The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
September 2005, Volume 4, Issue 9

Latent Paid Search Conversions in the Leisure Travel Industry

by Sam Chiu, Paid Media Specialist, iProspect

How many times have you browsed the Internet for vacation ideas and then booked hotel accommodations, a cabin on a cruise, or a vacation package by the end of that same day? Chances are that if you moved this quickly you probably knew where you wanted to go before you performed your online travel research. And of course it certainly helped if you had a limitless cash flow and a completely flexible schedule so that neither needed to be considered in making your final decision.

Search engines have definitely accelerated the purchase cycle in the leisure travel industry. However, there can still be a considerable delay between an initial search and an eventual conversion that affects this industry due to the high consideration nature of the industry’s services. Certainly the click-to-conversion period varies significantly by the product/service, its value to the customer and the consideration period. Many leisure travel marketers have generated a significant portion of their revenues and profits weeks and even months after their paid search investment.

For one leisure travel industry marketer with a high consideration “conversion event,” the average difference in days between the initial click and the eventual booking is about 5. But about 24% of this company’s sales take place after 6 days or more and about 5% of its sales come after a full 30 days or more!

For another leisure travel company, the average lag between the click and the conversion is about 3 days, even though the client’s conversion event is free! Visitors who convert on this company’s website are identifying themselves as leads, so conversions are actually leads. About 8% of the leads come in after 4 days or more, and 3% of leads come after 30 days or more. For one particular lead, the click-to-conversion wait was 143 days! That’s a lot of time to think about whether or not you want to provide your email for a free conversion from the homepage of a reputable leisure travel company.

It is also surprising to find that the average latencies for both of these companies’ branded keyword conversions are the same as the overall campaigns’ average click-to-conversion times. One would have expected shorter click-to-conversion periods for branded keywords than for general keywords. Upon further detailed analysis, the average lag for branded keyword conversions that contain specific locations, or location modifiers) is shorter than for branded keywords that do not. Also, general keyword phrases that contain specific locations tend to convert faster than those that do not.

The implication of latent conversions in the leisure travel industry is that it is more accurate to judge the overall performances and successes of paid search campaigns on a monthly, rather than a weekly or daily, basis. Leisure travel marketers should also remember not to focus solely on keywords that generate immediate sales, but to also buy keywords that tend to indicate this latent purchase/research behavior.

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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: September 2005, Volume 4, Issue 9

Latent Paid Search Conversions in the Leisure Travel Industry

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
September 2005, Volume 4, Issue 9