Sri Lankan Travelers Expectations - Literature review Example

? Sri Lankan traveler’s needs and expectations about airline websites The last few decades have seen a major transformation of our attitudes and preferences towards a global community (Barnes and Vidgen, 2002). This transformation is majorly based upon the Internet which has gained a tremendous amount of importance in our daily lives, and has created an immense impact on all facets be it shopping or travelling. Overall web industry has made its place in social and economic affairs. The guests and customers, in this internet era, have full liberty to choose the place they want to move to, make decisions regarding the airline by simply sitting at homes and using internet facility and get instant confirmations about their bookings and reservations. Increasing demands of the customers have forced almost every business to have their own website. Similarly the airline industry has also been actively participating in this race and many airlines now maintain very attractive and eye catching websites (Weeks and Crouch, 1999; Morrison et al., 1999). The recent years have seen many studies and researches in the field of website assessment (Liu, 2000, Olsina, 1999 and Barnes and Vidgeon, 2001). Although there is a great deal of variation in the website design and content amongst different industries nonetheless quite a few assessment tools with precise excellence criterion have been made (Kim, Shaw and Schneider, 2003). The flowchart regarding the website evaluation is given below: Figure: 1 Website Evaluation Flowchart (Park and Gretzel, 2007, p.48). Website evaluation methods used by different authors As the internet has developed very rapidly there has been a number of websites available now. This vastness of information and types of websites makes it a necessity there must be some sort of criteria for the evaluation of these websites so that a proper level of quality can be maintained and junk material could be avoided (Seoyoung and Jinwoo, 2004). In order to carry out this evaluation a study was carried out and the characteristics were collected and analyzed. The contents were divided in to a number of categories so that it becomes easy to evaluate each one. The 4 Ps category division by McCarthy (1976) was adapted as the initial division criterion These 4 Ps were “product, price, promotion and point-of-sale”. It has been argued by some researchers that the above mentioned 4 Ps fit properly with the internet related stuff especially websites (Chaffey et al., 2003) however some other authors recommend total substitution of these 4 Ps (Constantinides, 2002; Kotler, 1998). A model for the adaptation of internet commerce has been developed by Burgess and Cooper (1999). The model is composed of 3 points i.e. endorsement that relates knowledge regarding the corporation provision regarding interaction dispensation linked to online communication Ho (1997) uses an approach for website evaluation that is based upon the approach of phases. According to him the structure of the evaluation criterion is based upon 2 dimensional matrixes. First dimension is of “purpose” which is divided into 3 further categories i.e. Promotion i.e. data regarding the services and products provided to the clients Provision i.e. presence of information in order to attain the exposure, good will, and credibility. Processing i.e. commerce dealings. The 2nd dimension is called ‘value-created’’. This dimension is also divided into further categories named i.e. well-timed worth, custom significance, logistic worth and amazing value. Wan (2002) projected a tool for evaluating and ranking the international websites for tourists. He used 3 categories i.e. diversity of knowledge, user interface ease, and online reservation facility. “Airline Site Evaluation Framework (ASEF)” The website analysis of an air line usually address the requirement for ASEF i.e. a “client-oriented Airline Site Evaluation Framework (ASEF)” in which the assessment techniques and instrumentation methods developed previously were used with particular reference to airline business (Merwe, 2003, p.332). Up till now ASEF has been utilized in the evaluation of around 31 main airlines from all over the globe. Motivated by the call for a precise airline business related assessment structure “Airline Site Evaluation Framework (ASEF)” has been developed. Following categories have been included in ASEF. These include: Searching for the site Flexibility of use Navigating site Availability of content Security and reliability guaranteed Technical contents Each category is further clssified into subclasses and each sub class consists of a different criterion. These factors are gathered from the relevant studies in the field of Information technology. Searching for the site: The airline website should be very easy to find by the use of different search engines. URL Intuitive: The URL intuitive should be relatively simple and easy to keep in mind so that if a person wants to use the website on regular basis he does not have to search it repetitively on the web engines. Easy to find site using search engines: The website should be easy to locate by using the search engines “like Google, yahoo, msn etc”. This is because if the site is not easily accessible, the user might get fed up and decides to stop using the website. In recent studies it has been clarified that the websites which have easy access are amongst the top ranked by the users. This is not a very difficult job as specific key words are required by the user to be put into the specified location on the search engine and go through them for locating the website. Many other websites use the tactic of offering some articles on the sites so that the key words get detected by the search engine, this increases the ratings of the website (Apostolou and Economides, 2000, p.612-615). Interface Usability: Interface usability refers to the ease and smoothness with which a customer is capable to use the system with no stressful thinking about its working. This means that the users can work on the website and gather their required information without the feeling of irritation or discomfort, which may be physical or psychological. This is aligned with the description of usability presented by the global society for Standardization i.e.: “The efficiency, competence, and contentment with which particular users attain specific goals in meticulous environments”. Studies involving the consumer interface of information are under process since late 1950’s (Hewett et al. 1996). Website Quality- Loyalty and Satisfaction A huge amount of research is being done in order to address the issue of managing and