Newsletter : Winter 2010
Brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz
In this winter newsletter:
Editorial
by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Guide
How much do you rely on domestic tourism? Do you target this market or does it just 'happen'? With annual domestic tourism worth $12 billion verses international tourism at $9 billion, this really is a piece of the action you need to tap into.
Recently the Ministry of Tourism provided Domestic Tourism Segmentation workshops around the country and these were quite enlightening in terms of the way New Zealanders can be broken into 8 market segments. While it's next to impossible to pigeon-hole all individual New Zealanders into a specific category, this research is likely to enable you to at least eliminate some segments and concentrate on getting your marketing directed at the remaining ones.
For our part, 50% of our web site traffic is domestic (between 120,000 and 160,000 people each month) and we attract a wide range of New Zealanders from all of these market segments. Ultimately this is good for our tourism clients as we represent the complete tourism industry in terms of categories i.e. Backpack and Budget or Adventure Tours appeal to the domestic 'Searching' segment (mainly 15 to 24 year olds looking for freedom and good times) while Exclusive Luxury Accommodation or Tours appeal to the domestic 'Rewarding' segment (mainly 50 to 64 year olds looking to reward themselves for working hard).
Check out the Domestic Tourism Segments and have a go at figuring out which are your segments and what you currently do to market to them and what you could do differently – its well worth spending time on.
Domestic Tourism Segments
The domestic market is broken into 8 segments:
Being There | 22% |
Searching | 13% |
Rewarding | 13% |
Immersing | 13% |
Making Do | 12% |
Embracing Life | 11% |
Creating | 8% |
Aiming High | 8% |
Check out the Domestic Tourism Segments within our tourism Business Centre for much more detail. Look at the Info–Graphic Market Segments Summary Report first as it's a great overview.
Free Stuff
New Zealand Tourism Guide has a variety of free stuff that maybe useful for you to add to your listing or to your own web site – so have a look and take advantage of them. Some are only able to be used by our clients but others are free to use for everyone.
- New Zealand Maps
- Access: Anyone
- Details: Select a New Zealand interactive map that you can use on your web site. Each map covers New Zealand Information, Accommodation, Attractions, Tours or Transport. Great if you want to provide useful information on your site for visitors e.g. if you are an accommodation provider, grab the attractions map.
- How To: Have a look at the New Zealand Maps page and select the map you want. Copy the code or give it to your web designer to sort out.
- Business Centre
- Access: Anyone
- Details: An excellent resource for those in the tourism industry or those who are simply interested in this area.
- How To: View our Business Centre and have a look around.
- BookIt
- Access: Gold Listing and Gold Feature clients
- Details: Over 30% of our clients now have this direct booking feature as it's a great way to capture travellers who are looking to book immediately. BookIt also links into many other booking systems. Free setup with a 12% commission only payable on confirmed bookings.
- How To: Either email us for more info (especially if you want to check if BookIt hooks up with a booking system you already have). Alternatively register for BookIt now. After registration allow a few days and we'll let you know once it's live on our site.
- Yellow Vouchers
- Access: Gold Listing and Gold Feature clients
- Details: Add a voucher to your listing (people love these things). You can have any sort of offer you want to. It could be an extra night, 2 for 1, free item, discount of some kind etc. You place your own terms and conditions plus it's also displayed on the Yellow Vouchers site at no cost.
- How To: Simply email us for more info and we'll send you the details. It's quick and easy so we can get you up and running in no time.
- Skype
- Access: Gold Listing and Gold Feature clients
- Details: Add a Skype address to your listing contact details. With Skype being used in increasing numbers, it's definitely worth adding.
- How To: Simply email web with your Skype username and once loaded it will show the traveller if you are online or not.
- Google Location Map
- Access: Gold Listing and Gold Feature clients
- Details: Make sure you have your location included in your contact detail on your listing. This will enable you to be located on the listing map as well as the region map.
- How To: Check your listing by visiting New Zealand Tourism Guide and email web with your location if it isn't recorded in your listing contact details
New Zealand Tourism Industry Awards
They're back – but with a difference. Titled "Innovating for Success", the Tourism Awards have had a comprehensive review resulting in the Awards been simplified in terms of the amount of information and time needed to enter.
Tourism operators are invited to test their innovation and creativity with entries open now. Be quick though as the 14th July at 5pm is closing time.
For more information and entry forms visit www.tourismawards.co.nz (several categories are available so there's bound to one that suits you).
Split Testing Your Web Site
by Mark Rocket (www.avatar.co.nz)
In simple terms, split testing is about changing aspects of your site, then measuring the performance difference.
As an example, on the home page the colour of our call to action was changed the colour to see if a brighter colour attracts more clicks. It alternates, one viewer will see our old version, then the next viewer will see the new version, then we compare click statistics to see what works better. As usual, Google has come to the party with another incredible free tool, called the Website Optimizer, that helps to deliver the page differences and track the results.
Split Testing Options
There are two primary forms of split testing: A/B testing and multivariate testing. A/B testing or split testing, as the name suggests, compares one unique parameter with another. This testing process determines which of the tried techniques works best with your specific site traffic, therefore generating the highest conversion rate. Multivariate testing is a little more advanced in that it compares multiple parameters with one another all at the same time. There are countless parameters that can be tested including headlines, fonts, colours, image placement and so on.
A/B Testing
For the purpose of this article, we will be focusing on A/B testing. The main benefits of A/B testing are:
- It can help determine which elements on a Web site are performing well and those performing not so well
- It can be used to better understand site visitor behaviours and priorities
- It can be used as a diagnostic tool that aids in finding and solving specific problems you may have with your Web site
- It challenges assumptions made about "good" Web site design and content
Just about every element of your Web site can be split tested, but to give you more of an idea, here are a few examples:
- Newsletters – changing the heading from hard sell to soft sell, changing the send out day to record customer response, including your company name in the email subject line
- Graphics – changing an image of a product to include a person, or vice versa
- Link locations – moving the position of a link or button to another area of your page
- Font – try out a different font for your site
- Colours – change the colour of your background, subheadings, links etc
While some changes to your Web site may not prompt any change in site traffic and conversions, it is worth testing because you might find that a simple change you never considered, significantly improves site traffic and the conversion rate.
Is A/B Testing Really Worth It?
Yes. Split testing can be what separates elite Web sites from the rest because the site is made up of a combination of proven and successful elements, which ultimately help to produce greater results for your business. Optimum results are achieved through split testing because:
- Visitors to your site feel more inclined to browse for longer
- Visitors feel more able to interact with your site
- More visitors are likely to subscribe to your newsletter or request a consultation
- Visitors feel more inclined to buy from your site
If you would like any further information, or are interested in split testing certain parameters of your site, please contact Avatar.
We welcome any feedback — send your comments to: news@tourism.net.nz
Kind regards,
The Team
Ph 0800 14 65 49
www.tourism.net.nz
New Zealand Tourism Guide
Head Office: Level One, 534 Colombo Street, Christchurch