DFDS Competitive Benchmark 2017 Executive Report for DFDS - PAX, Shipping, Logistics user research - Booking tool expert review Illuminating Digital Insights November 24, 2017
Booking Systems Expert review
Methodology User experience experts from Lumivo performed this expert review of the online booking tools from DFDS, Cobelfret, Stena Line and Eurotunnel Freight. The tools were measured on 5 key criteria. Approach Expert review of 4 online freight booking tools with scores on a 7- point rating scale for 5 factors: 1. Functionality 2. Ease of use 3. Visual design 4. Technical performance 5. Mobile user experience Sites DFDS (MyFreight) Eurotunnel Freight Cobelfret (C.Web) Stena Line 3
Executive Summary The Eurotunnel Freight and DFDS online booking tools scored similarly overall with Eurotunnel having the slight edge. Stena Line came in 3 rd place followed by C.Web, which performed very poorly. Cobelfret DFDS Eurotunnel Freight Stena Line Functionality 2 3 5 4 Ease of use 2 5.5 5 3.5 Tech performance 4 5 5 3 Visual design 1 6 5 4 Mobile experience 2 5 6 2 TOTAL 2.2 4.9 5.3 3.3 The C.Web tool is limited in functionality, hard to use with forms hard to complete and confusing navigation. Makes no effort in relation to visual appeal and is not at all suited to mobile devices. Strengths are the visual design and ease of use. Slightly lower score than Eurotunnel in terms of functionality and the mobile user experience. Excellent language support. Usability glitches on mobile. Eurotunnel have an app as well as the in-browser mobile user experience. Good depth of functionality, easy to use, looks okay and performs well technically. Fractionally ahead of DFDS overall. The Stena Line site performs relatively well but let down by a poor mobile user experience and by technical performance issues. On a par functionally with DFDS. Note: No weightings are applied: Each attribute assumed to be equal. 4
Functional comparison The functionality rating is based on an objective comparison of the features available at each of the sites within the secure area. The Stena Line site is more feature rich than DFDS, as is Eurotunnel Freight. Cobelfret DFDS Eurotunnel Freight Stena Line Create booking Y Y Y Y Search bookings Y Y Y Y Timetables Y Y Y Y Profile N N Y Y Price calculator N N Y Y Online payment N N Y N Statistics N N N Y Message centre N N N Y Language support N Y - 14 Y 2 (EN & FR) N Mobile support N Y (Mobile web) Y (Mobile web + App) N Step by step help N Y Y N Excel integration Y N N N Vehicle tracking N N Y N Overall rating 2.2 3.2 5.4 3.8 Cobelfret don t offer much beyond search, booking and timetables. They do provide Excel integration. Available in 14 languages Lacking message centre, Excel integration & vehicle tracking. Eurotunnel enable online payment as well as a mobile app, something none of the other sites offer. Lacking a message centre, Excel and stats. More developed functionally than Cobelfret and DFDS. Has a message centre and statistics. Note: No weightings are applied: Each function assumed to be equal. 5
DFDS: Welcome guide The welcome guide provides a clear step-by-step introduction to the new tool and makes this available for reference within the booking tool. Users are cookied so they skip this on the 2 nd visit. Modern look & feel. Really friendly welcome page, not too much text. Fresh, modern look and feel, very consistent with the brand. Provides a clear overview of the device and language capabilities. Good that users are cookied so that they don t see the intro a 2nd time and have the ability to skip it initially. Clear calls to action. 6
DFDS: Creating a booking The DFDS booking tool generally works well and has a consistent look and feel. Improvements would include adding tool tips for some headings and adding a select button when choosing sailing. Very good that the list of destinations is limited by the choice in the From field. Not immediately clear what Multiply does. Would be useful to have little? Symbols next to items perhaps or a hover-state. Could do with a select button here and also feedback when you have selected a specific sailing perhaps in the row below. Consistent look and feel throughout. 7
