SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), today announced the results of the Keynote Competitive Research Industry Study examining U.S. Cruise Booking Websites. In the 2011 U.S. Cruise Study, Carnival took first place for Best Overall Customer Experience, while Holland America took first for Responsiveness (Speed) and Orbitz placed first for Reliability. The entire study is available for immediate purchase. To request more information please visit: http://bit.ly/cruisestudy.
Winners of Keynote Competitive Research studies are invited to participate in the company’s Online Excellence Program which recognizes the "best of the best" websites as ranked in the studies. The rankings are based on responses from real users, who were observed as they accomplished tasks on each of the sites studied, as well as real data collected through Keynote website monitoring to assess the technical quality of the sites. For each study, Keynote recognizes the companies with the overall top ranking, as well as those exhibiting excellence in specific categories.
For the ‘Customer Experience’ portion of the study, Keynote observed and conducted online interviews with 2,400 prospective cruise bookers as they interacted with the websites of a total of 12 leading cruise and travel sites: Carnival, Celebrity, CruisesOnly, Disney Cruise Line, Expedia, Holland America, Norwegian, Orbitz, Priceline.com, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Travelocity.
For the ‘Technical Quality’ portion of the study, Keynote performed 5,000 total measurements for each site, for a total of 60,000 total measurements, from 12 locations in the U.S.
Keynote Competitive Research produces leading industry research using the company’s commercially available Web performance monitoring and real user experience testing products. Keynote regularly evaluates the current state of online customer experience, technical quality (responsiveness/reliability) and implementation of best practices on leading websites across a wide variety of vertical markets including financial services, automotive, media/entertainment, retail, travel and technology.
More Information about the Customer Experience Rankings for Cruise Booking Websites
For the ‘Customer Experience’ component of the study, Keynote sent 200 U.S. resident Internet users to each of the 12 cruise booking websites. The online panelists were asked to evaluate the website’s home page and form an initial impression of the site and its offerings. Panelists were then asked to use the site to research a cruise that would best meet their needs in terms of price, activities, and any other criteria that might be important to them. Next, panelists were asked to use tools available on the site to explore activities, both on the ship and off the ship, that are available for their chosen itinerary and destination. Finally, the panelists were asked to decide on cruise options for their trip, and proceed as far as possible through the booking process without actually completing the reservation, making note of the total price for the booking, including activities and any other add-ons. Panelists were then asked to use the site to find the answer to a question or problem they may have had when planning a cruise vacation, either during the evaluation or in the past.
The study revealed that when tested by actual users Carnival’s www.carnival.com offers the strongest Overall Customer Experience, placing first in Brand Impact and Conversion Impact. Other key findings include:
- Design & Organization is now the most important aspect of the customer experience, predicting brand perceptions and conversion;
- Activity Research, Booking, and Search Capability moved up in importance in 2011; and
- Price Satisfaction and Site Performance remain important drivers in 2011.
“Based on our quantitative and qualitative insight into the attitudes and behavior of actual users as they interact with cruise booking sites from their own computers on their own time, our 2011 study revealed that when researching and booking a cruise online, good website design and organization is the top determining factors of a positive customer experience, beating out both price satisfaction and customer support,” said Christopher Musto, general manager of the Keynote Competitive Research group at Keynote.
More Information about the Technical Quality Rankings in the Cruise Booking Website Study
In addition to evaluating customer experience with its panel of actual users, the Keynote study also examined two broad aspects of technical quality: responsiveness and reliability. Responsiveness comprises: high speed response, DSL (midband) response, response time consistency, geographic uniformity and load handling, while reliability is comprised of availability and outages.
For the ‘Technical Quality’ portion of the study, using measurement computers located in 12 cities across the U.S., Keynote measured a typical transaction of starting at the site’s Home Page and going through the process of searching for a particular cruise itinerary, starting the booking process and stopping where panelists were asked for their personal information. Based on the thousands of transactions monitored over the course of the study, Holland America ranked first in Responsiveness (speed), while Orbitz led the group in Reliability.
“Based on the rigorous testing that Keynote performed for this study, Holland America’s website recorded the fastest and most consistent response times, while Orbitz scored a perfect 1000 on Keynote’s Reliability scale, providing the highest level of site availability,” said Ben Rushlo, director of performance management at Keynote.
In order to collect the Technical Quality data Keynote used its Transaction Perspective® product, the leading real browser based service for measuring and monitoring Web site performance from the end user perspective. With Keynote Transaction Perspective the company examines website performance from multiple geographic locations by simulating users clicking through transactions on a website. Keynote collected more than 5,000 data points that detailed each of the sites’ technical performance in terms of page responsiveness and reliability.
The study is available for purchase from Keynote and comes with extensive analysis of brand impact, acquisition impact, reliability and responsiveness and the factors that drive sites’ performance in these areas. Clients will receive an executive presentation, extensive back-up charts and illustrations, and online access to all clickstreams, verbatims, question responses and panel facts for all panelists at all sites for all tasks and can download and use this data in their own research. To inquire about a copy, please visit us online: http://bit.ly/cruisestudy.
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About Keynote
Keynote Systems (NASDAQ:KEYN) is the global leader in Internet and mobile cloud monitoring. We provide companies with solutions for continuously improving the online experience. Founded in 1995, Keynote delivers testing, monitoring and measurement products and services for any enterprise including online portals, e-commerce sites, B2B sites, mobile operators and mobile infrastructure providers. Keynote products and services help companies improve customer experience in four areas: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming and real user experience testing.
Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote has a market-leading on-demand infrastructure of over 3,000 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 275 locations around the world. Keynote's 2,800 customers represent top Internet and mobile companies including American Express, AT&T, Disney, eBay, E*TRADE, Expedia, Google, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, T-Mobile and Vodafone.
Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at 1-800-KEYNOTE.
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