Creating good content for your users at every point in their journey can meant the difference between a conversion or permanently losing their interest in your brand. Quality content that is optimized for your target audience and strikes just the right tone with your user can have a significant effect on your conversion rates.

Here are 4 important content marketing trends you should be following if you want to keep up with the competition and optimize your site for increased conversions and a better user experience:

1. Embrace personalized content

Personalization is one of the top digital travel trends in of 2018, and it’s a key driver of growth and conversion rate optimization. Travelers overwhelmingly value and respond well to personalized experiences and content on travel sites and are much more likely to convert when they feel they’re receiving quality content or offers that are directly relevant to them.

From re-engaging customers who’ve abandoned a purchase to showing highly targeted offers to certain users based on their search behavior or demographics, personalized content can take many forms and appear across multiple channels and touchpoints. But, the key takeaway for 2018 and beyond is that users crave relevant information and are easily and quickly turned off by content that holds no value for them.

2. Be authentic

Travelers are quick to dismiss any type of content that is overtly promotional, misleading, or inauthentic in any way. Today’s online consumers are more likely to respond positively to experiences, people, and emotionally-charged content, not brands or sales-speak.

Consider marketing and travel industry influencer Mark Babin, Marketing Manager for The Westin Grand Cayman. His live stream video from the resort is a stand-out in content marketing for a hospitality brand and quickly gained enormous popularity with users. His authentic approach and behind-the-scenes content gives users an inside look at their destination and makes them feel the experience of traveling to the resort.

Topics: Digital and Media Marketing, User Experience, Travel Industry Optimization, Travel, Travel Industry, Optimization, content, content marketing

The Perfect Combination: Why Running Both UX and A/B Tests on Your Site Leads to an Optimized Conversion Path

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, User Experience, AB Testing, Optimization

We all know that first impressions matter… a lot.

Topics: Test and Optimization, User Experience, Optimization

On average, hotel website conversion rates (bookings per unique monthly visitor) are only two percent That means that for every 100 people who come to your site to book a room, only two complete their purchase, while the other 98 leave to book a room elsewhere. 

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, User Experience, Travel Industry Optimization, Travel, Travel Industry, AB Testing, Optimization

Increasingly, millennials are combining their business trips with leisure. By extending their work-focused stays for a few days to do things like see local sites or enjoy a city's restaurant scene, these "bleisure" travelers are redefining a key market in the hospitality sector. This growing market is a little tricky to target, since their leisure stays piggyback on business trips. With an understanding of who these bleisure travelers are and what their particular needs are, however, travel sites can tap into this group of consumers, and meet their unique booking and planning needs.

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, CTA, targeting, analytics, data, Optimization Tools, User Experience, E-Commerce, Optimization

Having engaging, clearly communicated written content is one of the most important ways travel websites can draw users in, keep them on the site, and ultimately move them through the funnel and encourage action, i.e. a booking or sale. From strong calls-to-action to eye-catching headlines to enticing descriptions of destinations and activities, content on travel sites plays a key part in the overall user experience.

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, CTA, targeting, analytics, data, Optimization Tools, User Experience, E-Commerce, Optimization

There are some people who believe targeting millennials in their email campaigns is a waste of time. At Multiplica, we believe this couldn't be further from the truth and feel marketers should absolutely keep millennials in mind as they craft their email campaigns. Here's why:

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, CTA, targeting, analytics, data, Optimization Tools, User Experience, E-Commerce, Optimization

What is 1-to-1 Personalization?

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, CTA, targeting, analytics, data, Optimization Tools, User Experience, E-Commerce, Optimization

Technology is all about doing more with less, and this is especially true for artificial intelligence. At its core, AI involves complex computations that allow machines to make decisions that closely mimic natural, human decision-making. However, since AI can be "taught" how to use specific inputs (such as pictures or text) to produce specific responses, these systems can be programmed to perform tasks as varied as providing answers to general queries (making them ideally suited as customer care assistants or help guides), to making suggestions based on user interests and browsing history (allowing them to make accurate guesses at products or offers that someone would like).

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, CTA, targeting, analytics, data, Optimization Tools, User Experience, E-Commerce, Optimization

In 2016, global digital travel sales were $630 billion. By 2020, they are projected to reach $818 billion - an increase of 30 percent in just four years. This rapid growth is being fueled by new applications of technology to the travel and hospitality industries. Developments such as travel chatbots and virtual assistants, analytics-based fare forecasting, human-like interactions with digital virtual assistants and facial recognition scanning and surveillance are the new drivers of industry growth.

Topics: Test and Optimization, Digital and Media Marketing, CTA, targeting, analytics, data, Optimization Tools, User Experience, E-Commerce, Optimization