US: Which travel companies are best at turning awareness to purchase intent in the new year?
Using data from YouGov BrandIndex — which monitors several key measures of brand health daily — this analysis provides insights into a brand’s ability to guide consumers through different stages of the purchase funnel, a crucial part of understanding marketing performance. This understanding provides valuable information about the brand's competitive standing in the industry and enables an assessment of its effectiveness in translating consumer awareness into actual sales.
Looking at the period of the first three months of the year, we’ll uncover how well these brands are at converting consumers from Awareness to Consideration and finally to Purchase Intent.
Stage 1: Awareness
At the top of the purchase funnel is Awareness, a measure of if consumers have ever heard of a brand. As you’d expect, all of these major US travel companies have high rates of Awareness among US adults with Expedia at 82.4%, Travelocity at 74%, Priceline at 73%, Trivago at 71.6%, Booking.com at 71.6% and Kayak at 59%.
Stage 2: Consideration
When it comes to the travel companies US consumers would consider purchasing from the next time they’re in the market to book travel, Expedia and Booking.com lead the pack with 23.3% of US consumers saying they would consider booking with the brands. Travelocity and Priceline are neck-and-neck with Consideration scores of 17% and 16%, respectively. These two brands convert at a rate of 22%, between Awareness and Consideration.
Despite Booking.com’s lower Awareness score (71.6%), it begins to make up for lost ground with a 33% conversion rate indicating that the company is effective at converting a third of aware consumers into considerers.
Expedia holds the second highest conversion rate between Awareness and Consideration (28%).
Roughly three in 20 US consumers would consider Trivago (15%) with a conversion rate of 21%. Kayak earns a Consideration score of 10% and converts at 17% from the Awareness stage. Kayak's lower brand salience leads to a lower Consideration rate. Mental availability is critical as consumers look to brand memories when the moment of purchase is upon them.
Stage 3: Purchase Intent
The Purchase Intent stage shows the brands consumers would be most likely to buy. Booking.com earns the highest Purchase Intent score (8.5%) where more than a third of considerers are converted to Purchase Intent (36%).
Despite Expedia’s high Awareness score, the company loses ground in the middle of the funnel, but it begins to pick up with an 8.3% Purchase Intent score, representing a 36% conversion rate the Consideration stage.
Trivago earns a Purchase Intent score of 3.8% and converts at 25% from the Consideration stage.
Kayak continues to make up for lost ground at the bottom of the funnel with a 20% conversion rate from the Consideration stage to the Purchase Intent stage. Brands like Travelocity and Priceline with lower rates of conversion need to focus on potential brand barriers as they look to improve lower funnel conversion rates. Understanding the gap in the funnel could reveal insights into how to better position the brand in the minds of consumers.
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