The first online travel agency launched in 1996, Travelocity®
(a Sabre Holdings® company) pioneered the online travel market. Travelocity
gives consumers access to hundreds of airlines, thousands of hotels and
cruises, car rentals, and last-minute vacation packages. With 40 million
members, Travelocity is the sixth largest travel agency in the United
States, operating or powering websites in 5 languages on 4 continents.
It's also the exclusive travel booking provider for America Online services,
including AOL, AOL.com, Netscape, CompuServe, as well as several of the
Yahoo! U.S. and Canadian sites.
Travelocity retains a number of marketing firms to handle an array of
online and offline campaigns, including the services of Fort Worth-based
Range Online Media (www.rangeonlinemedia.com). Range's principals, Cheryle
Pingel and Misty Locke, saw a need for Travelocity to boost its online
presence through search engine marketing – not previously a high priority
for the company – and approached the Travelocity marketing team about
doing so in late 2001.
| "Google AdWords enables us to tie keywords to airlines, to regions, and to cruise or vacation verticals," Pingel says, "all of which are very effective." Cheryle Pingel |
Rowley has been recognised as a "Future Entrepreneur of the Year" for his efforts. Even better, he has grown his business by giving excellent service. One way Postoptics achieves this is by providing customers easy access to their orders and to staff. "We like to communicate with customers any way they choose – online, on the phone, or by post", Rowley says.
Approach
Range Online began working with Google advertising in early 2002. "We have been big proponents of Google since we started our agency," says Pingel, "and it was the major part of our strategy for Travelocity." Range Online quickly developed a keyword list based on products and specials the site actually offered. (Previously, Travelocity's search keywords included "camping," "B&B," and "cabins," none of which accurately reflect the company's key audiences.) Pingel and Locke chose keywords based on popular locations (Florida, Italy), seasonal offerings (summer vacation, spring break), as well as events (honeymoon). "Google AdWords enables us to tie keywords to airlines, to regions, and to cruise or vacation verticals," Pingel says, "all of which are very effective."
Results
The first 90 days of Travelocity's ad campaign with Google yielded a dramatic 32 percent increase in conversion. And in the subsequent 3 months, conversion more than doubled again – to an astonishing 71.5 percent. Over the course of 2002, Pingel reports that Travelocity membership registration also grew by 7 million customers. "We were thrilled," says Pingel, "especially because our client couldn't believe they could see this much improvement in such a short time." Locke says that Google AdWords also lowered the cost per booking dramatically. "By targeting keywords and refining them based on results, Google gave us more qualified leads – travelers ready to buy – which lowered Travelocity's costs."
About Google Advertising
Google AdWords™ is the world's largest search advertising programme, currently used by more than 100,000 businesses to gain new customers cost-effectively. AdWords uses keywords to precisely target ad delivery to web users seeking information about a particular product or service. The programme is based on cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, so advertisers only pay when an ad is clicked on. Advertisers can take advantage of an extremely broad distribution network, and choose the level of support and spending appropriate for their business. For more information, go to http://www.google.co.uk/ads/.
