A research project indicates that direct, personalized incentives increase consumer retention and purchase follow-through.

It is increasingly apparent that travel consumers love the internet when it comes to travel planning and booking, and it’s safe to say that online marketers play an influential role in their decisions to book trips online.

The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) and interactive marketing agency USDM.net recently issued one of the travel industry’s most in-depth research surveys focused on the evaluation and measurement of travel consumers’ online habits. The annual Travelers’ Use of the Internet report shows that the internet continues to grow as a dominant channel for reaching and transacting with today’s travel consumers.

While 2005 results show that the number of Americans using the internet (120 million adults) appears to have reached a plateau, those who plan and book trips or vacations online continues to climb rapidly. A majority of these online travelers (78 percent of respondents, translating into 79 million Americans) turned to the internet for travel or destination information in 2005 -- much higher than the 65 percent of online travelers in 2004.

But, every year, users indicate that they’re doing more than simple research online. For example, in 2005, survey findings indicate that online travelers are booking more of their travel arrangements via the internet:

• 82 percent of online travelers book online
• 78 percent of online travel bookers do at least half of all their travel booking online
• 34 percent of online travel bookers make all of their travel purchases online.

With more and more Americans planning and booking their travel online, TIA and USDM.net expanded this year’s research to better gauge the influence various media channels have on consumer decisions and, more specifically, how consumers respond to the various forms of internet-based travel marketing communications.

Of particular interest to online marketers: Report findings show that, in the travel space, the most effective online marketing techniques that trigger a consumer response are not the often ballyhooed “paid media” channels (such as pay-per-click search listings, banner ads, pop-ups and email) but rather the “interactive marketing” communications such as unsponsored search engine results (36 percent); email recommendations by friends or colleagues (34 percent); links on websites (26 percent); and opt-in emails or enewsletters (21 percent). In fact, the top four most response-effective communications are all strategic tactics that savvy online marketers implement.

The survey also indicates that 44 percent of consumers proactively responded to interactive marketing tactics in the past year by either requesting a travel guide (52 percent), registering on a travel website (47 percent), opting-in for an enewsletter (46 percent) or registering to win a prize from a travel site (21 percent). This signals a need for travel marketers to further integrate interactive marketing strategies and tactics into their 2006 planning.

Other key trends and data to emerge from the Travelers’ Use of the Internet 2005 in terms of strategic planning include:

• When it comes to leisure travel, women are more likely to be online travel planners (56 percent) and bookers (55 percent) than men
• More than nine out of 10 online travelers used the internet to plan a personal trip last year, and a quarter of trips planned online were related to business travel
• Nearly half of online travel planners also use destination websites -- such as those maintained by convention and visitor bureaus -- to plan trips. In addition, 27 percent (12.6 million) of these travelers use destination websites for booking their travel online (up from 4.4 million in 2004)
• Leisure travelers spent an average of $1,288 when booking their most recent trip online in 2005 and business travelers spent an average of $1,357.

Strong growth and significant changes in the travel marketplace continue to affect how travel companies and their partners do business online. It is critical that marketers develop mechanisms for managing these changes in online travel.

There are many effective methods used by interactive marketers to reach their target audiences. Marketers must give consumers control offering direct, personalized incentives that increase consumer retention and purchase follow-through. As marketers, we must recognize evolving consumer trends and re-adjust our marketing strategies to reflect consumer tendencies to research, plan and purchase online.

Additional resources:

For more information or to purchase the full results of the Travelers’ Use of the Internet 2005 report, visit the TIA.org web page.

Leah Woolford is founder and CEO of USDM.net,  an interactive marketing agency for the travel industry. Woolford has been an online marketer and technologist since 1993 when she founded her first internet company to market travel clients and clients in the telecom industry. Today Woolford is a sought after speaker and trainer, published author and recognized authority on interactive marketing and technology in the travel industry.