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Driving Results Through Website Design

An HSMAI Partnership Presentation with TIG GlobalAugust 26, 2010

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Panel Moderator:

Robert Gilbert, CHME, CHA,

President & CEO, HSMAI

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POLL QUESTION #1POLL QUESTION #1How many people are participating inthis webinar at your location today?

� 1� 2� 3� 4� 5� 6� 7� 8 or more

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TodayToday’’s Presenters: s Presenters: Panel Moderator: Robert Gilbert, CHME, CHA,

President & CEO, HSMAI

Panelists:Matthew White

Director, User Experience

TIG Global

James Zito,

VP, Interactive Marketing

Morgans Hotel Group

Christine Beuchert, Corporate Director of Marketing, Marcus Hotels & Resorts

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Elements of Website Design

� Color

� Typography and Copy

� Navigation

� Photography

� Videos

� Maps

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Color

A traveler’s first impression of a website is formed quickly, within just a few seconds.

Studies have shown how color can:

� grab and retain attention,

� stimulate emotional responses,

� affect perception,

� form attitudes, and

� improve learning and persuasiveness

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Typography and CopyA website’s typography or font is a key ingredient in converting visitors for a variety of reasons:

� Fonts are a visual website element and part of the visual branding process

� Fonts differentiate website content and create a sense of

organization and hierarchy

� Fonts make text more legible and improve the viewer experience

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Navigation

� Acts as an informational medium to inform viewers of information and resources

� Serves to guide viewers quickly and easily to information in intuitive manner

� A clear hierarchy of navigational elements and topics should be immediately apparent

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Photography High quality professional photography is an essential element of successful hospitality, travel and tourism websites.

� Captures attention

� Showcases hotels, attractions and destinations

� Creates positive first impression

� Studies show the photos on a site is the most frequently mentioned factor in assessments of websites

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Videos � Adds entirely different dimension to website

� Creates more compelling and immersive environment that builds strong emotions

� According to Google/OTX study from June 2009, 57% of personal travelers and 66% of business travelers use online video when deciding on accommodations

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Maps � Essential part of search and booking process

� Showcases location and proximity to attractions

� First link in the “looking to booking” process

� Transforms website into powerful tool for sales & marketing

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User Experience and Usability

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Top 5 Usability Tips

By Matthew WhiteDirector of User Experience

TIG Globala division of MICROS

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1. Quality Of Design Is An Indicator Of Credibility

Users really do judge a book by its cover… or rather, a

website by its design.

Elements such as layout, consistency, typography, color and style all affect how users perceive your website and what kind of image you project. Your website should project not only a

good image but also the right one for your audience.

Other factors that influence credibility are: the quality of thewebsite’s content, amount of errors, rate of updates, ease of use and trustworthiness of authors.

Also see Stanford University’s “Guidelines for Web Credibility”.

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Recent studies prove that users are quite comfortable with scrolling

and in some situations they are willing to scroll to the bottom of the

page. Place your key content on a prominent position, especially on

landing pages.

This means you should not cram everything in the upper area of the

page. You should make the best use of that area. Crowding it with

content will just make the content inaccessible; when the user sees

too much information, they don’t know where to begin looking.

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This is most important for the home page, where most new visitors will land. So provide the core essentials above the “fold”:

• Name of the website,

• Value proposition of the website (i.e., what benefit users will get from using it),

• Navigation for the main sections of the website that are relevant to the user.

For further information please take a look at the articles Unfolding the fold(Clicktale), Paging VS Scrolling (Wichita University – SURL), Blasting the Myth of the Fold (Boxes and Arrows). (thanks, Fred Leuck).

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3. White Space Improves Comprehension

White space de-clutters a page by giving items room to breathe. Group items together by decreasing the space between them and increasing the space between them and other items on the page. This is important for showing relationships between items (e.g. showing that this button applies to this set of items) and building a hierarchy of elements on the page.

White space also makes content more readable. A study (Lin, 2004) found that good use of white space between paragraphs and in the left and right margins increases comprehension by almost 20%. Readers find it easier to focus on and process generously spaced content.

In fact, the layout on a Web page (including white space, headers, indentation and figures) may not measurably influence performance but does influence user satisfaction and experience.

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Notice the big content

margin, padding and

paragraph spacing on The

Netsetter. All that space

makes the content easy and

comfortable to read.

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4. Most Users Are Blind To Advertising

Most users are essentially blind to ad banners. If they’re looking for information on a page or are engrossed in content, they won’t be distracted by the ads on the side.

The implication of this is not only that users will avoid ads but that they’ll avoid anything that looks like an ad, even if it’s not an “ad”. Some heavily styled navigation items may look like banners, so be careful with these elements.

Click here to enter order

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That said, ads that look like content will get people looking and clicking.

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5. Provide clear labels and prominent navigation options

People tend to spend very little time reading most Web pages. Instead, users scan (or skim) them, looking for words or phrases that catch their eye.

Navigation labels should be short and easy to understand. The words used for the labels (links) should also be sufficiently descriptive to provide a clear indication of the page they link to. Don’t use jargon, market-ese or clever terms.

