Why a smart availability strategy means success
Don’t you have a smart availability strategy yet? Do you know that it can help you increase your bookings and therefore your revenue?
Let us tell you what it’s all about!
It is impossible to have a similar reaction to something that we always have there and we can catch easily, to something that we are certain that if we do not catch it, someone else will and we will lose it forever.
For sapiens, and it is in our nature, it is difficult to resist to lose something that we have had our eye on. If we really want that thing, or not so much.
So, we surely agree that creating that sense of urgency is vital to selling more. And we can generate it according to the two key variables, quantity and time.
A key example of using an availability strategy is Booking which uses the quantity variable with great success. We have all seen many times how in each property profile, they include a ‘there is only one room left’.
Amazon, on the other hand, not only uses the quantity variable, but also the time variable on numerous occasions: ´x minutes left´ to take that offer…
Generating a sense of urgency is emotional, not rational!
Keys for a smart availability strategy
- Be authentic and honest. We have to make sure that we comply with what we say. That is, if a promotion has a certain time, do not continue offering it after that time. Our guests are not stupid, and obviously, we don’t treat them as such.
- Select the price properly. Make sure that we generate the sensation of bargain that cannot be lost.
- Don’t be repetitive. Do not always apply the same strategy to the same products.
- Be credible: If we use this strategy, we must make sure that it is something logical. For example, if we offer a pizza on arrival, it is not very credible to say that there are only two pizzas available.
Thank you very much for reading!
Jose A. Fernández
C.P.O. and Creative Director at Chekin
If you’d like to connect, say hello on twitter @joseafernandez
