From awareness to sales: The top-performing UK travel brands

Using data from YouGov BrandIndex — which monitors several key measures of brand health daily — we analyse here the effectiveness of winter campaigns by key travel companies in the UK in terms of consumer Ad Awareness.

Next, we look at the period between this past November to mid-January of the new year and evaluate how these brands guide consumers through the purchase funnel—from Awareness to Consideration and ultimately to Purchase Intent. This understanding provides insights into their competitive performance in the industry and ability to turn awareness into actual sales.

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 UK travel companies have high rates of Awareness among UK adults with Booking.com at 85.7%, TUI at 84.1%, Jet2holidays at 82.7%, Trivago at 80.8%, Expedia at 77.4%, easyJet holidays at 74.9%, Virgin Holidays at 74.8% and British Airways Holidays at 59.8%.

Stage 2: Consideration

When it comes to the travel companies UK consumers would consider purchasing from the next time they’re in market for a holiday, Booking.com leads the pack with a 42.2% Consideration score. TUI and Jet2holidays are neck-and-neck with a 27.1% and 26.6% Consideration score respectively.

The average conversion rate from Awareness to Consideration is 28%. Booking.com’s conversion rate from Awareness to Consideration is at 49% indicating that the company is effective at converting half of consumers into considerers. TUI and Jet2holidays have similar conversion rates at 32%.

Around 18.8% of UK consumers would consider Expedia and 17.6% would consider easyJet holidays and these brands convert at a rate of 24% each, between Awareness and Consideration.

Despite British Airways Holidays’ comparatively lower Awareness score (59.8%), it begins to make up for lost ground with a 17.5% Consideration score and 29% conversion rate.

Stage 3: Purchase Intent

The Purchase Intent stage shows the brands consumers would be most likely to buy. The average rate of conversion from Consideration to Purchase Intent is 34%. Booking.com (26.3%) earns the highest Purchase Intent score, followed by TUI at 11% and Jet2holidays at 10.9%. While nearly two-thirds of considerers are converted to purchase intent from Booking.com (62%), roughly two-fifths are converted from both TUI and Jet2holidays (40% and 41% respectively).

British Airways Holidays continues to make up for lost ground at the bottom of the funnel with a 34% conversion rate from the Consideration stage to the Purchase Intent stage.

Virgin Holidays earns a Purchase Intent score of 3.2% and converts at 20% from the Consideration stage.

Despite Trivago’s high Awareness score, the company loses ground in the middle of the funnel, but it begins to pick up with a 3.1% Purchase Intent score, representing a 21% conversion rate.

Image: Getty Images