Expedia vs. Priceline - User Engagement Teardown

User Engagement Teardown
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User Engagement Teardown
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A Quick Word on Iterable
Iterable is the growth marketing and user
engagement platform.
• Segment users, build workflows, automate
touchpoints and test strategies at scale
without engineering support.
• Everything you see here (and more) can be
done with Iterable. You can see other
teardowns at: iterable.com/teardown

What is a “User Engagement Teardown?”
We analyze an user engagement over a defined period post-signup.
• We offer constructive evaluation and feedback.
• We cover all types of B2C businesses: e-commerce, marketplaces,
media, politics, etc.

Background on Expedia and Priceline
Expedia and Priceline are two leading travel
booking websites in the U.S.
• Expedia, founded in 1996, operates 200
additional travel booking websites, including
Travelocity, Orbitz, Trivago, and Hotels.com.
• Priceline, founded in 1997, is a subsidiary of
The Priceline Group, which also owns web
properties, such as Kayak, OpenTable and
Booking.com.

What We Did
Signed up and received messages over 3 weeks between June — July 2017
We escalated activity over time:
• Completed user profiles
• Downloaded mobile apps
• Searched for travel deals
• Abandoned shopping carts at checkout

On to the User Engagement Timeline…

User Engagement Timeline
MessagesUserActivity
We’ll show you what we (the user) did here…
Message TypeActivity Type
Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
…and the messages we received here.
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
…and the messages we received here.
Activities and message types are
color coded as shown in this key.
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90

Now let’s look at Expedia and Priceline’s user
engagement.
First, Expedia…

The Expedia User Engagement Timeline
Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Searched for travel deals
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Completed user profile Abandoned cart

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
After creating a new account, we received
a welcome email with CTAs to view
member pricing & download the app.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
On Day 6, we received a “limited-time
offer” which included a live countdown
clock for a 48-hour sale.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
This promotional blast was sent around
8:30 a.m., prior to our travel search.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
The next day, however, triggered an email related
to our search, with the subject line, “Heading to
Los Angeles? Let us help plan your trip.”

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
On Day 9, we received another promotion to, “FLY
from San Francisco and save!” Although this was
a nice instance of personalization, it was not
related to our app download.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
We then received three messages about flight deals,
a special sale and a 50% off discount. Only the first
blast was personalized to our preferred airport.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
We were sent the exact set of blasts
one week later, with only slight
changes to copy and creative.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
On Day 16, we also received a
promotion for 15% off select hotels.
The coupon code, 15SUMMER, was
included in the subject line.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Lastly, the cart abandonment email
we received the next day was the
same message that was sent on Day 7.

Now let’s look at Priceline’s user engagement…

The Priceline User Engagement Timeline
Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
We received a welcome email with a
strange CTA to “Create an Account,”
one day after we already did so.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Five days later, we received our first
blast, promoting a 48-hour sale with a
code to earn an extra 7% off “express
deal hotels.”

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Five days later, we received another
promotion for San Francisco hotels,
which was not related to our travel
search or app download.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
On Day 13, we received two emails within 30 minutes of
each other. The first promoted another 48-hour sale,
while the second offered hotel deals in Emeryville, a Bay
Area city in which we neither lived nor worked.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
In the following days, Priceline sent three
more blasts, offering generic deals on flights,
hotels and cruises, respectively.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Finally, we received two additional blasts
with deals on rental cars and 4-star hotels.

Blast
Transactional
Triggered
Desktop Mobile
SMS/Push
Created new account
Downloaded app
Days from
start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
None of these emails seemed to be triggered
from our activity on desktop or mobile.

Frequency Takeaways
During the 3 weeks, Expedia and Priceline differed slightly in the
frequency of messages.
• Expedia: 12 emails, 0 mobile messages
• Priceline: 10 emails, 0 mobile messages

Differing Priorities
Expedia sends more behaviorally-based messages, as seen in its cart
abandonment emails.
Priceline prioritizes promotional blasts for all its product offerings,
regardless of demonstrated interest.

Now let’s look at the message content…

These are three standard Expedia
messages (as depicted in Gmail).
You’ll notice…

Personalization by name

Inclusion of ads and upsell opportunities

Calls to action to download mobile app and
follow brand on social media

Dynamic content, like this countdown clock
for a 48-hour sale.

These are three standard Priceline
emails (as depicted on Gmail).
You’ll notice…

Inconsistent branding and email design

Strange calls to action to create an account
(already completed) and report issues (not an
ideal attention grabber).

Animated backgrounds, like these
festive 4th of July fireworks.

Focus on “guaranteed” lowest
prices on all product offerings.

Content Takeaways
Each company’s content reflects its approach to travel booking.
Expedia:
• Includes mobile app and social media buttons
• Offers advertising and upsell opportunities
Priceline:
• Asserts lower prices than competitors
• Promotes wide range of travel offerings

Recommendations
Both companies could improve their personalization by sending
messages based on real-time user behavior. They also need to prioritize
mobile messaging by coordinating across push and SMS.
Expedia could enhance its promotional emails by dynamically
segmenting users by level of engagement.
Priceline could improve its triggered content by sending a timely
welcome series and customized cart abandonment campaigns.

If you liked this teardown…
You’ll enjoy the others! View them all by visiting: iterable.com/teardown
Join the discussion on Twitter @Iterable, using #UEteardown

Expedia vs. Priceline - User Engagement Teardown

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