lastminute.com Snaps up Webtrends for Website Optimisation

LONDON, September 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Webtrends Optimize and Segments chosen by Lastminute.com to enhance customer experience by understanding key preferences and online behaviours

Webtrends (http://www.webtrends.com), the global leader in unified mobile, social and web analytics and engagement, today announced that the UK's leading online travel and leisure retailer - lastminute.com - has implemented Optimize and Segments across three of its major global brand websites: lastminute.com, Holiday Autos and ZUJI (part of the Travelocity Group).

In today's competitive online travel market, understanding customer behaviour is critical. Analytics and multi-variant testing was already part of lastminute.com's digital marketing and product strategy to test website content. However, the brand wanted to enhance this by implementing an optimisation solution to obtain deeper insight into customer preferences. The ultimate goal was to provide its users with the best possible experience across its sites by fully understanding visitor behaviours and inclinations.

lastminute.com wasn't just looking for a software vendor, it specifically wanted a technology partner to work closely with its team to advise on which sections of the site to test, and to formulate creative plans to understand customer behaviour. Following a full marketplace evaluation, Webtrends was selected as the partner of choice. The main factor in this decision was the fully managed service that Webtrends offers, whereby its consultants not only support the testing process but also advise and make recommendations to drive clients' optimisation strategies and long-term optimisation programmes. Webtrends' experience within the travel industry made it the perfect choice for lastminute.com's requirements.

In addition to the calibre of expertise offered by the consultancy team, lastminute.com was attracted to the integration between Webtrends' Optimize and Segments, which allows it to test its sites and target users with content based on their individual behaviour. This integration is unique in the marketplace.

lastminute.com will also be using the self-service functionality of Webtrends Visual Editor to design tests itself without the need for external assistance. This will drastically reduce the time-to-test, as well as increase the flexibility for web testing and ad-hoc analysis.

Karen Mullins, Group Customer Marketing & User Experience Director, lastminute.com, comments: "Understanding the direct revenue and conversion impact of our user experience improvements is vital, and we wanted to move our A/B and MVT testing and targeting strategy to the next level. We chose to work with Webtrends because we wanted a partner that could provide both a hosted and self service platform with a services team to advise on the best areas of our sites to test across all channels - desktop, tablet and mobile. For us, Webtrends has all bases covered plus a strong platform with unique integration that our internal users can easily adopt to deliver a market-leading optimisation strategy."

Nick Sharp, VP EMEA, Webtrends, added: "The travel industry is incredibly competitive and the customer experience is vital. Optimisation enables businesses to understand customer needs and make changes that will guarantee uplift in conversions. We are working closely with the lastminute.com team to help them build strategies for success based on customer behaviour data, ensuring the websites are optimised and meeting customer expectations."

About Webtrends, Inc.
Webtrends powers digital marketing success. Webtrends is at the forefront of real-time digital marketing relevance and customer experience management through unified customer intelligence. Our industry-leading analytics across mobile, social and web enables marketers to optimise campaigns, maximise customer lifetime value and deliver highly relevant digital brand experiences in real-time.

Webtrends dramatically improve digital marketing results for more than 3,500 global brands including, in EMEA and Internationally, ASOS, Alitalia, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Microsoft, HSBC, Orange, T-Mobile, BMW, Toyota, Play.com, AllSaints, The Telegraph, and many more.

About lastminute.com

Founded in October 1998, lastminute.com is the UK's largest online hotel, travel and leisure specialist, with over 1.65 million visitors per week. It provides customers with great last minute deals offering five star experiences at three star prices. Promising to make the unattainable attainable for everyone, lastminute.com is proud to offer a variety of experiences from hotels to city breaks and relaxing holidays to fantastic spa getaways, top restaurant reservations and great theatre deals.

Headquartered in Hatton Garden, London, lastminute.com also operates in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, India, Italy, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Singapore and the US.

Whether you're looking for something adventurous, spontaneous, indulgent or entertaining, lastminute.com is a one-stop shop for great deals for everyone.

Social Channels

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Awards

• Best Holiday Attraction/Ticket Provider at the British Travel Awards 2011
• Top 10 website award ranked third at the Experian Hitwise Top 10 Awards 2010
• Silver award for best hotel booking company and best holiday attraction ticket provider at the British Travel Awards 2010
• Best hotel website at the Travolution awards 2010
• Innovation in Multi-Channel Marketing winner at the e-consultancy Innovation Awards 2008
• Favourite European Short Break Provider at the Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards 2008
• Best Travel Website at the BT Online Excellence Awards 2007
• Favourite Online Retailer at the British Travel Awards 2007

Media Contact
Nadine ter Meulen, Marketing Director, EMEA, Webtrends
Tel: +44(0)1784-415-700
Web: http://www.webtrends.com