checking the website quality, loyalty and satisfaction. In these studies the chief factors that are measured and addressed are the demands and needs of the clients, their requirements and what they expect from the particular website (Bloom, 2004). The maintenance of the website’s standard is critical so as to increase and attain the satisfaction of the customers. The service quality refers to the extent of client’s judgments about the overall performance and excellence of the website. These things are really critical in the evaluation of a website (Zeithaml and Bitner 2000). It has been stressed by Santos in 2003 that E-quality and loyalty provides the website with a sustainable aggressive benefit to the corporation by attracting the acquisition decisions of the clients and increases the relations with the clients. The term E- quality can be referred to as the final judgment of the client about the E- entity’s quality and experience. Navigation: There is intuitive organization and formation of the navigation system on the website. While browsing the homepage, there are help-bars available which guide the user to his/her desired location or information. The steps of transactions and maps are available to aid the customers. Internet Booking Engine: The online booking facility is available which is very simple and easy to use. Different search options are there so that the user is aided in finding his preferable flight on a particular date and time. Facilities other than flight can also be booked or reserved very easily like car hire or booking of hotels at particular locations so that the tourists find it easy to move at different locations using the particular airline’s website. This is an ingenious way to attract the customers, as the customer finds all the required things available at the same place. Such ease lures the potential client in availing that particular airline’s services. This searching facility is free of errors and very accurate as a very small mistake can lead to loss of millions of cash. Search Engine The website also provides with the internal search engine and is very appropriately located. The results of the in-house investigation engine are precise and well explained. It is convenient for reverting to the homepage from each location in the website. There are no popup messages of pages, the hyperlinks are very clearly explained and finely labeled. The page size is accurate so it fits very well into the browser window. Content: The content of the website contain full information about the route, journey and schedule of the flights. The ticket fares and the ticket refund policies are clearly explained on the websites. The services to be offered on the journey are comprehensively illustrated at the site. The information about the special passengers categories, full fleet, pets information, “airports information, full Services for special passenger categories”, website terms and conditions, car hiring, hotel hiring, security issues, language problems and carriage conditions are available on the website and can be easily looked upon. Some things are prohibited to be transported by the air travel. The information about such belongings like explosives, flammable liquids, certain drugs and chemicals is also listed on the website. The laws regarding the breach of conduct are also available so that the passengers and customers become aware of the potential risks and problems which they can face. Special Offers & Frequent Flyer Program: The free subscriptions about the newsletters can be seen on the airline website. The special price available online at the site for other specialized services like car rent, privileges about online ticket purchasing, hotel rents discounts can be easily obtained at the website of an airline. The great benefit of all these offers is that even if the passenger has not visited any place before he can get extensive information regarding the places, prices of things at that place. Even if he does not want to move to the place right now he can plan it for the future and he will definitely use that air line for his travelling purposes. If the customer is delighted by the service, he may also spread positive word of mouth about the service too. Therefore an informative and charming website not only works to attract customers but also promote the marketing of that airline. Information about all categories of contacts from all branches of the world that company possesses is also available. Web purchasing activities: As the major purpose of the web based technology is the research related jobs and not the e commerce concerned activities, the internet security and privacy depends upon the common aspects and the shared businesses but with the passage of time this internet purchasing field has also grown very well (Ratnasingham, 1998) for a partial group of connections. With the rapid expansion of the internet into commerce this has become a separate business (Li et al., 1999; LaRose, 2001). Support of Website Users: For the website users 24 hours help desk is available, feedback forms are present, Help line telephone numbers and the e-mail addresses and toll free guidance at the telephone is available. The boarding pass quick check in and printing facility, VIP services information, existing flight information, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and detailed help navigation bar deals the users with all kinds of queries. Reliability: The registration is easy to perform and is optional but not compulsory. The registered profiles can be very easily modified and special offers are available for the registered customers. Transaction Procedure: Complete information about the full current transaction status and next step must be available. Various alternate methods for the payments and e ticketing facility are provided. If the customer does not want the online ticket, the printed ticket can also be sent to him via fax or mail with no extra costs. Privacy Policy: Complete privacy statements are available on the website and the personal information of the clients is never provided to the third person unless there is no user agreement. No content is shared with the so called “third parties” unless the terms and conditions are defined in the agreement accepted by users. The client’s security is the foremost priority of the website. Huge amounts of money are spent to make the website content and information safe and secure. Anti hacking software and highly specialized technologists are incorporated which maintains the security of the website. The simple rules and regulations regarding the safety of the website are also available so if anyone has concerns over these issues he