My wife and I decided to book with the Middle Beach resort in Tofino after all (see the other posts under the label "traveller insight"). We ended up calling the resort again to verify dates and book. What lessons could we take from this first phase of "putting yourself in your potential customers' shoes"?
- Word of mouth will always be the most effective "advertising" (positive or negative) for your business. This means that the guest's experience from contact to departure is critical. In today's world word of mouth may come directly from an acquaintance in person or through social media portals like TripAdvisor. One thing that some resorts may want to include on their sites is customers' reviews (if positive of course).
- Your website will continue to be very important as an introduction to potential guests/customers. Navigate your website yourself trying to be objective as if your were a potential guest or better yet have someone outside your organization do it to get an objective opinion. (of course if you can afford to survey actual online users, even better) The idea is to catch failure points (you can also use analytics to learn how visitors are using your site, how long they stay on it, where they exit, etc.) and potential turn offs (confusing navigation or confusing content). One issue to consider may be the time potential guests are willing to spend on a given website to research their options (this may depend as well on the nature of the trip, resort, etc. e.g. we took a two week trip to Spain a couple of years ago - that trip demanded more research from our part and we were willing to make the time for it - in the case of Tofino is a two day visit and within our own country so I guess we don't feel like spending too much time researching before we decide - food for thought)
The second phase of this non-scientific experiment will come in August when we actually experience the resort. I will report then.
Cheers,
Jaime
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