DFDS: Creating a booking The form is intelligent greying out fields that aren t required. There is a technical glitch in that the tool tips are not completely visible. Potential issue with the 2 nd row of temperature settings and some missing units. These tool tips appear off the page and are unreadable as a result. This is an issue on all device types. Consider providing the units required (m). The booking tool is extremely easy to use with no major glitches. The form is intelligent, only asking the fields that are required. Adding another temperature only provides what a sub-set of the fields. Not clear if this intentional. 8
DFDS: Navigation and interaction elements Consider opening freight shipping in a new window to avoid loosing partially created bookings. Address security issues with login. Re-work the design of the buttons and consider moving the + icon. It would be preferable if the Freight Shipping link opened in a new window to avoid the user losing partly created bookings When coming back to the site after being away for 24 hours I was still logged in, which represents a security concern. Good that the Quickstart guide is available as a source of help. It may not be clear what the means. When the screen is slightly enlarged it turns out the s are booking buttons. Suggest an alternative booking icon. The + details button needs to be clearer and not perhaps so far to the right. It is likely to be a frequently used function so making it as accessible as possible would be sensible. 9
DFDS: Managing bookings There appears to be some fairly major issues in terms of bookings not appearing within the manage bookings area. Bookings were not appearing 7 hours after receiving confirmation emails. It would be preferable to have pending bookings shown in this view. Even when we received email confirmation of their acceptance they did not appear in this view (having logged out and in again the following morning). Booking confirmation email arrives but 7 hours later there is no booking visible in the Manage bookings area. It is really important that the default view should be all bookings with latest bookings at the top of the list. Then users should have the opportunity to filter not filter first as this approach makes it very hard to get full visibility of bookings. The ability to select specific date periods is likely to be very useful. 10
DFDS: Managing bookings Bookings only appeared when they were searched for as opposed to there being a view of all current bookings. Assume this is a technical issue. Manage booking page looks odd on mid-size screens. The booking only became visible when the release number was entered into the search field. This presumably isn t how the system was designed and therefore is a technical error. Good that the user has the opportunity to create a template to save time in future. Useful functionality to delete, email and print booking. The manage booking page looks odd at even fairly large screen sizes but that is perhaps necessary due to the number of items in the row. 11
DFDS: Mobile experience While the mobile user experience is generally very good accessing the booking tool could be simplified if it appeared in the main navigation. There is a fairly serious technical error with the date picker. On dfds.com the login could well be in the main navigation as it requires a fair bit of scrolling to get to it. On the date-picker for sailing times the red X to close the picker overlaps the month selection arrow making selection tricky. This is true even when the phone is held side-ways. Received an error message that said There was an error deleting this booking when trying to remove two items from the Create booking page. 12
User Testing
Recruitment and testing process 1. Participants are recruited from a market research panel. 2. They take part in the study from their own home on their own computer. 3. Each participant is given a number of tasks to perform on one site and provides detailed feedback after each task. 5. The results across all sites are captured in our powerful analysis software. 4. Participants also answer questions about the impact of the visit on their perception of the brand and likelihood of doing business with the company. 14
