Web Analytics
There are different kinds of possibilities for evaluating the use of protel WBE 4.0. You can activate Google Analytics by means of your user ID or you can set up an individual tracking with your own settings. We will first explain the use of Google Analytics and then the functionality of the Custom Tracking.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics enables you to track and assess the behavior of users visiting WBE 4.0 free of charge. All of the data will be made anonymous, thus the implementation of the tracking fulfills the legal requirements.
In order to activate Google Analytics, create an account at Google Analytics and Google will send you a user ID. Enter this ID as an XSetup into the protel Cloud Center.
XSetup Settings
Open the “Online-Booking” menu in the protel Cloud Center and click on “Channel Information”.
protel cloud center > Online Booking > Channel Settings > XSetup
In the left column, select the WBE and open the "XSetup" tab in the top bar. You will then receive a list of all of the XSetups for protel WBE. When there, please make the following settings:
- UseTracking: To activate the tracking function, set the XSetup to “true”
- UAID: This is where you enter the user ID which you have received from Google
- TrackingDomain: This XSetup is optional. In case you would like to separately track a domain, enter the URL here.
You can change the XSetup entries by clicking the “Value” column in the respective row. Entry fields will appear for the XSetups TrackingDomain and UAID into which you can simply tap. Your entries will be automatically saved.
A check box will appear if you click on the value of the XSetup UseTracking. Select the checkbox to set the setting to “true”.
The following part explains which data can be evaluated.
Revenues and Transactions
Google Analytics enables you to evaluate the revenues based on various criteria. All of the movements a user makes can be evaluated: from the moment of accessing the WBE to making a transaction. The following illustration shows the progress of the conversion rate over a period of days. The conversion rate shows the percentage of users who have actually booked via your protel WBE. Based on a study from 2012, hotel websites have a conversion rate of 2% to 6%. The value strongly depends on the hotel’s online marketing activities.
Check to see how long it takes until the guests actually make a booking.
Funnel Visualization
This illustration shows the visitor flow in the form of a funnel. From the moment they make their first click until they reach the check-out page, you can see at which point the user left or aborted the website. In the travel and hotel industry, the check-out page has an abort rate of up to 85%. Even after the available rooms have been presented, there are still many aborts, since many users (approx. 38%) only access a hotel website to compare special offers and rates. The evaluation of such data can help you optimize your sales.
User behavior
Which buttons has the user clicked? Did the cross or upselling work accordingly? Even these questions can be answered when implementing Google Analytics in the protel WBE 4.0.
The tracking enables you to find out where the people making bookings on your hotel website come from. This will help you initiate targeted online marketing campaigns.
Target Groups
protel WBE helps you collect demographical data and technical information about the users, e.g., browser version, operating system, etc.
Real-time user evaluation
Google Analytics enables you to observe protel WBE 4.0 in real time. You will see where your visitors are from and also, for example, which search words had been used.
If you would like to know more about the functions of Google Analytics, please visit the respective Google website.
Custom Tracking
Instead of using Google Analytics, you can also implement your own tracking procedure for protel WBE. To do so, we will provide you with a JavaScript file which you can integrate by script include.
Click here to download the CustomTracking.zip archive.
Save the CustomTracking.js file to the hotel’s website. If the protel WBE is accessed with the attached index.html, insert a script row there with the link to the tracking file. The link depends on where you have saved the file on the web server.
Should you have linked the script for loading the protel WBE to an other page of the hotel’s website, you will also need to insert the script row there to load the tracking.
No additional settings will have to be made in the protel Cloud Center for the custom tracking.
The following parameters especially need to be observed in the tracking file:
- CStartTransaction: The function will be accessed when starting and contains the total value and a reference number
- CAddItem: This function is accessed per article in the shopping basket and contains data for each individual position
- CCommitTrans: This function is accessed at the end; a respective script can be generated from the collected data
All of the parameters to which protel WBE 4.0 provides data, can be found in the CustomTracking.js file. Custom Tracking gives you the freedom to decide which information you would like to evaluate.