How-to • Operations • January 16, 2018 • Rebecca
One of the most challenging tasks when analysing business performance is knowing what to measure. There are hundreds of metrics you can monitor. But which ones truly matter for your tour business? Which metrics will help you make smart business decisions?
Vacation Labs recommends these 5 statistics you must measure, to gain meaningful insights to measure your business performance:
When you set up your website online with a travel software, it is important to track how well this channel is performing. The biggest advantage of taking bookings online is that your “booking window” is open 24×7, every single day. And, with the help of a booking engine, you are enabled to track your business performance as a tour operator.
It is important that you ensure you are generating a positive ROI on the resources you spend on building and maintaining an online presence. This metric will also help you keep track of seasonal fluctuations and year-on-year growth in traffic and bookings.
READ: How to construct a plan for more bookings?
It is important to know, not only which channels are most popular but also how much revenue each of them is bringing. This will help you figure out your distribution strategy better. For instance, your business may see more value coming in through the mobile channel, in which case you have to ensure that your tour website template is designed to not only render perfectly on different mobile screen sizes but that every feature that is required to browse through your tours and make the final payment, is available on the mobile version of your website.
Add-ons are a great way to cross-sell other items from your inventory and improve the quality of your package.
For instance, if your tour includes going on snow trails, might it make sense to include a product bundle offering special boots and coats? Or perhaps you can rent special camera equipment if your tour is designed for photography enthusiasts? Knowing which bundle attracts customers more will help you package deals in your travel software better.
Coupon codes and discounts work in a similar fashion as add-ons. You need to measure their usage for the very same reasons as tour add-ons. Also, they are an expense your business must incur everytime they are used.
READ: How to Cross Sell & Upsell?
Keeping track of cancelled bookings is important. You need to study this metric to figure out what can be done to discourage cancellations. For instance, you may charge your customers a cancellation fee or have them pay a deposit in advance when reserving the tour. Better profiling of cancelled bookings will help you devise strategies that are useful in hedging risks associated with cancellations.
Does your business see bookings as far in advance as a year? Or do you tend to have more walk-in customers? Knowing this trend will help you plan your marketing campaigns better.
For instance, if your customers tend to book well in advance you’ll need to invest more in digital marketing efforts and ensure that you send regular notifications to those who book, about important upcoming dates.
On the other hand, if your business witnesses more walk-ins, your offline marketing will have to be equally strong and you’ll have to ensure that your brand is visible in all those tourist spots and travel information centres where tourists turn up to check out what they can do, at the last minute.
READ: Why trust Vacation Labs with your bookings? Here are 9 excellent reasons
Vacation Labs has been studying these metrics to better design travel products and tour website templates that not only optimises your travel business but also maximize your ROI. To learn more about what we do and how we can help your tour and travel business, contact our team today.