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JOBSEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNIES

JOB-O-RAMA!

thought power required

.01 milliseconds 2 seconds or more

Don’t Make Me Think!

Thanks to Steve Krug! www.sensible.com

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User Experience and Usability

Christine Beuchert,

Corporate Director of Marketing,

Marcus Hotels & Resorts

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Website Design Principles:

*Visual Impact

*Identify and target customer segments

*Incorporate Usability Principles

*Measurement and Conversion Goals

*Initial development focus on key pages

*Ongoing Improvement

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www.grandgeneva.com

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Measurement

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Key Pages:

� Accommodations page: What does the guest room look like? Opportunity > Upsell room type

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Accommodations Page

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Key Pages:

• Accommodations page: What does the guest room look like? Opportunity > Upsell room type

• Photo Gallery: Give an overall feel for the propertyOpportunity> Tell the story of your property using great pictures;

incorporate virtual tour/video

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Key Pages:

• Accommodations page: What does the guest room look like? Opportunity > Upsell room type

• Photo Gallery: Give an overall feel for the propertyOpportunity> Tell the story of your property using great pictures;

incorporate virtual tour/video

• Specials and/or Packages– Opportunity> Steer price sensitive customers to need dates. Offer

packages by segment

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LONDON – SANDERSON, ST MARTINS LANE

LOS ANGELES - MONDRIANMIAMI – DELAN, SHORE CLUB, MONDRIANNEW YORK - MORGANS, ROYALTON, HUDSON

SAN FRANCISCO – CLIFTBOSTON - AMESLAS VEGAS- HARD ROCK HOTEL AND CASINO

MORGANS HOTEL GROUP

James Zito,

VP, Interactive Marketing

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OUR SITE WAS DESIGNED TO CREATE AN IMMERSIVE VISUAL

EXPERIENCE THAT BRINGS OUR PROPERTIES TO LIFE

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KEY FUNDAMENTALS TO OUR SITE EXPERIENCE:

• FIRST TO UTILIZE FULL SCREEN IMAGERY

• CHANGED HOW A TRADITIONAL CALENDAR WORKS

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BALANCE BETWEEN THE VISUAL AND THE FUNCTIONAL

TO ACCOMMODATE THIS WE CONDUCT EXTENSIVE USABILITY TESTING

WITH POTENTIAL AND EXISTING CUSTOMERS

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Designing for SEO…

BALANCE BETWEEN THE VISUAL AND THE FUNCTIONAL

FUNCTIONAL FOR SEARCH

TO ACCOMMODATE

THE SITE WAS BUILT PROGRESSIVELY ENHANCED

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

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Designing for SEO

Matthew White

Director, User Experience

TIG Global

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SEO Tips for Design/Usability

� Use of keywords and descriptive language in URLs is good for users and search engines

� Seeing the words/phrases that were searched gives users more confidence that a particular result is what they are looking for

� Providing descriptive language is another signal that search engines use to help determine what the most relevant results are

Don’t do this

Do this

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SEO Tips for Design/Usability� Search engines don’t “see” what users see

� The technical decisions made about how to build a site and what technologies are used can have a major impact on search engines

� Often technologies like Flash and AJAX are chosen because of the great user experience they can create

� However, these technologies can be crippling to your search engine optimization, if implemented incorrectly

What Users See What Search Engines See

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Designing for SEO

Christine BeuchertCorporate Director of Marketing, Marcus Hotels & Resorts

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Top referring search keywords

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Google Keyword Tool http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

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Questions? Questions? Panel Moderator: Robert Gilbert, CHME, CHA,

President & CEO, HSMAI

Panelists:Matthew White

Director, User Experience

TIG Global

James Zito,

VP, Interactive Marketing

Morgans Hotel Group

Christine Beuchert, Corporate Director of Marketing, Marcus Hotels & Resorts

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Upcoming HSMAI University ProgramsUpcoming HSMAI University Programs

If you haven’t registered for the entire 10-part Revenue Management series going through December 14, 2010, you can do so now. Details on this series and other upcoming webinars at www.hsmaiuniversity.org

Next session: August 31, 2010 –

“Close the Divide Between Revenue Management and Customer Loyalty”

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The Evolving Dynamics of Revenue Management:

A Comprehensive Revenue Optimization Road Map for Hotel Owners, Operators and Practitioners

By Kathleen Cullen & Caryl Helsel

Published by HSMAI Foundation in partnership with the HSMAI Revenue Management SIG Advisory Board and TravelCLICK

Revenue Management has continued to grow as a science and an art over the past several years in many industries, and especially in the hospitality industry. On the most fundamental level, the basis for success is to have the right revenue management organization in place to support the revenue strategy. A solid understanding of revenue management is critical throughout an organization, from top to bottom. This HSMAI Foundation publication brings you and your property the very latest information on understanding the market, market segmentation, forecasting, revenue strategy, pricing, inventory control strategies, and performance analysis. Included are a plethora of case studies to help you optimize revenue at all levels.

Order today at www.hsmaipublications.com.

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TodayToday ’’s webinar is copyright 2010 by the Hospitality Sale s & Marketings webinar is copyright 2010 by the Hospitality Sale s & Marketing Association International Association International with All Rights Reserved.with All Rights Reserved.