DIGITAL ANALYTICS

Website Traffic

The website performed strongly throughout the summer months, with Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week, the summer Chill Deals campaign and the blog acting as primary traffic drivers. The top-performing pages are listed below:

Top 5 Pages

1. /play/things-to-do/
2. /events/
3. /blog/post/30-free-things-to-do-in-greater-palm-springs
4. /blog/post/hot-water-guide-to-desert-hot-springs/
5. /chill-deals/
    

Traffic Sources
Organic search continues to be the largest traffic driver to the CVB website, accounting for more than 40% of traffic. Paid search advertising also drives high traffic volume, accounting for more than 35% of traffic. Direct, referral and social media traffic round out the overall website traffic makeup.

Mobile Users
Mobile website usage continues to grow, with mobile users accounting for 63.7% of overall CVB website traffic from June through September. Less than 30% of website visitors are now accessing the CVB website through a desktop computer. The CVB anticipated this shift toward mobile site usage during the 2017 site migration and implemented a responsive site to ensure a seamless experience for users on all devices. User experience on mobile will continue to drive the design and usability strategies for the website.

This continued growth of the mobile market affects not only user experience but also KPIs and engagement. As more and more website visitors access the site via mobile devices, the CVB is monitoring how this shift impacts engagement metrics and KPIs. Data shows that mobile users tend to spend less time on a website, view fewer pages and incur higher bounce rates. 2019 was the first year that mobile accounted for a majority of CVB website traffic, and the Digital Marketing team is working with its website developer, Simpleview, to monitor 2019 KPIs and set 2020 website goals that align with this traffic shift.

Hiking Page
In September, the CVB launched a new hiking page (HikinginGPS.com) with listings for 49 local trails. The CVB worked with Friends of the Desert Mountains and other local hiking organizations to publish a trail list approved by all parties. Users can search by trail difficulty, length and features.

Summer Chill Deals
From June through September, the Chill Deals landing page received 85,020 pageviews. Individual deals received a total of 41,762 pageviews. The top-performing deals are listed below.

TOP 5 CHILL DEALS (June-Sept. 2019)

1. 2-for-1 General Admission Tickets – Cabot’s Pueblo Museum
2. Chill Out Package w/$250 Resort Credit – Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa
3. $250 Spa Credit – Parker Palm Springs
4. $10 Pool and Hot Spring Day Pass – Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel
5. La Quinta Summer Experience – La Quinta Resort & Club
    

Air Service Promotion
The CVB is again promoting nonstop air service into the destination this fall through the “Time to Fly” page, which dynamically serves geotargeted content to users in fly markets. New flight service to Everett, Washington (PAE), and Sacramento (SMF) have both been added to this page. The page is being distributed through Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and social media.

Website Redesign
The CVB has recently contracted with its web developer, Simpleview, for a redesign of the CVB website. This redesign will entail the production of two new website designs: one for the consumer-facing website, and a separate design for a corporate communications website. The redesign affords the CVB the opportunity to better optimize for a mobile landscape, as well as for key engagement metrics like pages-per-visit and time spent on site. The project officially kicked off in September, and the CVB plans to launch the new website in August 2020.

Over the summer, the CVB contracted with Act-On for managed service of both the consumer and dineGPS newsletters. This will allow the CVB to better leverage the platform’s robust marketing automation tools. In addition to sending the monthly newsletter for both the consumer and dineGPS lists, Act-On is working with the CVB to create automated follow-up emails for both drive and fly markets that will target those who interact with the monthly newsletters. These highly engaged users will receive targeted messaging around pillars and events to further increase their interest in the destination and their likelihood to visit.

Travel Data
Adara tracks hotel bookings for up to 60 days after exposure to the CVB’s digital media or website. Nearly $3 million in revenue was generated through exposure to the CVB’s digital media or website from April 1 through July 30. Additionally, Sacramento ranked within the destination’s top-10 origin markets for the report period (April–July), indicating early support for the new direct flight on Contour Airlines that launched in September.

Arrivalist tracks users arriving in destination after exposure to our TripAdvisor campaign or website. Arrivalist continues to outperform the industry benchmark of .30 arrivals per thousand exposures.