Product category:
Web measurement, analytics
News Release from: WebTrends | Subject: WebTrends web analytics
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 08 April 2008
Analytics consultancy helps Virgin soar
Virgin Atlantic needed to ensure that its website was performing at the optimum level and, as one of its first steps to achieving this goal, invested in web analytics from WebTrends.
Since it was founded 22 years ago, Virgin Atlantic Airways has become Britain's second largest airline serving the world's major cities Initially seen as the small newcomer taking on the establishment, its reputation for quality and innovative product development meant that by 2006 Virgin Atlantic's total cumulative passenger numbers were 50 million and by 2006 its turnover was an impressive GBP1.9 billion
This article was originally published on Marketingservicestalk on 2 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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However, airlines work in a highly competitive industry where potential customers have an ever-growing variety of opportunities to find the best deals online.
As a result, Virgin Atlantic needed to ensure that its website was performing at the optimum level and, as one of its first steps to achieving this goal, invested in a web analytics solution.
Following an in-depth and strategic review by the e-commerce team at Virgin Atlantic, it was determined that WebTrends web analytics was the answer because it would offer the most flexibility to the business.
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Understanding the behaviour behind the statistics
Web analytics give marketers a fascinating insight into their customers, explains Jeremy Willmott, User Experience and Design Manager at Visit London.
It would also enable the business to answer the detailed marketing performance questions which need to be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
Virgin Atlantic partnered with WebTrends Best Practice Analysts, leveraging the group's extensive knowledge and expertise in the travel sector to help fine-tune its site, develop Key Performance Indicators, customise its performance dashboards and create exclusive performance metrics scorecards.
"In order to influence the full capabilities of web analytics we recognised that we needed a person with expertise in this field to come and advise us through the process", said Patrick Odey, website production manager, Virgin Atlantic.
"We were also aware that by using WebTrends strategic business analysts' knowledge, it would be easier to tailor the software and reporting methods specifically to our needs so we could see what was working in very real terms".
Since WebTrends' solutions are fully customisable to vertical markets and individual businesses, Virgin Atlantic was able to obtain unique insights into business performance.
By working closely with the team at Virgin Atlantic, WebTrends enabled multiple teams across the organisation to get a consistent view of their results.
They leveraged the data collected for every visitor to Virgin Atlantic's sites, providing maximum insight and value through the implementation of specific elements such as campaign tracking, first-party cookies and content grouping, which resulted in accurate information that the team could take action on right away.
They also leveraged the power of WebTrends SmartView, a browser overlay metrics display, making it significantly easier for the team to evaluate page real estate, and ultimately improve link prominence, content effectiveness and page conversions.
"At first we were relying on our marketing agencies to supply data on campaign performance", said Odey.
"This presented its own problems in terms of the reliability, consistency and timeliness of the information we received.
"After spending time discussing our needs with the WebTrends Best Practice Analyst we quickly learned how to track our own marketing campaigns across marketing partners and demand channels using consistent, accurate metrics based on the direct marketing standard - actual unique visitors.
"It was then possible to balance the success of all of our marketing initiatives against results and pinpoint where campaigns were losing prospects.
"Analysing the response of different visitor segments to specific promotions and comparing their results to our overall averages also helped us better understand our customers".
WebTrends helped Virgin Atlantic enhance their marketing analytics from initial software implementation to continual optimisation of online marketing results, providing: increased visibility into marketing performance via desktop alerts; enhanced evaluation of page real estate and the ability to identify the impact of onsite promotions using WebTrends SmartView; more efficient conversion processes for a better customer experience with insight from WebTrends 5-Point Scenario.
Prior to the implementation of WebTrends analytics solution, attributing revenue to campaigns was simply not possible for Virgin Atlantic.
However following the launch of a desktop alert service, they were able to view revenue associated to visitors clicking on links in the application.
They were also able to tie conversion events to specific campaigns, demonstrating how they directly benefited the business in terms of revenue generation.
In addition, the implementation of WebTrends SmartView had a massive impact on the site and its value to the business.
By being able to easily evolve and evaluate its homepage, Virgin Atlantic was able to focus on improving key areas of the page and removing less successful areas.
"WebTrends SmartView has become an invaluable tool in developing and optimising site layout - we can now track the success of navigation links such as special offers, flights times and frequent flyer displayed on the homepage - which is absolutely fundamental as the first port of call for prospective customers," said Odey.
"Before this implementation, it was at best a guess as to how specific links were working and whether there were ways to optimise their success.
"Today we can view the page and see very clearly which links are getting the most click-throughs and generating the most conversions.
"Equally, you don't want pages that aren't working just sitting there for months at a time".
Not all of Virgin Atlantic's site objectives related directly to increasing profits.
Growing the flyer base, encouraging Frequent Flyer Club members to enroll for air mile rewards and getting passengers to use online facilities such as the do-it-yourself check-in, were also vital to the site's success moving forward.
Customers like Virgin Atlantic can gain valuable insight through WebTrends 5-Point Scenario Analysis in order to create more efficient conversion processes for a better visitor experience.
Travel-focused websites can also use WebTrends SmartView, a browser overlay that makes it easier to evaluate page real estate, improve content effectiveness, and boost conversions.
"Having a complete view of our conversion scenarios, or in layman's terms, analysing how customers move through our site to complete a goal - for example, from logging onto the site, to using the do it yourself check-in facility - helped us identify opportunities for incremental improvements", said Odey.
"We can now easily identify exactly where visitors abandoned the process and where they went next, providing us the insight needed to improve the success rate.
"We work in a constantly evolving business; there are projects in the pipeline that weren't there two weeks ago, so there will always be a need for further consultation and opportunities for us to leverage WebTrends' best practices expertise.
"Investment in this valuable expertise has made a significant change in the way we use our web analytics and has driven us to drill deeper.
"We are now soaring in meeting our business objectives and driving even greater revenue through our website".
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