How can you get your website to deliver different messages that resonate with different users? That was the challenge faced by UK travel company, On The Beach. They asked AB Tasty to help them speak to their different customer segments, leveraging data-driven decision-making to get more beaches to more people.
Founded in 2004, On The Beach is one of the UK’s largest online package holiday retailers, serving more than 1.7 million customers every year. Known for their colorful and dynamic brand image, they’ve built their reputation on providing affordable, hassle-free beach holiday experiences at a wide range of destinations. They’ve also recently branched out into offering city breaks around the world.
By promoting transparency, flexibility, and excellent customer service, On The Beach has established itself as one of the most trusted brands in the UK travel industry. You can find out more in our case study On The Beach Tests the Water with Personalization.
Same website, different customer journeys
A common problem for online travel companies is that consumers often spend time comparing flights or hotels across different websites before making the final decision to book. This can involve multiple visits to a particular website before they are ready to buy. Our research shows this is the single biggest factor influencing consumers to leave a website without booking travel options.
On The Beach is no exception to this trend. They cater to a wide range of customers, and their website traffic is a mix of both new and returning users. To help convince visitors to remain on their website and book, they want to show their different customer segments that they understand their different needs.
To do this, they try to provide them with personalized messages at different stages of their buying journey. This in turn helps people get the information they need and progress towards checkout.
Different messaging strokes for different folks
Testing and experimentation are key to helping On The Beach find the right message for each of its different customer segments. As Conversion Rate Optimization Manager, Alex McClean, explains,
“Testing and experimentation is important to us for two reasons. One is to help us understand our customers and what they want to see on site. And two is to help us learn and understand what we want to be able to do for our customers to help them”.
One example of the A/B testing that On The Beach carries out is trialing different badges to recommend the same holiday destination to different website visitors. With AB Tasty’s help, they discovered that new website visitors preferred holiday recommendations that were marked with a “Bestseller” badge. Returning users on the other hand, responded better to the same destination if it was marked with an “Our pick” badge. This was because they already trusted On The Beach to make holiday recommendations for them.
By testing these different messages, On The Beach was able to determine what message was right for what group. This led to a direct increase of more than 200 bookings on their website.
More tests and more of everything else
Initially, On The Beach started experimenting with some simple A/B tests based on content, product placement, and how different elements of their website performed. They then started to gradually increase the number of tests they did each month and bring other team members on board.
Now, On the Beach has developed a real culture of experimentation. It makes sure that all departments, including marketing, product development, and customer support have access to the latest testing information. And this greater level of involvement across the business also means that more hypotheses for tests come back to the marketing team.
This collaboration between teams has enabled On The Beach to make more data-driven decisions, successfully optimize different areas of its website, and continuously improve its customers’ user experience. The end result is greater customer satisfaction and increased growth for the business.
Alex McClean says,
“When we first started using AB Tasty, we were looking at rolling out five to ten tests a month. But now, as the business has advanced its testing capabilities and more people are getting involved, we’re rolling out 20-30 tests, with buy-in from the whole business”.
A helping hand from AB Tasty
For On the Beach, one of the major advantages of using AB Tasty’s experimentation optimization platform is being able to learn quickly and at scale. Using A/B testing, they can now make improvements to their website, iterate, and grow much more quickly than before. And this lets them provide visitors to their website a buying experience that speaks to all their customer segments.
Another key benefit for On The Beach is the support they receive from AB Tasty’s teams. Our responsive and knowledgeable support staff assist On The Beach in setting up tests, interpreting the results, and implementing optimizations on their website. We provide them with timely, personalized assistance, guiding them through the entire testing process and offering them expert advice on best practices.
But don’t just take our word for it. As On The Beach’s Alex McClean says,
“For us, the real reason that we chose AB Tasty, and what differentiated AB Tasty from the competitors was the level of service that we were offered. We have complete access to developers, really attentive CSMs. It’s really beneficial to keep things moving when we don’t have to go to our development team.”
