The layout and the functionality of the site is what makes it so easy to use. Author -Boil The Ocean. Brand strategy examples. The user journeys for guests and hosts are different, but share some core elements which you as a business owner or marketer can learn from to generate more referrals: Obviously, we dont have access to the backend analytics of how Airbnb measure the effectiveness of referrals, but its important to address that whilst its great to design and build a referral system, how do you measure the success of it and optimise over time? This seems as good a place as any for it on the page. The instantly-recognisable logo, which they named The Blo, is designed to mean the universal symbol of belonging. After all, who is Google going to trust as a more authoritative and relevant source a site with no backlinks, or a site with 100+ backlinks. We can easily deep-dive and go back across all the years to see how theyve improved it over time, but then again this article (which is already long), would become much bigger. I noticed they use three main hooks in their Dynamic Ads copy: Find an Airbnb in [Location] with free cancellation. Heres an example of an email I received after looking at some places in Santa Monica: Lets breakdown this email section by section, there is a lot of things Airbnb are doing well: The heading and email subject line is tailored to a city I browsed and the dates I searched for. Read on to discover the essential elements of an Airbnb . The goal of this campaign was not necessarily to promote Airbnb, but to reflect the heart and soul of the destinations they serve, as well as inspire people to explore the individual cities further. In New York, the term "hotel" includes hotels, motels . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Why not take a few minutes to see how Webprofits can help you achieve your growth aspirations? Its almost like trying to decide where you want to live, even if only for a short period of time. Isnt that why you travel in the first place so you have a wild tale to regale to your friends back home in our local pub, a cold lager in hand? Note: While this will not help them rank for the [location] accommodation] keywords that have been the focus to date, it has assisted with growing the size of the Airbnb AU website and backlink profile. Airbnb knew early on that good photographs are essential to getting a booking. By offering more information and support, they will attract, convert and retain more home and experience hosts on their platform. Although the last few years have ushered in shifts at the product and organizational levels, design principles still guide us everyday. Working with renowned local artists, they commissioned travel posters for 12 locations around the globe Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Detroit, Havana, London, Paris, Florence, Nairobi, Cape Town, Tokyo, and Seoul. https://www.facebook.com/AirbnbAustralia/. In fact, when they do charge, they actually review and suggest which pictures you go with for maximum impact. Theyve been around for more than 11 years and are still growing at a rate that most business can only dream of. If Ive already booked accommodation, this section may still be of interest, or if I havent booked accommodation, this is another angle by which I could be re-excited by my interest in visiting Santa Monica. If you select Melbourne, for example, there are 19 neighbourhoods to select from, with filters like Greens Spaces and By the Beach. Theyve done this so well that theyve become synonymous with non-hotel accommodation booking, and created a new way to travel. According to the data from SEMRush, 73% of approximate ad spend goes to search terms containing accommodation. Any ideas, any theories? The service model that Air BnB has used is differentiated from the traditional hospitality business models. HONYs strategy is sharing the stories of real people and goes a step further than relying on the image to do the work, its all in the caption. Design is in our DNA and it's embedded in everything . Email Marketing: How do Airbnb use email to communicate with prospective and existing customers to drive new and repeat usage of the platform? The architecture of the building is unusual, the glimpse of the cozy/warm inside is very inviting and, to top it off, you can be at one with nature at this retreat. Not only did they revolutionise the travel industry, theyre one of the first startup unicorns to emerge in the mid-2000s and are emulated on every level from their business model and their map and search results, to their referral engines, and generally their outlook and approach to everything they do. Whether your focus is B2B or B2C, tackling this trend by placing emphasis on creating a more seamless and personalised offering will be a vehicle for growing sales and boosting margins. A request for more information can be made by contacting the host. Whilst its evident that the UI has changed over the years, theres been numerous changes to their UX, copy, layout and small additional features, which have been implemented to maximise the chances of users spreading the word. Airbnbs timeline is varied in terms of post content and types. I see social media advertising, particularly Facebook Ads, playing a major role in this strategy and being one of the best channels for Airbnb to: These two stages of the Host journey feature in what Airbnb refers