page are considerably lower than the generic homepage sign up, with the latter receiving 31.33% of all completions versus 8.15% for Africa, 6.87% for Baltic, 6.01% for Oz and 4.29% for Bespoke tours.

Location report Recommendations:

Test 1: First and foremost, we’d like to establish whether UAE users are online as the data suggests.

KPI : Number of conversions from geo-targeted posts within UAETarget/metric: Increase conversions for the Never ending Summer Campaign by 10% month on month throughout the campaign

Test 2: We believe the need to create a bespoke brochure, translated into Arabic to generate and capture more leads and to raise awareness of the ET brand within the UAE, should be explored. KPI : Number of brochures downloaded Target/metric: An increase in the number of downloads of the UAE brochure by 10% month on month

Test 3: We’d also suggest running a social media campaign with geo-targeting to UAE countries and at people interested in travelling there.

KPI : Link-click ads direct to website and engagement Target/metric: Engagement rates of at least 2% on all posts with CTR at minimum of 10% month on month.

Insight:• The bounce rate in the UAE is about average in comparison to other locations.

• The average session duration is above average at 06:26.

• The UAE shows a promising conversion rate on holidays to Africa at 3.23% in comparison to other locations.

• Research shows the UAE market spends considerably on leisure travel.

References:1. http://www.thenational.ae/business/personal-finance/travel-is-the-new-rolex-for-uae-residents

Overview:• The main country that is providing traffic to the site is the United Kingdom at over

70%, with England accounting for the vast majority of the UK’s traffic at 90%.

• When drilling down into the England data further, we can see that nearly half of the traffic comes from London.

• The UAE offers a significant potential for growth with the region being the third highest traffic source based on location.

Data observation: • The main focus for users searching for holidays in Dubai are looking at holidays to

Africa.