Package trip businesses might want to reexamine marketing strategies for reaching different audiences.
Research from Microsoft, which analyzed conversion paths of consumers in the United Kingdom buying package holidays on Bing between May and July 2019, reveals how age influences the decision-making process.
Travelers under 50 account for 55% of single-day package holiday purchases,
and travelers over 50 account for 61% of consumers who took over a month to buy
a package holiday.
Overall, 33% of package holidays were booked in a single day, and 63% were booked within a month.
Rethinking purchase paths
In addition to age, the study highlights several distinctions regarding purchase paths.
Price sensitivity increases over time, as price-specific inquiries grew from 8% of single-day purchase paths to 28% of purchase paths that concluded over a month.
Brand loyalty diminishes for more cautious consumers, with brand queries accounting for 22% of queries in single-day purchase paths and 12% of queries in long-term purchase paths.
Destination curiosity is more likely to increase with prolonged purchase paths, as point of interest queries grew from 16% of single-day purchase paths to 25% of purchase paths longer than a month.
The research from Microsoft also categorizes travelers into three groups: quick converters (purchases in one day), browsers (purchases in a month) and cautious converters (purchases over a month).
Audience marketing was found to be an effective way to convert package holiday bookers from all three groups, with 60% of bookings influenced by remarketing or in market audiences.
Says Sarah Essa, analytical lead for Microsoft Advertising: “It is imperative for package holiday businesses to try to shorten the decision-making process in order to sail through future uncertainties.
"This can be accomplished by better understanding and separating decisive purchasers from cautious ones and tapping into their respective sensitivities and preferences.”