to as the List Your Space (LYS) flow: Airbnbs concept of multi-touch attribution for a hypothetical user journey. It could be said that best practice on Facebook for sharing links is using the Link Preview option, rather than sharing links in the post copy with a separate image. Its an interesting challenge worth watching closely if youre a user of Airbnb. Embracing his core values of integrity, innovation and passion for the industry, Dan knows the online marketing game and is in love with his job and industry. Simple and straight to the point, and only one action is required. It can assist in a multi-channel remarketing strategy, for example, you can create a Custom Audience of your AdWords visitors who didnt convert and remarket back to these users through Facebook Ads (these visitors are gold as theyve demonstrated search intent already). Airbnb are doing a great job on this in many ways (they ranked 47 out of 50 in the same study), but I firmly believe that a brands social channels should also be used to enhance their customers experience. Of course, without insights from Airbnb I can only assume this is the case! However, there is one key difference that is prioritised in the mobile app which is different to the desktop experience. If hosts are able to help each other out with a few quick posts, then it saves Airbnb having to get involved until its absolutely necessary. Plus, the more they read/talk about it, the more theyre thinking about it, which should lead to less churn. The content gives instant value that there is content for hosts wanting extra support through toolkits or webinars which help with their hosting experience. Airbnb has also used their blog to feature reports and studies theyve created, including Airbnbs Work To Fight Discrimination and Build Inclusion Report, and the Economic Impact Study. When we delve more into why Facebook is perfect for top & middle of funnel objectives, it relates to 3 things: Looking at the messaging theyre using in Host ads, I like the angles that Airbnb have chosen to run with. But the designs did more than give artists an opportunity to display their talents they brought some of the magic back to traveling, allowing users to immerse themselves in local communities. Airbnb has taken an impressive approach to content using storytelling and curation to drive growth. By offering a guarantee on insurance they took away the biggest fear that their hosts (and potential hosts) have, ensuring that they feel comfortable renting out their property. Airbnb focuses on providing a human experience with personalized touches. As we predicted, it has now become a core pillar of Airbnb's strategy. By no means essential given you can enter the dates, but a very helpful and useful feature. Airbnb have also gone down this route, creating an @AirbnbHelp account which is their go-to account for all customer service related issues. Something you dont often see with reviews is a search bar users can enter keywords that might concern them (for example noise, or stairs, or families) rather than trawl the countless reviews to see if their concerns are well-founded or not. Airbnbs Facebook content serves 3 main purposes: Lets take a more in-depth look at their content, its performance, and how they engage with their Facebook community. Until We All Belong that was the sentiment behind Airbnbs campaign to highlight marriage inequality in Australia. The focus of competition: -Unique product features -Service -New product launches -Marketing and promotion Competitive advantage achieved when: The difference here is a lot easier to spot. Besides sophisticated digital campaigns, Airbnb has contributed to traditional, even old fashioned, marketing channels in unique and highly aesthetic ways. In fact, we wrote an article on it not too long ago. As an experienced marketing consultant, Dan continually strives to perfect his craft in producing high-performing, data-driven and results-focused campaigns for his clients. If its not already clear, Airbnb are using an extensive library of headlines, and this is because most of their ads are tailored specifically to travel destinations. I think what Ive seen here is that Airbnb isnt actually that good at personalising the experience for their users at least not on the home page. This is pretty standard for most product pages, but Airbnb do it well. But from SEMrush we can see that organic growth has been stagnant for the last year. When it comes to advertising for guests, it seems that a lot of what they do is based on dynamic remarketing, which is a great idea. Lets take a look at Melbourne, for example. Certainly not at the expense of anything else that was already there. Best practice would be to also have these links built with UTM parameters this allows you to then go and view the performance of the links in Google Analytics, however its evident that they are not using UTM parameters. Airbnb should review and update their Title Tags and Meta Descriptions to fit the length parameters provided by Google . Highlights their hosts as a key part of the Airbnb experience. That's what Airbnb has bet on since 2008, when a three-member team of designers and an engineer set out to solve the essential problem of where to stay. And while many businesses have been created that rent out properties on Airbnb, there are still a significant number of properties where the host still lives there. Very similar to