Ok, let’s start with the good news: there are travelers out there who are looking for your exact tours and activities. They’ve got their credit card by their side, and they’re eager to book.
The bad news: you may have set up some obstacles in their path to making a reservation, without even realizing it.
Here are a few tips for helping the right customers find you, zero in on one of your tour offerings, and make their reservation lightning-fast.
Pole Position! First Up, Qualifying for the Journey.
Build a brand you’re proud of
What makes your tour business unique from competitors? If you asked everyone on your staff, would you get similar answers? Your entire team needs to be clear on what sets you apart, and be able to articulate that in a snappy, enthusiastic way for customers.
Don’t shy away from standing out—embrace your uniqueness and share it with the world. If your unique value is clearly defined, then your brand will be much more memorable for customers: they’ll see through your social posts, website, emails, and billboards exactly what you stand for, and why they should spend their vacation with your tour company rather than someone else’s.
Remember, it’s not just about ads and promotional packages. Drawing in tourists is all about creating a brand that travelers are excited to be a part of. When you cultivate a strong identity and a loyal following, we promise the tourists will come after you.
Keep your pricing consistent
We all feel compelled to price-shop sometimes, even if we don’t enjoy it. Your target audience is checking multiple sources to find the best deal on their tours and activities. If they happen to find two different prices for the same tour, it serves as one more hurdle that could even send them back to the starting line to Google other options.
Double-check that all of your prices are up to date and consistent across all sites, including social media posts and bios, landing pages, and OTAs. Price discrepancies can cause frustration for customers, and for your staff, if guests find a lower price after booking and ask for a reduction or refund.
So save yourself some headaches, and don’t give them any reason to doubt that they’re getting the best tour experience, at the best value.
Now that all those potential customers are off and running, it’s time to set yourself apart from your competition so they make it to the right finish line.
Breaking Intent Out of the Pack
Get your reviews to 4.5 stars or higher
Unfortunately, if there’s a negative headline with one star within your 5-10 most recent reviews, it’s like you’re placing a big hurdle between your customer and your checkout page. Even if they’re already on their way to booking with you, now they have a reason to slow down or even turn around instead of proceeding to checkout.
Make sure you or someone on your team has personally responded to any negative, or even so-so, reviews from the last couple of months. Even if they never respond, this demonstrates to everyone else researching your business that you really do care about making your customers happy and providing an amazing experience. Keep the tone warm and polite: you’re having a conversation rather than trying to shut someone down.
Then, the best way to move on from that one bad seed is to bury it with stellar 5-star ratings.
Make sure your staff is inviting guests to rate their experience, and letting customers know that reviews are important to you and your business. Stocking up on glowing reviews is like clearing the race track for the rush of new customers coming your way: they’ll take a glance through all those radiant headlines and photos and feel even more confident booking with you.
Show, don’t tell, with genuine customer photos
Recent, real-life snapshots and clips from your tours are one of the best ways you can show off what you have to offer.
Encourage visitors to include photos with their reviews; if you’re using a review software to get feedback, make sure you’re mentioning how valuable photos are.
Make sure your team is consistently taking photos and videos of your tours, and filming live feeds for Instagram. It may be tempting to continue tweaking and re-using old photos, but travelers who are comparing tour companies for an upcoming trip will want to see recent content that gives an accurate glimpse of the seasonal tour they’ll experience when they’re in town.
Think mobile-first throughout your funnel
Imagine: someone’s googling swamp tours in Louisiana while they’re sitting on the plane, ready to take off for MSY. They immediately tap on your ad because it’s at the top of the search results and land… on a page with no “Book now” button. Maybe they have to scroll a couple of times, notice the site’s a little glitchy, and decide to go back to the list.
Make sure your entire sales funnel is optimized for mobile. At a minimum, all of your primary landing pages, as well as your booking platform, should feel quick and intuitive on both Android and iPhone. Ideally, your site will be easy and even delightful to navigate, with a few stellar reviews, eye-catching photos, and conversion-driving CTAs throughout.
If your site’s easy to navigate, and all of your most important CTAs are above the fold in mobile view, you’ll build trust with potential new customers and get them to the finish line, which is converting.
Closing in on the Finish Line
Avoid long lists of product options
Giving a potential customer too many options to choose between could slow them down significantly. Especially if those options are all very similar, and they have to figure out the differences between each one. No one wants to pause in the middle of their marathon to read about the distinction between an air boat and a pontoon.
Many companies fall into the trap of wanting to showcase every tour option they have. And it’s great that you have something for everyone!
But if you present too many options to choose from, you could be creating cognitive overload and actually drive customers away.
Make your top 1 to 3 tour options front and center, so it’s easy for customers to choose the tour they want, select the number of tickets they need, and checkout. If there are key differences between some of your tours, write up a brief, two-sentence description to help them quickly decide which one they’re most interested in.
Group additional tour options, such as custom tours, private reservations, and group bookings, together in their own section. They should still be discoverable, but higher-ticket items for large groups of people may come with more add-ons and customizations. So it’s ok if these require a little extra time to make a reservation. Plus, grouping them together gives you an excuse to add a “Group tours” header, which is great for SEO in the travel industry.
Make checkout a breeze
Think of your checkout flow as the running track. If it’s built well, it’ll help everyone get from point A to B smoothly and quickly. If it’s uneven or full of zig-zags, your runners will have to slow down and many won’t even finish the race.
Now could be a great time to audit your website and primary booking flows. Count how many clicks it takes to make a reservation, and compare with some of your top competitors. The path from discovery to booking should be quick, simple, and intuitive. Try to eliminate any steps or form fields that may be unnecessary, and make sure all of your primary CTAs are high-contrast and immediately visible on the page.
You’ve Got This! And You Have Help.
Sometimes, you just have to get out of your own way. That means laying the foundation for tourists to find you – and make it all the way to the finish. We’re cheering you on, but we don’t believe in being a passive audience. We specialize in helping businesses like you improve your campaigns, site, and booking flows so you don’t miss out on any business that comes your way.
When you’re ready to put these tactics into action, we’re here to help.
