Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online

Conversion Cycle Presentation To The American Marketing Association April 20, 2006
Rhonda Gilligan Manager, Content Development Experience Design Lead Rhonda.Gilligan@disney.com

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online

The department within the Walt Disney company engaged in all online initiatives for: All Theme Parks and Resorts worldwide All niche businesses centered around Theme Parks: Disney Meetings Disney Weddings Disney Sports Disney Vacation Club All online promotional activities for new attractions or entertainment Games that tie the online experience to the in-park experience

WDPRO Product Portfolio

In total over 24 million unique visitors a year!

In the past 4 years, sites within the WDPRO Portfolio went from generating 7% of total segment pre-arrival sales to generating over 23% of total segment revenue.

HOW DID WE CREATE THIS OVER 300% GROWTH?

We redesigned all the sites in the portfolio starting with Walt Disney World We tested and measured the effectiveness of tactics and content during and upon completion of each site redesign We took lessons learned forward across each new work effort We retrofitted sites through enhancement and optimization efforts with lessons and functionality gained from new projects.

Testing and Analytics employed to understand users in order to improve conversion included:

Market Focus Group testing Usability testing of existing sites Click Stream analysis Hitbox Analysis User Feedback Pop-under Surveys

On Property exit polls Conversion metrics Guest-facing employee input Call center logs Live Chat transcripts A/B Testing

Tonight we will look tactical examples of how this information continues to help us improve conversions for Disneyworld.com

Vacation Planning/Conversion Cycle

VACATION PLANNING CYCLE Consider Gather Info Choose/Buy Planning Experience Intent to Return CONVERSION TACTICS Advertising/SEO/Affiliate Marketing Content and Segmentation Recommenders and Online Sales CRM/MDV On Property (Mobile Initiatives) Photo Pass, Memory Maker, VMK

Tactical Examples from Disneyworld.com

Challenges to Conversion
Multiple user segments with multiple barriers and needs Complex sales model with numerous options Large scope of destination High price point for Internet purchases Length of time between purchase and experience High expectations of the worlds preeminent entertainment brand

Tactical Examples from Disneyworld.com

Today, we will look at four specific strategies used to address these barriers:
Entry Point Marketing Segmentation Targeting Calls to Action and Offers Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

We employed these tactics to improve conversions in five specific ways:

Increase over all sales conversion Increase online revenue per sale Increase site registration Effect operational savings by decreasing call center per-call time Increase call center per-sale revenue from shoppers who visited the site
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Entry Point Marketing

Result of tactic: Decreased abandonment, decreased time spent on homepage, higher user satisfaction rating.

The homepage aggregates content into buckets that map to the needs of different user segments and planning stages (e.g. intenders, repeaters, info gathers, bookers or planners) As the site primarily targets firsttime intenders, a generic welcome module with content entry points to key information needs appears as the topmost element of content on the page. For return visitors, cookies move the welcome module down and present planning and booking modules in the top position.

Intenders

Repeaters Info Gathering Info Gathering Repeaters

Planners Planners

Choose/Buy Choose/Buy

Intenders

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Entry Point Marketing

Result of tactic: Significantly higher offer conversion.

Banner ads link to offer-specific landing pages to drive Guests directly to the information they are looking for.

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Entry Point Marketing

Result of tactic: Greater time spent with content and higher registration conversion.

Natural Search and PPC ads go directly to the detail for the item searched for, bypassing the homepage and the need for Guests to try and follow navigation to the desired content.

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Segmentation
We view segmentation as moving through five states:
1. Browsing: Anonymous 2. Experience Segment Inferred 3. Browsing: Experience Segment Identified 4. Registration 5. Browsing: Registered & Logged-in

What We Know about the User:

State 1- Nothing- User is browsing the site anonymously State 2- Inferred interest in current Experience segment State 3- Experience category known State 4- Householding information, past Brand relationship and intentions State 5- Guest profile and experience categories of interest

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Segmentation
We utilize a fluid, opt-in form of segmentation that allows Guests to self-select the information that best maps to their current intended trip.

Guests often live in multiple categories Guests move between categories for different trips Categories are based on age of children and interests of adults

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Segmentation
Experience categories are designed to overcome Guest barriers and support key business drivers:
Guest Barriers Is there enough for me/my family to do? Is this the right time? What services exists to help me manage? Business Goals Close the sale. Drive Guests to all four Theme Parks. Increase overall length of stay. Intro text reinforces resonance of the experience for this Guest segment Relevancy blurb enhances credibility of recommendations Recommendations include a minimum of five items from each Park and five from outside the parks. Tips offer information nuggets that help solve concerns Promos can be custom targeted to the individual segment

Result of tactic: Guests who enter booking having explored segment content spend more money and book for longer lengths of stay.