the email invitation experience, there is a personalised message which instantly builds trust & increases the chance of a conversion. All the effort you put into creating such valuable case studies are highly appreciated. Airbnb has turned me into a huge advocate by just connecting with my preferred way to travel. browse homes. Focus on community and trust. However, as this Title Tag is longer than the 60 characters allowed for by Google on Desktop search, what is actually seen by the user can be seen below: This results in a less than optimal user experience, which could be impacting their click-through and their rankings. The part about the airbnb community is excellent! Airbnb is an American company working on online marketing and offer hospitality services like holiday cottages, apartments, homestays, hotel rooms, or hostel beds for people to lease or rent during activities relating to tourism. differentiation, hybrid and Blue Ocean. When it comes to the homepage, we are instantly presented with plenty of content we can view. Lacking a strong organic search strategy and missing fundamental CRO elements: Airbnb is not activity driving organic traffic to the stories nor converting any readers which may land here. It keeps users engaged and, in many ways, motivated to invite more friends or follow those up who havent signed up. The stories, tips, and tricks all help to reinforce the positive feelings that hosts get as part of being part of the Airbnb community. By positioning themselves as a way to experience travel, rather than as an accommodation booking engine, they were able to connect with a segment of the travel market who felt their options were fairly limited. Basically it is the hierarchical structure of a website. As these stats show, Twitter adoption in Australia has been slow and has not seen the same kind of growth that Facebook & Instagram has in recent years. Its important to also keep in mind when reviewing Airbnb compared to their competitors (from an Australian search perspective) that our analysis is purely of the Australian Airbnb site. When we scroll down the page, we see the instructions for the process. Although the event was not quite as successful as they hoped, the company did gain a valuable insight. With a product approach like this, its no wonder theyre such a successful business. It genuinely makes me consider wanting to explore more through these actions, even if I dont start a conversation. Each persona is spoken to in a way that focuses on the values & motivations for what will entice them to use the platform. If we refer back to the notion of video content being great for storytelling, it may be that Airbnb is happy enough with someone watching a video and if they click through to read the full article relating to that video, thats a bonus, the article perhaps has more value for SEO than social. Wotif.com offers a larger selection of options than Booking.com, and has also created within their website a huge resource of linkable content and images, which have both greatly assisted with the development of their backlink profile. In fact, back in 2011 they even paid for hosts to have professional photographs taken of their properties. The next best-performing page is Melbourne, Australia with 1.9% of the total traffic, and 479 ranked keywords. Airbnb is far more than a platform to find inexpensive hotel accommodations. Yes, hosts are charged 3%, but as Airbnb states on their website, this fee is to cover the cost o. Without a look at Airbnbs marketing calendar and a review into their campaigns, its hard to determine exactly what other efforts Airbnb may have actioned at the time to result in such an increase. Heres an example of Airbnb adding to the conversation in the comments of one of their posts. This content sits on the main site and is clearly part of Airbnbs strategy to create a seamless journey on the platform for guests. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends, only 33% trust online ads (Nielsen). Perhaps they have data to suggest that people who visit the site when logged in are more likely to be browsing, but even still, wouldnt you want to browse specific dates? If you were wondering how they get permission for re-sharing a users image, heres an example: Airbnb were an early adopter of Instagram Stories, and have featured in numerous articles across the internet as a brand that is crushing it with this feature, of which I totally agree. Im not 100% sure of the exact reason why we can only see this for now. Many of the ads they use feature video, which is positive, but they dont feature real Australians talking about their experiences with being an Airbnb host. One of the ways to achieve that is to strive for getting maximum value from each customer(higher Customer Lifetime Value(CLTV)) It means the brand should look for developing loyal customers. Theyre spending their budget on users who have shown high intent, and show them highly relevant ads to increase the chance of conversion. Airbnb's differentiation strategy effectively resolves problems within the market and all parties are satisfied. Why would people globally care about tours in Melbourne, or suggest property management services in the area? Speaking of stories, they use Instagram Stories really well. (For the sake of this review Ill be looking at a mid-range property in Bondi Beach, Sydney.). When we click from the main portal page on