Change Sciences: Interpretation of data indicators of online travel brands in the field of e-commerce

A survey report analyzed the performance of online travel brands in a series of important indicators in the field of e-commerce. The results showed that leading OTAs Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz achieved the best performance.

The survey report from web analytics company Change Sciences compared travel websites with brand websites in other fields in terms of usability, interactivity and conversion rate.

Usability of travel websites

The screenshot below compares the travel site’s user experience scores with other sites in the Change Sciences database.

The X-axis shows the website's usability data, the Y-axis shows the website's conversion rate data, and the spheres in the chart represent the website's score in terms of interactivity.

Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity are the top performing travel sites in terms of usability and conversion rate. The difference between these three OTAs and companies such as Priceline and Airbnb on the chart is worth noting.

Availability vs. Task Operation Time

The screenshot below compares the performance of the travel site with another group of similar sites (light blue dots), some of which (like the travel site) allow users to choose between similar products based on a series of factors.

In terms of task operation time, there are huge differences between travel websites. This chart shows that travel websites still have a lot of room to improve overall usability and reduce the time users spend on completing a task.

Usability vs. Interactivity vs. Conversion Rate

Travel websites that are easier to use are likely to have higher conversion rates, as shown in the chart below. Websites that score between 60 and 80 on usability are mostly concentrated in the higher conversion portion of the chart.

The same applies to travel sites that score higher on interactivity, with sites scoring between 45 and 65 on interactivity also mostly concentrated in the higher-converting part of the chart.

Problems facing websites in terms of usability

The following figure shows some of the top usability issues faced by travel websites. Websites that do not provide strong visual cues about user preferences (such as price) or do not provide the ability to filter based on price or location are considered low-value websites.

Interactions between different user groups

Influential users – the most active social media users – are most likely to read and write reviews and are 15% more likely to book a travel product or hotel room than the average user.

Opinionated users – the least active on social media – are least likely to be influenced by content such as reviews, testimonials and photos.

The following screenshots reflect the behavior of different user groups on the website. (Wing compiled)

via: traveldaily