In Dubai, UAE millions of tourists and visitors arriving each year. Some of them are here for short term business trips, some are for leisure and vocations. Whatever the purpose is the people are coming here and the car rental industry is thriving, that is not all, in the local or residential population a lot of people occasionally rent out a car for certain reasons which is also helping the car rental industry to grow. The growth and expansion bring competition, what else could be the most effective way to beat a competition other than having a website on the internet?
There is a very common trend among the residents of Dubai, UAE that people tend to search online and whenever they need anything they immediately pick up their phone (if they are not already on it) and look it up on the internet. This further makes the website extremely important if you are aiming for long term success. You are not the only one who can grasp this public knowledge, there are others too, in fact, most business owners, entrepreneurs and industry leaders know the importance of the internet and a website. That is the reason we have decided to write on this topic and named it as “What should I have in my Website of a Car Rental Company?” It will help the car rental businesses to generate a steady stream of online prospects and customers through their websites.
A Great Web Design
The first and very important thing is the actual web design itself. Whenever someone will reach to your website, the very first impression they will perceive will have lasting effects. The most common mistake by car rental companies is that they have too many flashing ads, tickers, or pop-ups which are distracting, annoying and looks so unprofessional. The internet is not a new thing, everyone uses it, everyone is familiar with a lot many national and international brands they interact with over the internet on regular basis, some of them could cost millions to their respective businesses.
But don’t worry, I am not asking you to spare millions, but the one thing which we need to understand here is that those all “other” websites that people visit on regular basis are mostly of large corporations or eCommerce or government sites or hotel reservation or flight booking sites, all those websites are built on a certain structure with certain information to focus. And when it comes to renting a car, the people in their sub-conscious mind are also expecting a clean, helpful, easy to navigate and more importantly easy to understand website. So your design must be very customer-centric and should have nice and clean looking design elements that have a soothing impact on visitors’ eyes and user experience.
Smartphone Compatible or Responsive Web Design & Smartphone Applications
With the rise of large touch-screen enabled smartphones like Android and Apple iPhone, the general trend of internet surfing have changed worldwide. People tend to spend a lot of time on their smartphones, and for a car rental, it is very crucial to have a responsive web design. A responsive web design is very intelligently programmed in a way that it can sense the screen size and browser or in some cases the device type too and then the responsive web design can automatically re-arrange and re-size its components to render all the information in the right proportion.
This not only helps the user to navigate through the website from their smartphone devices more easily but it also maintains a similar user experience. And your user experience or user journey should be a very unique experience that a user can easily memorize and got familiar with. This will help you retain the existing customers too and the customers would also like to visit the site they have used once as they think they are familiar with the booking process and they know where all the relevant information can be found. This is what formed a user experience and it could be very beneficial for businesses in the longer-term.
Another excellent solution is to offer smartphone applications, but unfortunately, the new prospects are less inclined towards downloading new apps as everyone has a smartphone with limited memory. The smartphone applications are most common among the more frequent users, even then if they are using your services once or twice every year, they might prefer to stick to the website rather than downloading an application which they don’t require on regular basis. But it is always good to have extra ammo.
Essential Features and Functionalities
Now that we have already discussed the basics of the web design for a car rental website, now let us have a look at the functionalities and features that a car rental website should have in order to boost online sales and conversions.
Simple Booking Process
For a car rental website, the booking process should be as simple as possible. Most of the time the booking process involves too many questions and too many fields to fill, and even in some cases, there are too many checks and authentications on the input fields or in simple words limits on the input fields. These all things make the process lengthier, confusing, frustrating and annoying. Even some market data suggests that most of the customers prefer certain car rental websites due to their easier booking process. So, a simple booking process is key to success.
Online Chat and/or Chat Bots
Online Chats either by human or artificial intelligence is one of the great features to have. Try to appoint someone to answer the chats rather than an automated chat program. Whatever you do, an online chat really helps to gain the trust of the customer. These days, WhatsApp connectivity is also very common and very simple to integrate into websites. That could also help.
Customer’s Testimonials
Customer’s testimonials, endorsements and feedbacks are an excellent way to gain the trust of the online prospects. When people see other people giving positive feedback about a particular product or service they tend to consider it more than the one without endorsements. And that is true too, feedbacks and testimonials are the proof of superior service and great quality work.
Flexible and Customized Booking Plans
Another great competitive advantage is flexible booking plans with an additional feature to enable a customer to customize them as per their needs and requirements. Of course, this can only be planned with a critical thinking and foolproof strategy so that you don’t end up being less paid or less profited. But it surely helps, it encourage customers to book from your car rental website when they see you are allowing them to make up their own plans which align well with their needs.
