Are you a travel agent hustling hard every day to grow your business like a boss?

Today, travel agency owners must work harder than ever to keep a sales funnel that’s full to the top with opportunities. However, grabbing all those leads might not be the most difficult part of the task at hand. The biggest challenge might be in turning a weak website conversion rate into a well-oiled machine.

Without a smoothly operating travel agency website, you will struggle to close sales.

Internet users today find an abundance of travel websites. You are competing for those users with blogs extolling the virtues of various destinations (and who also happen to earn affiliate marketing dollars for bookings) to big-name booking websites enormous marketing budgets.

That certainly does not mean that you can’t compete. Once you optimize (think of this a fine-tuning) your travel agency’s website, you will be primed to see the results.

Using these tips can help you fill your sales funnel and deliver you a steady influx of new leads and bookings.

According to a blog post by the pros at MailChimp, users will not engage wholeheartedly with your site until they trust three different factors, your:

Internet users today find an abundance of travel websites. You are competing for those users with blogs extolling the virtues of various destinations (and who also happen to earn affiliate marketing dollars for bookings) to big-name booking websites enormous marketing budgets.

That certainly does not mean that you can’t compete. Once you optimize (think of this a fine-tuning) your travel agency’s website, you will be primed to see the results.

Using these tips can help you fill your sales funnel and deliver you a steady influx of new leads and bookings.

According to a blog post by the pros at MailChimp, users will not engage wholeheartedly with your site until they trust three different factors, your:

These factors mean that your visitors won’t be confident in your website until they believe you are a reputable brand whom they can trust, an authority in your industry who knows all the ins and outs of travel, and they like the package that you’ve offered them.

What else do those three factors have in common? They all directly impact your conversion rate.

10 Tips to Improve the Conversion Rate of Your Travel Website

Follow these hints; watch your business take flight.

1 - Put your visitors at ease

As a travel agent, you are a pro at making clients feel at ease. Whether they are nervous about their first cruise or fretting about an upcoming business trip overseas, you know how to smooth down their ruffled feathers.

Now, take that same hospitable nature and think of how you can make your site users feel more at ease. Unfortunately, your visitors will feel slightly skittish until they can trust you.

Remember that “trust factor” I mentioned? Your site users need to see quickly that your travel website is a safe space.

But how do you do that?

Here are a few things site users today expect from companies they do business with online.

Build user trust online with:

If you’re already doing these things, good for you! You’re already on the right track. Remember that you want visitors to feel as welcome online as they would if they visited your office or home.

2 - Optimize your site for mobile users

It’s critical that you optimize your travel agency’s website for mobile phone users. Findings released by TechJury in March of 2019 indicate that mobile phone browsing now outpaces desktop users. In fact, Americans use their mobile devices to surf the internet 51% of the time.

The implications here are clear. If your website is not ready for all of those mobile visitors, your sales funnel won’t fill.

3 - Know your audience

As you begin optimizing your website for conversions, think about your audience. While all travel agents serve the same fundamental purpose — booking travel — things are not always quite that simple.

Do you specialize in cruises, destination weddings, corporate getaways, or family-friendly destinations? Identify that niche and share it with the world.

Once you know who you’re targeting, hone your marketing by identifying the primary keywords that those users will be searching for.

For example, those booking rooms for a convention will be searching for very different terms than a family whose toddler wants to fly to Florida to meet the Mouse.

Some of the keyword tools that you can use include:

There are dozens of platforms out there that you can try. The important thing is that you do this research as you shape your website into a capable lead machine.

4 - Identify long-tail keywords

In addition to primary keywords, check into some long-tail keywords for your website. These support your marketing efforts and can earn you additional traffic.

Long-tail keywords are gaining importance today because of the advent of voice searches. Let’s face it, how you type and how you talk look very different from one another.

Text input searches are typically short, while voice searches tend to be lengthier.

Here’s an illustration:

The search term “Alaska Vacation,” a typed, shorter search query returns these results:

travel agency digital marketing

But the search term “best Alaskan vacation ideas,” a phrase that’s a longer, spoken query returns these:

travel agency website long tail keywords

While some of the results will undoubtedly overlap, the longer search returns a list that also includes some smaller agencies who are offering a viable solution, a vacation package. This diligence in identifying your specific audience addresses the trust-building factor.

5 - Write compelling copy

Now that your site visitor has poked around and decided that your travel website is safe, they will begin to peek at your site. Now’s your one chance to grab their attention with compelling copy.

