The travel industry faces one of the highest abandonment rates across all sectors, even surpassing e-commerce. With around 80% of travel bookings being abandoned before completion, compared to 68%-74% in other industries, the challenge is clear. The fierce competition between travel agencies, price comparison sites, and aggregators has also made the booking process more complex. Today’s travelers visit an average of 277 web pages before making a booking, a dramatic rise from just 38 in 2013 (Expedia). According to the data, the process of booking a single holiday takes up to five hours and includes multiple visits to travel agencies’ websites, checking airline schedules, looking for hotels, local attractions, and more. This makes it critical for travel companies to find innovative ways to retain potential customers and streamline their booking experience.

Goals

• reduce abandonment rates by sending push reminders to customers to complete their bookings

• increase conversion rates by nudging users back to their booking page and increase the likelihood of completing transactions

• recover lost revenue by sending timely reminders that help recover potentially lost revenue from incomplete bookings

• boost user engagement by sending personalized reminders with relevant offers or discounts tailored to the user’s browsing or booking history

Push automation for saving abandonment reservations

After detecting cart abandonment, the system sends a first reminder one hour later. If the subscriber does not complete the booking, a second reminder is sent. 

If the second push notification doesn’t succeed, the subscriber is presented with alternative options to encourage further engagement. 

This flow helps improve conversion rates, reduce booking abandonment, and provide a better user experience.

The average click-through rate for this scenario is 11.94%.

Handy advice

It’s possible to send multiple reminders as long as the system retains information about unfinished bookings. While the reservation remains incomplete, you can automate recurring push notifications. However, it’s important to balance this with user experience—space out reminders reasonably to avoid overwhelming or annoying users. Test the optimal frequency to drive engagement without causing notification fatigue.

Track the performance of your push automation flow by monitoring key metrics like click-through rates and conversion rates. Experiment with different messages, timings, and offers to optimize the process over time.