Testing specialists Soasta have delivered another Holiday Traveler Behavior Study, outlining the areas of peak frustration for mobile travelers.
The survey was deployed in partnership with Switchfly, and logged 2,022 adult responses in North America. Mobile apps continue to have a growing impact on the travel experience, as 41% of those surveyed planning to book travel during the holiday season.
Of those folks, an underperforming website or app is a deal-breaker when it comes to selecting where and how to book travel. The percentage of respondents booking travel on a website was 34% and the percentage of those booking on mobile was only 13%.
The short online survey resulted in the following key pieces of thoughts for travel app and website managers and developers, with a majority (57%) saying that dealing with a bad app or website is worse than dealing with the TSA. That's not a good comp set to be in, as placing one's carefully crafted brand next to one of the most vilified in travel leaves the brand at a severe disadvantage as far as positive sentiment.
A further 31% are worried about dealing with technical issues, of which the following are the most prevalent:
- 18% loathe slow loading.
- Another 18% worry about unresponsiveness.
- Crashing happens to 17%.
- Finally, 10% hate a bad interface in a travel app.
Nearly half - 45% - were considering upgrading their travel into a higher class of travel, with 21% naming the impact of the stressful season on the desire for an upgraded travel experience. 17% of the upgraders didn't want to spend time near loud or rambunctious children, followed by a whopping 10% that upgrade in order to "cheer themselves up before seeing their relatives." That brings a new meaning to holiday cheer!
As far as overbooking and other capacity-management tools used by airlines during peak travel times, many of the respondents were willing to consider a 24 hour delay for the following:
- A free flight was enough to accept a 24-hour delay for 63%.
- An upgrade would be enough to convince 41% of travelers to delay the trip.
- A hotel stay was a good incentive for 38%.
- Extra rewards points would convince 1 in 5 travelers to delay.
- And, in a bid that no airline is likely to take, a solid 6% of respondents would delay for a chance to sit next to Renee Zellweger.
Those final stats are interesting for airlines as they push through the complex calculus of incentivizing the right travelers to delay when a flight is overbooked.
NB: Airport passenger image courtesy Shutterstock.