can have the required information for his personal satisfaction. Technical aspects The technical aspects are also dealt very professionally. The cross browsing compatibility along with screen fitting and optimal resolution is provided. Taking into consideration the non-broadband customers the quick main page loading and speedy downloads of the other pages is provided so that the consumers can get the fast and reliable information even at low internet speeds. Well organized and specialized protocols are used during transactions. Registration is also security guided. The security protocols are accredited by the authorized organizations. During the evaluation of an airline website the evaluator gives 3 points or scores if all the things mentioned above are at their place and the situation is ideal; 2 points are provided if situation is close to the ideal situation; 1 point is given if most of the conditions are not fulfilled properly and actual performance is far from the ideal condition and zero points are given if the conditions are not at all in correlation with the set standards. When almost 30 airline websites around the world have been evaluated the result was like 5.7/6. Considering the user interface the highest scores were of European airline websites particularly British airways which scored almost 45/48. Regarding flexibility all the websites were on low scores. Only nine airline websites provided some adjustment for people with specialized requirements. Therefore additional user-friendliness improvements are supposed to be offered by all sites so that the people with some sort of disabilities and specific requirements can easily access and use them (Pallas and Economides, 2008). A website evaluation model has also been proposed by Teo and Pian (2003) in the terms of the levels of individuality which are dependent on the aims and objectives of the company for the use of website. The zero level indicates that there is no website of a particular company or that it is only relying on an email id. At level 1 there is a complete website of that company and represents its online presence. The level 2 describes that the actual information about the products and services are properly delivered on the website. The 3rd level entails commerce addition, online collaborations with the customers and the suppliers. The 4th level indicates the business revolution. The website of an Airline company is classified by the following factors like value added services, to the point specific information, advanced booking facility, interaction and trust, on board options and details of flight programs. Currently the applications regarding the business services are greatly reliant on the web based services since limiting the need for the formal official coordination required for joining the websites and global networks in the start of 90’s (Law, 2000). The interface and apparent features of the website are also considered important by the user. Executives always require suggestions on effectual website plans. Strengths and Weaknesses of an Airline Website It is an important feature that an airline website functions efficiently and smoothly as it has a direct impact on revenues via the booking of tickets and by the utilization of other air line offers (Lubbe, 2007, p.75). Atkinson said that he can judge the strengths and weaknesses of any website by simply assessing the movement of the eyeball of the user. The keynote consumer experience rankings inspect planned issues which the airline and online travelling industry is facing. It is one of the best tools to identify the potential strengths and weaknesses of a particular website. It helps the airline companies to understand the effectiveness of their websites as compared to the top ranking websites of their business challengers. The keynote utilizes its specialized software and a group of hundreds of internet consumers to gain qualitative and quantitative data on the online air industry. It conducts yearly studies on the airline industries and online travel, investigating the customer’s experiences. Till now it has evaluated more than 16 leading airline websites and online travel businesses like Air Tran, America west, American airlines, Jet Blue, Delta, North west, Orbitz, Travelocity, United Kingdom and US airway (Goldsborough, 2001). A very useful strength of a website is that it can regularly be updated. The airline websites state that web check in is expected to be increased by 40 to 60 % simply by site renewal. By this process the booking also gets enhanced to around 35 to 45%. By normal procedures it takes almost 8 days to take a boarding pass, while by the use of a website service it is reduced to just 2. The Delta Airlines are genuinely considered as the leaders in this particular airline website industry as they present very strong features of easy navigation allowing customers to get information about the air fares, flight status updates, printing of the boarding passes and are able to cater a good number of other jobs. According to Atkinson a nicely and professionally made website helps us to find the customer’s specific requirements, the things that attract them and what are the possible things which we might miss (Goldsborough, 2001). Important weaknesses of any airline website are lack of information, things are not clear, search toolbar is not working efficiently, Information is scattered, there are security issues, lose of personal information of any customer, website hacking and that content information is not up to date. All these or any one of them may lead to serious problems to the airline company. Breach of personal information may lead to disastrous consequences. The individual may sue the company in the court leading to heavy fines and money losses for the firm. So besides many benefits of the website a single small breach in the security of the website can cost huge amounts of monetary burden to the company (Jeong and Lambert, 2001). Conclusion: Thus in order to meet the expectations of Sri Lankan travelers, the IT specialists must be particularly concerned about the user-product (website) interrelationship especially when it comes to website design. The airline website should be designed in such a way that the customers can easily navigate to the pages of their interest especially the flight schedules, new arrivals, air port related information, about how to contact relevant authority etc. The website design, content, plan and the navigation configurations must be dealt with care and professionalism. The user interface of the air line or any other website should be rated on a level which is between1-4. 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