Online Payment Gateway and Terms & Conditions
Ensure your customers that they are using a secure payment gateway while doing transaction from your website. Choose a payment gateway wisely which is popular worldwide and is also popular among your targeted audiences. So it looks familiar to them as well. Clearly describe your payment terms, cancellation policy and change request policies to prevent any confusion or complaint later. This will increase the trust of your customers.
Highlight Extra Services and Freebies
During the booking or better at the very initial stage of the booking, highlight the extra benefits and freebies or bonuses. For example, you can offer DVD players, on-board navigations, chauffeur service, baby seats, bonus miles or time, etc. Such things can significantly increase the conversion rate. When customers see special offers, bonuses and freebies they tend to convert more even if they think the price is a bit higher. It could really help to improve online conversions from a car rental website.
User Accounts and Profiles
Offer the visitors and prospects to sign-up for their user account and user profile, offer them some additional benefits if they signed up such as additional support or free newsletter or free announcements about the latest offers, etc. When a user signed-up for a car rental website the chances of them coming back again to utilize the same service is far higher than non-signed up customers. Provide them with a small, very simple to use the dashboard to get access to the information about their bookings, billings, records, etc.
Setup Auto Responders and Notifications
People love to get information, updates and notifications about the booking services. Set up automatic responders, notifications and auto-updates via Email or SMS or profile notifications. Keep them informed, let them know when the car arrived in front of their home, or at the airport or at the pick-up point. Send them a thanks message at the drop-off. These things will help car rental websites to build a positive brand identity and a good brand image among the customers.
Complaint and Feedback Section
Build a very active complaint and suggestion section on your car rental website. Try to capture as much feedback as you can. It will not only help you with improving your website but it will also help you with improving your services and customer experience. When a customer is asked for feedback they feel the brand cares for them. When the customers have a bad experience and they want to complain, they should be able to do so, so that they know how much you prioritize your customers and how serious you are to rectify those issues. This could really help to improve brand image and reputation.
Social Media Integration and Sharing Features
Built social media integration and sharing buttons so that your visitors and prospects can easily share your web pages, your plans, offers, etc with their friends, colleagues and family. This will further amplify your marketing activities without any additional cost. As we all know these days people tend to spend a lot of time on their social media and content sharing sites, so if they like something and have an option to share it with someone they will definitely do it. It will further improve your brand’s popularity and it will attract more customers.
See More: Qualities of a Superior Web Design Company in Dubai
Other Important Car Rental Website Features
The above all points are mostly customer-centric and are majorly related to customer experience and customer journey. There is a lot more that can be done to improve the business generation capabilities of a car rental website. Such as:
Search Engine Optimization or SEO
Search Engine Optimization or more commonly known as SEO is a very important aspect of any digital marketing campaign. Even if you are not doing any digital marketing campaign right now you might need one later. SERO friendliness or SEO compatibility of a car rental website will help to generate organic traffic. People tend to search in Google or other search engines, if your website is not built as per the standards and is not so friendly with Google and other search engines your business listing might not appear in the search results. Optimize your website for search engines and make sure your website is developed and programmed in a way that helps search engines reading its all content.
See More: Expected web designs trends for 2021
Analytical Tools and Customer Data Collection
Analytical Tools will help you understand your website’s traffic, usage stats and a lot more. All the data collected from the website analytical tools could be very useful for business intelligence. It could help car rental businesses to understand their customers, their website’s usage such as at which page customers are spending most of the time, from which page from the purchase cycle the customers are leaving, and much more. This could help you identifying a lot many issues within your website which could later help you to improve everything. User data collection is also a very useful feature, it will provide you with a vast amount of existing customers which you can re-target by various means to generate more sales.
See More: Why should you choose RSI Concepts for Web Design in Dubai and Sharjah?
Conclusion
A website is a very delicate aspect of marketing if a business is relying on the online domain or is planning to achieve some sales goals through online mediums. A website should be customer-centric, it should also have to be technically capable and bug-free. The user experience is everything, if a user is unable to find the required information from a website they will immediately leave and will go to the next website. That is very simple there are too many options that are available for a customer to choose from. The car rental industry especially in Dubai, UAE is a very competitive marketplace. There are too many variables in this industry that could directly impact your business. Your website could be a strong foundation for your success or next jump. Make sure your website is easy-to-use, customer-friendly, offers value and capable of attracting more visitors. These features will not only help you achieve your online sales goals but your brand identity and brand reputation also heavily rely on your website. A website consists of a web design, and all the content and features or functionalities it is offering to your customers. Before making a website strategy think from the user’s or customer’s point of view and try to include as many attractive features as you could.
It is always better to acquire professional help. At RSI Concepts, we are not only specialized in car rental websites and marketplace but we are also providing a full fledge car rental solution with exceptional features that can help you unlock the true potential of your business. Don’t hesitate in reaching out. You can contact us from our Contact Us page.
Check out this: 5 Qualities of a Good Website