Compelling copy will make your visitors begin to itch to book a trip.

Whether you are relaying your policies or sharing information on destinations, you should keep your eye on the prize. That is, you want the user to book travel with you, ultimately.

Sharing outstanding, well-written information for your prospects is one of the methods that will help you build the “Authority Factor.”

Writing excellent copy:

Well-executed copy makes your website memorable and makes you look like an authority — the rock star travel agent that you are!

6 - Don’t forget a CTA

Travel agents are excellent salespeople, and you know that a fundamental of sales is closing the deal by asking for the purchase. You wouldn’t dream of taking a phone call from a lead who’s interested in booking a trip without asking them for the business, or at least gathering their information and agreeing on a follow-up call.

But, if you don’t include a CTA (call-to-action) on your website, that is what you are doing — letting a precious lead slip away from you.

Don’t mistake that for being pushy. CTAs can be very forthright:

“This date is selling out. Book now.”

Or, they can be soft, subtle, and lead to an eventual sale:

“Click here for a free travel guide.”

Either way, you are asking the user to take a specific action. The difference here is that the first example is a user who is looking to travel now and is further in the sales cycle. And, the second one is still rolling around near the top of the funnel.

Be sure to include CTAs not only in the copy of your page but also in all of your forms. Some prime opportunities to spur users into action are by adding the following forms:

You’ll efficiently gather all date for follow-ups — if you just ask nicely!

7 - Optimize your images

A travel agent always has amazing photos to share of exotic locales and exciting sites. In fact, you should include those on your website.

Pictures tell a story, boost your brand image, and capture the imagination in a unique way and can pique the interest of a person longingly browsing around for vacation ideas.

However, there’s a downside to photos. If you don’t optimize your images, they will slow down your page loading speed. This spells trouble as pages that load slowly annoy users and drive them away from your website.

A survey by Kissmetics returned alarming statistics:

How to optimize images

So, continue to share those fantastic images, but do it the right way and so that you don’t bog down your site when it’s trying to serve your prospective clients.

8 - Provide instant gratification

More and more, internet users want instant gratification. Consider offering it by investing in chatbots, which will serve as your brand’s virtual customer service rep 24/7.

Or, if you prefer to keep things more personal, at the very least think about embracing social messaging apps. You can insert an icon on your site, letting people know that you are available to assist them via your favorite social media platform.

Sound intrusive? Just keep in mind that perhaps the next person who messages you via social channels could be a person who just retired and is planning an extended trip around the world to celebrate.

Hey, anything can happen!

9 - Offer secure payments

We touched on site security earlier, and it’s an important topic. In fact, it’s so urgent that I’m including accepting secure payments as a separate topic.

Data breaches have reached epic proportions throughout the world, with even some of the largest companies feeling the impact of thieves who steal data

When internet users are online, they are painfully aware of their precarious situation, and they will only give up their credit card number to the brands they trust the most. A user might be painfully close to finally booking a hard-earned week in Bora Bora, but if they become hesitant during the checkout process, they will abandon without even a backward glance.

When you partner with us at EmailMeForm, you can offer the reassurance that your customer expects.

We are a PCI-certified company and have implemented the most rigorous processes and passed an independent audit to prove our commitment.

We have also launched our Vault, a place where you can virtually lock down customer data. To retrieve payment card data, you must use multi-factor authentication, locking out the bad guys.

Feel free to pass along the heads up to your prospects that you have taken the extra care to secure their data. They’ll then know they can trust your company with their credit card number.

10 - Post-travel follow-up

After your clients take the trip that you so skillfully packaged up for them, send out a customer satisfaction survey.

A survey shows the traveler that you care about whether the travel met their expectations.

In addition to gathering great feedback, you can also inquire about their next planned travel dates.

This information lets you put them back into the top of your funnel so you can begin the process all over again. And, because you have delivered such a great package and insane customer service, you’re now their favorite travel agent.

You’re Going to Be a Very Busy Travel Agent!

Once you take each of these hints, tweak your site, and put them into practice, you’re going to be a very busy travel agent.

You’ve taken steps to build trust in your brand, authority in your field, and targeted the travelers who want to take advantage of the solutions that you offer. Now, enjoy the fruit of that labor, and watch your business soar.

collect credit card data travel agent

Author Deborah Tayloe

Deborah Tayloe

Deborah is a blogger and freelancer who often writes for EmailMeForm. When she’s not blogging, you’ll probably find Deborah working on DIY projects around her home in North Carolina.

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