• by Ken Liebeskind , August 8, 2002

Why would the Six Continents Hotel chain introduce a lowest available price policy on its websites, guaranteeing prices that match or beat top travel sites like Expedia? A survey told them it would be a good idea. The hotel chain launched the program after conducting an online survey with iPerceptions, a company that has developed a system that gauges customer attitudes about site visits.

Hotel firms are among the major users of iPerceptions because so many people visit the sites to research their travel plans. Del Ross, Six Continents director of Internet business, says millions of consumers come to the company's sites every month, which include sites for individual chains such as Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza and PriorityClub.com, the company's loyalty program. "A good portion come to book a room, but most of the time they don't," Ross says, explaining the abandonment problem his company has, which is common to almost all commercial websites. Jerry Tarasofsky, CEO of iPerceptions, says conversion rates at most sites are only one to 3% with Amazon at the high end with eight to nine. "Stores in malls would close their doors with those numbers," he says.

iPerceptions asks a series of questions aimed at determining consumer feelings about their site experience. "We dig into the core issues about why they might abandon the sites," Tarasofsky says. After the surveys are completed, usually within a week, iPerceptions sends the results to clients who can use them to make site improvements.

Ross says Six Continents sent the survey to 10% of its sites visitors twice in the past year and received a 5 to 10% response--about 12,400 responses. The responses enabled the company to learn about two major problems--customer wariness about security and price. "We punched up the exposure of our privacy policy to make them more aware that it's safe to buy on our sites," he says. "Now there is less of a concern about security."

The other problem -- that customers felt they can find better prices elsewhere, was a legitimate one, Ross admits, with other sites charging less for rooms. So the company established a low price guarantee, which is advertised heavily on the site and in search engine listings. "It's been extremely successful and our conversion rate has improved," Ross says. "More people come to the sites when they hear about it."

Six Continents plans to expand its online advertising to promote the low price and may segment a campaign to individuals from the surveys who express unawareness about price and other important issues, Ross says.

Sites could also sell more advertising after completing iPerceptions surveys. Tarasofsky explains that the surveys help sites develop more loyal audiences, which make them more valuable to advertisers. "The more data publishers can share with an advertiser about loyal users, the more opportunity they have to convince advertisers," he says. "If you reduce abandonment at your site you increase loyalty, and if you increase loyalty you provide advertisers with a more valuable audience."

Customers pay for iPerceptions software on a per use basis, running the surveys until they get a good sample. "We don't charge by time," Tarasofsky says, estimating that companies pay $15,000-$30,000 for each survey program.