Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
services online; and it can enhance the marketing relationship as marketers can identify attractive
market segments and offer tailored value-added services (Wang and Russo 2007).
Li and Wang (2010) state that US travellers commence their search for a destination using an
Internet search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, with the DMOs' websites being the next most
common Internet search. Not surprisingly, several models have been developed by scholars to
evaluate website effectiveness. Li and Wang (2010) argue a website should be evaluated on fi ve
dimensions: information, communication, transaction, relationship and technical merit. Chiou
et al
. (2011) propose a model, 4PsC, encompassing the 4Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place
and Promotion) plus Customer Relationship.
As with the evaluation of more traditional marketing channels, there is no consensus on the
best way to evaluate DMO websites. In terms of who actually determines website effectiveness,
several studies use travel and tourism experts to evaluate website effectiveness (Li and Wang
2011; Chiou
et al
. 2011). Other studies use tourists to evaluate website effectiveness. Financial
returns, customer satisfaction and purchase intention are frequently used as indicators of website
effectiveness (Schmidt
et al
. 2008). Chiou
et al
. (2011) use gap analysis to evaluate two Taiwanese
travel websites against a weighted criterion.
Social media allows tourism businesses to interact directly with tourists and potential tourists
via various Internet platforms and to monitor and interact with opinions and evaluations of
services. Hvass and Munar (2012) evaluate the Facebook and Twitter communication between
42 different airlines and their online audiences using online ethnographic research and content
analysis. They fi nd that these airlines communicate traditional advertising messages and fail to
take advantage of the interconnectivity of user generated content that social media can harness.
As a summary of the above section,
Table 16.1
shows the more common evaluation methods
that have been used to assess the effi ciency and effectiveness of travel and tourism websites. For
each evaluation method, the KPIs and the individual metrics in assessing the success criteria are
shown. Different stakeholders will have different priorities in terms of what the DMO websites
can and should do. As with off-line marketing, no one evaluation technique can achieve every
marketing objective the DMO might set. As with marketing through off-line methods, deciding
what is important and the defi nition of success (KPIs) and how to measure success (metrics)
determines what evaluation technique is most appropriate. An attractive, logical and focussed
DMO website will be one component in the marketing mix.
Table 16.1
Internet evaluation methods, KPIs and metrics
Evaluation method
KPI
Metrics
Counting
Website quality
Checklist of attributes
user judgement
Website user satisfaction
Perceptions of information quality; perceived
usefulness; perceived ease of use; perceived
accessibility; attitude
Website strength and
weaknesses
Balanced scorecard
Automated
Website effectiveness
Visits to the webpage; page views; pages viewed
per website visit; average time on website;
Tracking of different referrers
Numerical
computation
Website performance
Mathematical functions
Source
: Morrison
et al
. (2004) and Law
et al
. (2010)