Explore Tips & Tricks, we get to this page below. Among . The home owner would then spread the word about this new booking platform. Launched in 2017, the award-winning campaign encouraged people to wear a black matte metal ring with a centimeter gap in the middle, and the words Until We All Belong inscribed on the underside. The whole experience was streamlined. The biggest competitive advantage for Airbnb is its brand recognition that continues to attract users and hosts to the platform, solidifying its market leadership. With Available, this view shows who has successfully accepted and signed up to the platform from the users invitation. I also obtained a few values for each search term like average CPC, estimated traffic and average position: You can view the sheet here, as well as the raw keyword data if youre interested in doing your own analysis. Moreover, the report contains analyses of Airbnb leadership, organizational structure and organizational culture. They manage to cut the process down into 3 simple steps: Seems like a very simple process, right? I mean, an extra $3,772 AUD per month is not bad at all (wouldnt mind the extra money now that I think about it). As a travel company, cultural celebration is at the heart of Airbnbs business model. Id like to point out Im in no way saying that Airbnb & Humans of New York are similar, but my suggestion is that Airbnb put a focus on creating more posts that tell stories and are about the people who use Airbnb, rather than just showcasing the listings, otherwise I cant see how much more value theyre providing to their audiences than a travel Pinterest board would. This shows me that Airbnb have done very well to control the amount of posts that dont ask the same question. We designed Airbnb to have 100 homes in a city. The form itself is also very simple. Airbnb business level strategies. The community that Airbnb has built is impressive, and the UX flow to tackle various discussions around the platform can be easily found. Since its inception . Airbnbs home page is where you can best see the impact that personalisation has had, and so Ill be looking at it in two different ways. This action takes them beyond the scope of a simple accommodation booking tour, however does not quite match the integrations available through main competitors Booking.com or Wotif.com, who offer the following different features: Booking.com also has arrangements with a number of other services to assist the user with making this a one-stop shop, such as partnering with restaurant reservation services. Sure, you can visit the Louvre, see Buckingham Palace, and climb The Empire State Building but you can do it as if it were your home town, while staying in a place that has character and feels like a home. By listing the properties of ordinary people, they set themselves apart by offering a different experience to travellers. When aligned with a companys ideals, marketing can make a powerful statement, and in the best instances, be a force for change in the world. One thing that is noticeable however is how low the engagement on this section is compared to the previous one. Ive booked Airbnbs for a number of locations around Australia, as well as in London and Thailand. Once you press the link, you get to this screen. Ultimately, over time this has helped Airbnb. If your business strength is that you have properties and people want properties, then thats what you should focus on. As Jacqui mentioned in her SEO section, they could also do more with their content to generate backlinks to their site and improve their organic search rankings. These business strategies, based on Airbnb marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Web. If it is, I like the strategy. This does mean they cant share too much content which is specific to one location, and it also means they have to work a little harder at sharing content which is universally appealing. If I had one criticism here, though, its that they could show more personality in these ads. With the introduction of Stories, Neighbourhoods, and Guidebooks, we see how the brand is not only revolutionising the way travellers discover unusual rooms and memorable activities in every pocket of the world but encouraging users to stay on the platform to plan and book their trip. For Lectures -mmshah8@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahmm. Not many businesses go above and beyond in this way. Whats clear to me is how much value they put on understanding their users, both guests and hosts, and building a strategy that speaks to them directly. Im being highly pedantic but with the level of personalisation they go to elsewhere on the site (which Ill come to soon), Im holding them to a higher standard. There are several high-frequency pages like Canberra and Adelaide that, at the time of writing, do not feature a location-specific hero image and instead, feature a nondescript apartment image: This is an area of improvement if theyve got data to suggest a location-specific background image corresponds to a higher conversion rate. Theres no form with dates or number of guests like there was previously, so theres an extra step no matter what. To sign up as a host compared to being a guest, theres a lot more involved in terms of trying to convert them. 539,000 backlinks from approx. What Should I Do If My Guests Arrive Late?
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