Today, metasearch is an important tool to have in your hotel’s marketing plan. WIHP notes that metasearch can account for as much as 30% of a hotel’s online bookings. Besides giving a boost to direct bookings, here are five benefits of having a metasearch presence.
Metasearch doesn’t rely on third-party cookies, which will sunset in 2024. In fact, metasearch is a key channel that will drive cookieless demand for travel marketers in the future.
If you are dependent on cookie-reliant channels, like display, you’ll likely experience campaign performance dips once third-party cookies go away. Set yourself up for future success by starting with metasearch now.
Metasearch brings visitors to your site further down the purchase funnel. What does this mean? For other channels, say SEM or display, users will click on your ad and end up on your homepage. With metasearch, users will be directed to your search results page.
Because of this, metasearch shows a high conversion rate. In Sojern’s internal campaign data, metasearch has an average conversion rate of 4.5%, higher than any other marketing channel.
The bad news? Metasearch is dominated by OTA spend. They are the major revenue drivers for companies like Trivago.
The good news? There is a bias in metasearch to drive direct. Metasearch engines give your property greater exposure to encourage a direct booking, and give you the chance to own the direct relationship with the client.
Unlike other marketing channels, creative is not required. However, many engines, Google included, do provide the option for promotional text.
Metasearch is part of any full-funnel marketing strategy. Each channel has its own strengths, and you want to ensure you are diversified to reach travelers at each stage of their path to purchase.
Metasearch is ideal for the mid-to-lower part of the funnel, when travelers have narrowed down where and when they want to travel. Make sure you are top of mind for those last steps in the booking process, where you can maximize direct bookings.
Check out Sojern’s Complete Guide to Hotel Metasearch to learn how you can leverage metasearch in your full-funnel marketing strategy.
This is part two of our four-part blog series on all things metasearch. If you missed our first article, check it out to learn more about the basics of metasearch.
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