Customer Transfer Checklist

Congratulations! You just got a customer transferred to you from another CSM, which means you’re ready to help another customer reached their fullest potential.Whether you’re in training or a more experienced CSM, it never hurts to give the new site some recommendations on how the pages could perform better or if the website can be optimized for user experience.

Even if a customer is not using our website, it’s a good way to point out how our website solution can help them!

Step 1: Check Analytics

The best way to tell how the website is performing or if there are ways to optimize content further, check some metrics in Google Analytics.

Dashboard > Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages
Filter the website for all metrics: traffic, behavior, and eCommerce

Dashboard > Acqusition > All Traffic > Source/Medium
This will especially be helpful when looking at how channels like Organic traffic are doing!

Check key pages like the homepage, property/room pages, things to do pages, and any top-performing blogs to optimize for performance. Sample industry averages for these are:

  • Bounce rate (blogs + landing pages) | less than 50%
  • Lead generation conversion rate | at least 1%
  • Ecommerce conversion rate | aim for 0.6-0.8% for Inns/B&Bs, VRs are usually a bit lower.

Step 2: Think like a user/guest

What information would be most beneficial for you to move from a visitor to a lead? Or even a booker? Someone planning their stay? Below, are some ideas to consider.

  • Does the page speak to you visually?
    • If not, use Pagebuilder to add more compelling photos and divide the text into shorter paragraphs.
    • If not, does the photography match the theme of the page and their brand?
  • Do you understand the intent and flow of the page?
    • If not, create clear headings/sub-headings
    • Make sure the most important info is prioritized and easy to find.
    • Is there valuable information for guests that is not present?
  • Is all of the most important visitor information easily available on the site?
    • E.g. check-in/check-out times, breakfast hours, pet policies, etc.
    • Think about what you would want to know before making a room reservation.
  • Is this a place you would want to stay?
  • If not, how could you make recommendations to the customer to improve their online presence?
    • New photography
      • Our recommendations: Christian Gianelli, Jumping Rocks, Marcus Berg

Step 3: Evaluate whether or not the top pages are performing

  • Do you know what your next step should be?
    • If not, use appropriate Call to Actions.
      • Things to do | VG, Itinerary
        • Example: https://mauiinn.com/blog/road-to-hana-stops/
        • Example: https://spinnakersreach.com/blog/the-point-on-emerald-isle-nc
      • Accommodations | Booking button or book direct
        • Example: https://arlingtoninn.com/all-accommodations/
        • Example: https://starfishluxuryrentals.com/our-properties/
    • Is the main nav sticky/ follow you down the page?
      • If not, make the main navigation sticky or add appropriate buttons to various sections of the website.
    • Do the sidebar touts make sense and align with the customer’s goals?
      • If not, make them look different.
      • Example: Homepage | https://seasidevacations.com/
      • Example: Blog | https://seasidevacations.com/blog/
  • Is the site easy to use on mobile as well as desktop? Test on both.

Step 4: Look at the blog

Scroll through to see if there are any ones that can be combined into one master blog or made into a landing page. Examples to look for:

  • Pet-friendly blogs
  • Things to do blogs
  • Restaurant blogs
  • Summer activities blogs
  • Beach blogs.

Step 5: Review the main navigation

Do you have a clear understanding of what services the customer wants to highlight? Does it seem to be too crowded? Is it intuitive?

Following up from that, do the dropdown items seem to be too many or too overwhelming? Are menu items in the dropdowns you’d expect? Can anything be removed or condensed?

Does the verbiage of the main navigation match the customer’s brand? Can you use verbs instead of typical items?

Step 6: Email Marketing

  • Do you think the emails directly correlate or match the branding of the customer? Or, do they need to be updated?
  • Double-check the MailChimp template – make sure it’s in line with current emails (including styling, header and footer links, etc.)
  • Review any autoresponder sequences (e.g. VG autoresponders). Are they being opened and clicked? Do they do a good job converting the lead into a guest? Are they spaced out well?

Step 7: How does their lead generation perform?

  • If the customer already uses the above recommendations for lead generation, perhaps make suggestions to the customer on changing from the Vacation Guide to something else.

Step 8: SEO / How is their organic traffic?

If it’s been a while since the customer was onboarded, it may be time to review/refresh their SEO work, especially on their homepage and primary static pages.

  • Are they still ranking on page 1 for their most valuable keywords?
  • Check Search Console – Are they seeing a good click-through rate from organic search? If not, review it with the SEO team – may need to update page copy and/or meta titles and descriptions.

Is their Google My Business / Google Maps listing optimized and up-to-date?

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