SAN MATEO, Calif., — April 30, 2007 —Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), today announced the release of a series of competitive research studies examining the online travel industry, including studies of airline, hotel and rental car Web sites. Collectively, the studies provide an in-depth examination of the online customer experience and service levels (site responsiveness and reliability) of more than 25+ leading airline, hotel and rental car Web sites.
The data and insights provided by Keynote’s Competitive Research are built using the company’s commercially available Web performance and customer experience test and measurement products.
All three studies are available for purchase now from Keynote Competitive Research. For more information about the studies, and to view the names of all 25 sites included in the studies, please view: www.keynote.com/keynote_competitive_research/industry_studies/apr3007_travel_study.html
Customer Experience Rankings for Online Travel Web Sites
Each of the Experience Rankings studies examine the online experience of more than 1,800 to 2,000 consumers as they interacted with leading Web sites in the airline, hotel and rental car industries. The studies detail how each site performs versus competitors across key business objectives, including customer satisfaction and customer acquisition, and captures more than 250+ metrics for each site. The study provides competitive rankings in dozens of categories, as well as specific and actionable steps sites can take to improve their online performance, customer satisfaction, brand appeal and customer acquisition.
Keynote customer experience studies employ Keynote WebEffective™, an on-demand software platform for conducting in-depth user experience research which integrates the best aspects of usability, behavior and attitudinal research.
Service Level Rankings for Online Travel Web Sites
The Keynote Service Level Rankings studies examine the technical performance of leading online travel sites, including site responsiveness and reliability. The study uses Keynote’s Transaction Perspective® product, the leading subscription-based service for measuring and monitoring Web site performance. Transaction Perspective mimics the actions of consumers and examines performance from multiple geographic locations, collecting more than 6,500 data points for each site to detail online technical performance. The study offers online travel sites insight into their technical performance relative to their competitors, and provides detailed data on their site’s performance across seven key measures critical to the operational health of an online credit card site.
Expedia Ranks #1 in Customer Experience Across All Studies: Airline, Hotel and Rental Car
Expedia was ranked as the #1 site in the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings in each of the three studies – Airline, Hotel and Rental Car – with the best overall ranking across the 250+ customer experience metrics measured in each study. In the Airline study, among the 15 online travel and airline Web sites included in the study, Expedia ranked #1 in customer experience followed by Orbitz and Southwest Airlines. In the Hotel and Lodging study, Expedia also ranked #1 followed by Travelocity, with Marriott the highest ranked site operated by a lodging provider. Expedia also ranked #1 in the Rental Car study, with Budget the highest ranked direct rental car provider.
In the Keynote Service Level Rankings studies American Airlines had the airline industry’s best reliability (an indication the site was highly available and experienced little or no downtime) and Southwest Airlines had the best site responsiveness (an indication of how fast sites were in downloading pages and completing transactions.) In the Hotel and Lodging study, Marriott recorded both the industry’s best site reliability and site responsiveness. In the Rental Car study, Dollar recorded the industry’s best site reliability and Hertz recorded the best site responsiveness.
Here are the top level results of the study:
Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Travel Web Sites |
|
|---|---|
| #1 |
Airline Site – Expedia |
#1 |
Hotel Site – Expedia |
#1 |
Rental Car Site – Expedia |
Keynote Service Level Rankings for Travel Web Sites |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
Site Reliability |
Site Responsiveness |
||
| #1 | Airline – American Airlines | #1 | Airline – Southwest Airlines |
| #1 | Hotel – Marriott | #1 | Hotel – Marriott |
| #1 | Rental Car – Dollar | #1 | Rental Car - Hertz |
About Keynote
Keynote (Nasdaq “KEYN”) is the global leader in test & measurement solutions that improve mobile communications and online business performance. As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote provides IT and marketing executives with an unbiased view into their Internet services from around the world. For over a decade, we have been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that allow companies to understand and improve their customer’s online and mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses: Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer experience/UX. In addition, our industry analysis group called Keynote Competitive Research publishes proprietary studies measuring customer experience and service levels across a wide range of industries.
Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority™, Keynote has a market-leading infrastructure of 2,400 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 240 geographic locations around the world. Keynote also maintains one of the most representative panels of online users consisting of 160,000 consumers. Our on-demand, hassle-free infrastructure allows businesses to access services they need, when they need them to pinpoint and fix mobile quality and Internet problems before they impact customers.
We help over 2,600 corporate customers become “the best of the best” by helping them improve online business performance and mobile communications quality. Our customers represent top mobile and Internet companies including American Express, BP, Caterpillar, Dell, Disney, eBay, ESPN Mobile, E*TRADE, Expedia, FedEx, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon 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 (650) 403-2400.
Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority, The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority and Perspective are registered trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2007 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Editorial Contacts:
Dan Berkowitz, Keynote Systems, (650) 403-3305, dan.berkowitz@keynote.com
Dan Cahill, Roaring Communications, (415) 552-3999, dcahill@roaringcommunications.com