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Segmentation
Ongoing research and conversion numbers indicate a need for enhancements and optimization

New Landing Page Will: Group items by Park instead of type Include a Booking entry Offer more targeted promos Allow Guests to explore recommendations without leaving the page Give Guests the ability to add all to their favorites list Let Guests view all segment recommendations on our interactive map

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Segmentation

In the anonymous state, Guests receive generic info about which segments specific products are appropriate for.

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Segmentation
In the inferred state, Guests who came to the detail page from the segment landing page receive custom navigational paths to content targeting the segment. In the explicit state, Guests who have selected a segment in their reg profile receive custom navigational paths to content targeting that segment irrespective of how they come to the page.
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Targeting Calls to Action and Offers

Magic Kingdom Landing Page Call to Action is to Buy Tickets once in the ticketbuying path, Guest is upsold to packages Promos promote: Little Ones special offer VMK game, an immersive experience shown to influence intent to visit Attractions at other Parks to increase number of Parks visited by each Guest and overall length of stay Future strategy: change out promos based on identified segment
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Targeting Calls to Action and Offers

Deluxe Resorts Landing Page Checking Rates returns offers for any Resort in this category Promos promote: Deluxe Vacation Packages Backstage Pass a CRM initiative to capture Guest data

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Targeting Calls to Action and Offers

Click stream analysis shows Guests visit to do research five times before booking, so we are redesigning this section to simplify research.
New Landing Page Will: Group items by Park instead of type Include a Booking entry Offer more targeted promos Allow Guests to explore recommendations without leaving the page.

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Targeting Calls to Action and Offers

Specific Resort Landing Page Checking Rates returns offers for this specific Resort Adding this Resort to favorites is a registration driver

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Targeting Calls to Action and Offers

Dining Detail Page Call to Action is to make reservations Contextual link to Dining Plan helps upsell the option Adding this restaurant to favorites is a registration driver

Result of tactic: In aggregate, these custom tactics enhance relevance and move more Guests into conversion streams.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Result of tactic: Though difficult to correlate, online sales have continued to convert at increasing rates that are higher than industry standard.
At the entry point to booking we reassure the Guest as to the benefits of shopping online We created the Disney Recommends brand and alert Guests to watch for call outs that will display the best value. We overcome the fear and barrier of online safety.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Result of tactic: It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of this tactic as we cant determine which Guests on the page were comparison shopping versus intending to book.

In the Resort Discovery Process we reinforce the benefits of staying on property at a Disney Resort and provide easy-access to recommenders and comparison tools.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Result of tactic: Together, these tactics increased Park Hopping penetration over 19% and added an average one additional day per ticket.

In Ticket Discovery we default to the Park Hopper option and use the Disney Recommends messaging to reinforce this options value and benefit. We also reveal tiered pricing structure to help the Guest understand why it is of benefit to stay longer.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Guest feedback revealed that the ticket options were difficult to understand, so we created media that tells to benefits of each option in an engaging and accessible way. Subsequent feedback showed that many Guests were unable to view the media because they were researching at work, so our next effort will be to improve the inline ticket descriptions to further enhance our decision point marketing.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Result of tactic: Placement of this tile resulted in an immediate 12% penetration increase of the Dining Plan.
At offer, Guests have the option to upgrade to a package that includes the Disney Dining Plan. We demonstrate the value of the plan in a large promo tile placed directly next to the functionality to choose it. In an upcoming effort, we will be creating various versions of this promo that correspond to different dining options and decision points to increase relevancy throughout the site experience.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Result of tactic: Within days of launching Live Chat we saw revenue increases of a very significant amount.

Under specific conditions, we will offer the Guest a Live-Chat option to save the sale:
If the guest has been idle for a defined period of time If the guest abandons or backs up in the booking pages. If a guest has been on the Offers or Booking page longer than 30 seconds. If a guest has modified their search more than 2 times in 3 minutes. If a guest has modified their package selection more than 2 times in 3 minutes If a guest has received more than 2 data errors on the same page. If a guest is viewing saved shops and has more than one listed. If a guest is shopping for a party size that will require multiple rooms and cannot be booked online.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

Result of tactic: About 10% of Guests click to view this upsell offer; of those, more than 6% convert.
Using the Disney Recommends brand we upsell Resort categories at Offer.

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Save the Sale and Upsell Strategies

This tactic, currently under development, prompts a Guest that is closing the browser or abandoning the page to log in to save offers. Registration will capture their data and match it to the saved offer. This will bring the Guest into our CRM communication stream allowing us to send specially targeted offers based on what we know they were looking for.

Guests who enter the CRM stream from data gathered while shopping, convert at 25% when recontacted.

You have saved 3 offers. Dont lose this information. Log In or Register now to save your offer information to shop and compare later.

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In Conclusion
Good enough never is kept setting new goals and optimizing to achieve them Use every source of information available to you Try stuff you can always go back Dont try too many things at once or you wont know which one worked Watch what your competitors are doing Talk to and listen to your users Attach a benefit or urgency driver to every Call to Action

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