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UKFast Websight - December 2008
Dear Newsletter Subscriber
Welcome to December's Websight. This month we look at the balance between providing intuitive online services and maintaining user privacy, how to connect with clients at festive times and how the online travel industry is coping with the current economic environment.
And as usual we have more helpful tips on making the most of your UKFast solution.
The internet is certainly no blunt tool. It has the power to deliver a personalised and focused service almost as though it was individually designed for each of us. However, the web cannot offer a bespoke experience without knowing things about us and this is where the debate between service quality and data capture intrusion comes in.
Headlines this week in our industry have centred around the debate on data retention by the major search engine companies. In case you didn't know, providers such as Yahoo and Google record search habits for specific users for up to 18 months as a performance analysis and safety feature. Understandably, many privacy conscious people are unhappy with this practise and its necessity has been called into question.
Microsoft, which currently holds user data for the longest, suggests a standardised period of six months, but crucially it will only implement it if all of its rivals fall in line. Yahoo isn't playing ball. After initially showing an unwillingness to commit to the policy, it has now sensationally stolen Microsoft's thunder by announcing it will anonymise user log data within just 90 days. This is a significant development and victory for those fighting the privacy case but will it negatively affect the quality of service? Yahoo says not. We will have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, it had to come it was just a question of when and where. Google's controversial AdWords policy to allow companies to bid on rival brands is being challenged in the UK courts by flower giant Interflora. The US-based purveyor of orchids and tulips says the practise infringes its trademark. The outcome of the court case will be crucial to the future direction of online advertising just don't expect Google to lose sleep over it.
Microsoft Web Application installer
Microsoft has released a Web Application installer to simplify the installation of a key number of online applications such as DotNetNuke, Drupal, osCommerce, phpBB and more. This enables you to easily setup and configure these applications without prior experience.
The installer will download the source files, run the installer and pre-configure the application but also gives you the flexibility of altering the configuration before the final stages. Furthermore, it will inform you of any pre-requisites that may be required before continuing the installation.
This means you can bring a full e-commerce site online in a few simple steps. This makes the application ideal for web designers and developers and for that matter anybody else who host their own clients on the UKFast network.
For more details on the application and how to install it, visit the Microsoft website.
Personal touch
Get Personal
In the b2b sector clients should not just be seen as customers, they should be treated as partners. And it is important to regularly connect with partners to maintain familiarity and to demonstrate a commitment to their service.
Seasonal festivities are a great opportunity to connect with clients in novel ways and Christmas is a particularly special occasion to reach out. People appreciate kind sentiment and creative thinking, something that makes them smile. So think out of the box when deciding on your festive greeting. At Christmas an amusing festive card is a simple message that can have a hugely positive effect. Remember; don't over do the marketing message. If your clients are made to feel as though you're just trying to sell them something new they may resent the contact.
And don't forget the party spirit. Christmas is a time for getting together and having a glass or two of mulled wine. So why not invite clients to a festive get together at your office. This is a perfect opportunity to connect your people with clients and to showcase your business in a relaxed environment.
Online Travel Industry
December is the winter holiday month when most of us will be going away somewhere at some point. Whether it is to go skiing or just visiting family, millions of Brits will be making travel arrangements in the coming days. So, we at Websight thought it would be timely to throw the spotlight on the online travel industry.
As usual we have scoured the raw data and extrapolated from our expert knowledge to pick out the key trends that allow us to understand just what is going on in the internet travel business arena. Our research shows that for the UK market there are four significant trends relating to developments in the industry over the past 12 months. They are:
- Online brands have strengthened and gained user loyalty
- Traditional brands have lost user loyalty
- Searchers are looking for cheaper, domestic destinations
- The travel industry's overall percentage share of all internet traffic has remained constant
Starting with point four, it is interesting that despite the recession it appears that online business for the travel industry has maintained winter 2007 levels. The stats suggest that doing business online has enabled the travel industry to ward off the negative affects of the economic downturn. This is likely in part to the internet's reputation for offering bargain deals and having the flexibility to quickly adapt to prevailing customer needs.
Speaking of prevalent customer needs, our research also indicates that many British holiday makers switched their 2008 plans from foreign vacations to cheaper domestic get-aways. Keyword research shows that 'cheap flights', which ranked in the top 10 in Nov-Dec 2007 for the major online travel companies, has been replaced this season by 'cheap hotels'. Additionally, it is notable that UK-based search terms generally featured higher in this winter's search listings than last year.
We are actually working backwards on our list but we can now consider points one and two together. Again looking at search terms used, it is strikingly clear that the brands of the leading online-only travel companies have strengthened over the last 12 months.
For example, Expedia and LastMinute.com have both seen a 10% increase in the success of their brand names in searches. That means 32% of all searches that lead to the Expedia website are on the Expedia brand compared to 22% last year, while the figure is 35% for LastMinute.com, up from 25% last winter. This is significant, as it indicates that the online travel brands are becoming more familiar and trusted by customers.
In contrast the traditional travel brands (i.e. the brands that started offline in the high street) have seen the percentage of searches on their names stagnate over the course of the past year. For example, Virgin's growth has been just 3% and First Choice has experienced no significant increase, meanwhile Thomas Cook has seen a 10% fall in searches on its brand as a percentage of the whole. This suggests that online searchers are not as strongly associating these traditional brands with what they want.
Although it also probably reflects that fact that travel industry searchers are more sophisticated and have broadened their search terminology. In fact, Thomas Cook has expanded the number of terms leading to its website from 4,000 to 15,000 over the last year.
So the online travel industry appears to be in healthy shape, particularly for the established online brands. And 2009 looks like a great year for the Travel sector to grow again. The value of the U.S.dollar is on the rise, gas prices are at their lowest levels in four years and hotel rates are softening. Just avoid Europe!!
Until next time, enjoy the holidays and have a fantastic new year.
Best Wishes,
Communications Team
