In 2012, Center Parcs partnered Maxymiser to develop a long-term customer experience optimisation strategy. It had two key objectives; to improve online conversion and encourage users to book earlier, and to prepare the way for the opening of the new village in Woburn. This case study shows how the company is using testing to cut down on risks while reacting more quickly by making real-time changes based on real-time data.
Brand: Center Parcs | Sector: Travel, Hospitality | Country: UK | Agency/Partner: Maxymiser | Objective: brand awareness, consideration and purchase | Format: Multivariate Testing, Analytics
Online technologies have transformed the consumer travel industry. Recent independent research shows that as many as 80% of people now book their holiday via the internet, and nine out of ten consumers will research online before traveling. In the UK alone, 91% of domestic travel transactions are now ‘digitally influenced’. In a highly competitive marketplace, the importance of having a robust, responsive and user-friendly website has never been greater. And in an environment where the path to purchase can often take consumers across a variety of channels, optimising the customer’s cross channel experience has become critical. It’s little wonder, therefore, that optimisation strategies using the latest technologies like online testing and personalisation have become popular among travel companies.
The business
Center Parcs is one of the UK’s leading providers of family holidays and short breaks. It currently operates four holiday ‘villages’ in the UK, with a fifth due to open in 2014. The company boasts an impressive 97% occupancy all-year-round. In line with national trends, around 80% of Center Parcs’ bookings come through the online channel, with the remaining 20% arriving via the company’s own contact centre. But a high percentage of customers that book through the contact centre will also have visited the website as part of the booking journey.
The company’s online operations launched in 2004, and comprise www.centerparcs.co.uk for accommodation bookings, as well as separate sites to book activities and spa days and breaks. The growth of the online channel has been rapid – reflecting evolving customer preferences – but to grow further, Center Parcs knew that it needed to optimise the user experience.
The strategy
In 2012, Center Parcs chose to partner with testing, personalisation and cross channel optimisation experts Maxymiser to develop a long-term customer experience optimisation strategy. It had two key objectives; to improve online conversion and encourage users to book earlier, and to prepare the way for the opening of the new village in Woburn. “We need fully-optimised websites to achieve this,” says Elena Ragone Marriott, Head of Digital Marketing and Media at Center Parcs. “Moreover, the introduction of our fifth village will change things completely as our capacity will expand by 25%. Our challenge is to increase repeat business and grow our first-time guests, and ensure that we fill the new village without a significant impact to our other villages. The website will be absolutely critical to this.”
“Only a few years ago, our website took around 20% of our bookings. We have focused on shifting our bookings online and have had huge success in bringing this up to 80%, but technology and consumer behaviour is constantly changing. Developments in real-time data and behaviour analysis on websites means that we now add Maxymiser to our solid research, usability and design disciplines, in order to improve the online guest experience and, critically, our conversion to booking rates,” says Elena. “With Maxymiser, we are taking less risk with the changes we make, but, most importantly, we can move and react much more quickly by making real-time changes based on real-time data”.
“We were quickly able to see the value of Maxymiser in providing real data to underpin critical decisions.”
Since the initial tests, which provided internal stakeholders with a strong proof of concept that multivariate testing offered significant strategic benefits, Center Parcs has embarked on a measured programme of tests.
The experience
“Overall we are really pleased and, more importantly, we are convinced that there are even bigger wins that we can gain,” says Elena. And beyond conversion, the optimisation strategy is helping Center Parcs to deliver operational efficiencies: “Maxymiser’s ability to serve the winning experiences for us until we are able to hard code them is really beneficial, both from a resourcing and a planning perspective. It’s so much easier to prioritise development.”
Center Parcs has always taken a robust approach to testing its services, but until now has been unable to embrace this philosophy fully across its website. “We’ve always known that online testing is important, and now we’ve got the vehicle to do it,” says Elena. “Maxymiser provides us with independent evidence to challenge our thinking, and generates vital data to underpin key decisions and build business cases where appropriate. It’s been a really positive experience and, as we move beyond the opening of our fifth village next year, we will continue to test so that we deliver services that align with customer needs. There is no doubt at all that using Maxymiser has been the right thing for us to do.”
