After two years of intermittent lockdowns caused by the pandemic, we have all seen how technology can empower us to continually connect with friends, communities, and the wider world. Technology has also enabled Trip.com Group to ensure we meet the needs of our users and business partners over the last two years.
In this article series #TripTechSolutions, we look at how our technology has helped us overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Globally, digital content consumption has risen by 30% since the onset of Covid-19, according to Warc, a consulting agency under Ascential. Travellers with pent-up travel demand are spending more time online in search of their next destination and nearby activities. Capturing the trend of increasing digital content consumption, Trip.com Group has been building out its content ecosystem since 2020.
Inspiration comes from others, and data shows our users want to see original content from other travellers. So, we set about increasing the exposure and amount of user-generated content visible on our platforms. We redesigned our home pages so that inspiring travel content and comments posted by other users appear immediate as our apps are opened. The traffic brought in by this rearrangement also attracts influencers and users to create more higher-quality content on our platforms. In Q3 2021, the number of influencers on our platforms sequentially increased by 35% compared to the previous quarter.
On the other hand, improving the accuracy of our content recommendation system has become a technical priority. “Users today have less patience with digital information that is irrelevant to them, we are here to help them to find the most useful and interesting content effortlessly,” said Qing Wang, AI Algorithm Director at Trip.com Group.
The Tech team is constantly optimizing the search mechanism to present the most relevant content to users based on their search history. The effects of this improvement is reflected in user visit duration, now 30-35% of our unique app visitors have developed the habit of browsing our various content channels.
In addition to this, our technology has also improved the “search + recommendation” mechanism, enabling users to easily access content most relevant to their searches and the trip they are planning. For example, when you search for “Skiing at X destination”, you will not only see all the skiing activities at this location, but also hotels, restaurants, travel tips for this place, and even other skiing locations near the destination you searched for. Such an improvement in the accuracy of content recommendation allows users to find the most useful and relevant content effortlessly.
With the help of our technology, Trip.com Group’s content pivot has transformed our app offering, and leads the global travel industry in the building of such a vast and ambitious content ecosystem. In 2021, a year since the rolling out of this strategy, we’ve seen:
220 million+ users view our content
The total amount of content published on our platform increase by 100% YoY
Monthly content-to-transaction conversion rate reach 30% in July, and significant increases in our content-to-transaction conversion rate
“We have an ambition to build the largest travel content ecosystem, so that travellers naturally turn to Trip.com Group’s platforms when they need useful information and inspiration in preparation for their next trip,” said Bo Sun, CMO of Trip.com Group. “Technology makes this ambition possible.”
Check out other blogs in the #TripTechSolutions series:
How Our Tech Protects User Data
Driving Efficient Customer Service