Research design: 2017 This research contains the results from user testing studies of 5 PAX sites, 5 logistics sites and 5 shipping sites. Studies were run between the 22 nd Aug & 12 th Sep on UK sites via desktop, smartphone and tablet. PAX: 1305 total 261 per site 134 desktop 87smartphone 40 tablet Color Line DFDS Eurotunnel Hurtigruten P&O Ferries C.H. Robinson Damco DFDS DSV Kuehne & Nagel Logistics: 308 total 123 per site 88 desktop 27smartphone 8 tablet Freight forwarder Ops planners Procurement mgr Logistics company Color Line Cargo DFDS Kuehne & Nagel Port of Rotterdam Stena Line Shipping: 276 total 110 per site 79 desktop 21 smartphone 10 tablet Freight forwarder Logistics planners Transport planners Truck drivers 15
Index Summary: Logistics, Shipping and PAX The DFDS site performed very well in the 2017 study coming in 1 st place overall and on all indexes for logistics and shipping. The site came in 2 nd place in the PAX study, just behind Eurotunnel. Logistics Overall Experience Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction 1 DFDS (2) DFDS (1) DFDS (1) DFDS (1) 2 DSV (1) Kuehne & Nagel (4) DSV (2) DSV (2) 3 Kuehne & Nagel (4) DSV (2) Kuehne & Nagel (4) Kuehne & Nagel (3) 4 Damco (3) C.H. Robinson Damco (3) Damco (4) 5 C.H. Robinson Damco (3) C.H. Robinson C.H. Robinson Shipping Overall Experience Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction 1 DFDS (1) DFDS (2) DFDS (4) DFDS (1) 2 Stena Line (2) Port of Rotterdam (1) Stena Line (1) Stena Line (3) 3 Color Line Cargo Color Line Cargo Color Line Cargo Color Line Cargo 4 Port of Rotterdam (3) Stena Line (5) Port of Rotterdam (2) Port of Rotterdam (4) 5 Kuehne & Nagel (5) Kuehne & Nagel (3) Kuehne & Nagel (5) Kuehne & Nagel (5) PAX Overall Experience Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction 1 Eurotunnel (2) DFDS (1) Eurotunnel (2) DFDS (1) 2 DFDS (1) Eurotunnel (4) P&O Ferries (3) Eurotunnel (3) 3 P&O Ferries (3) Color Line DFDS (1) P&O Ferries (2) 4 Color Line P&O Ferries (3) Color Line Color Line 5 Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten DFDS is significantly better than all sites below this line. 16
Overall Customer Experience: All sites 2017 DFDS came in 1 st place in all 3 studies of PAX, logistics and shipping sites. The PAX sites all delivered a significantly better experience than the logistics and shipping sites with the exception of Hurtigruten. Overall Customer Experience Index comprises three indices: Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction PAX Logistics Shipping 17
Logistics
Index Summary: Logistics DFDS came in 1 st place overall and on all indexes in the 2017 study. In 2016 DFDS had come 2nd overall. All sites with the exception of DSV are significantly behind DFDS overall and for customer satisfaction. RANK Overall Customer Experience Index This index takes into account all of the questions in the study Brand Impact The impact of the site experience on positive brand perception Conversion Impact The impact of the site experience on likelihood to convert Customer Satisfaction Index Set of measures relating to satisfaction and ease of use 1 DFDS (2) DFDS (1) DFDS (1) DFDS (1) 2 DSV (1) Kuehne & Nagel (4) DSV (2) DSV (2) 3 Kuehne & Nagel (4) DSV (2) Kuehne & Nagel (4) Kuehne & Nagel (3) 4 Damco (3) C.H. Robinson Damco (3) Damco (4) 5 C.H. Robinson Damco (3) C.H. Robinson C.H. Robinson DFDS is significantly better than all sites below this line. 19
Overall Customer Experience: Logistics The DFDS site came in 1 st place in the logistics benchmark, making considerable gains since 2016. DFDS fall back slightly. Kuehne & Nagel make some gains but are significantly behind DFDS. Top sites Overall Customer Experience Index comprises three indices: Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction * Bottom sites * * 2017 2016 * * = Significant difference from DFDS 20
Brand and booking likelihood : Pre-Post visit The site experience had a positive impact on all brands. Positivity towards DFDS went up by 30 percentage points, similar to the 27 point increase in 2016. Booking likelihood was up 17 points to 48%. Brand perception pre / post study Booking likelihood pre / post study +30% +17% +21% +16% +23% +20% +22% +18% +20% +17% +12% +21% Post Pre % selected 6 or 7 (1-7 scale) 21
Brand perception: Post visit After visiting the site DFDS was received more positively than the other companies in many categories, including reputability and modernity. Damco and C.H. Robinson were received poorly. Aggregate C.H. Robinson Damco DFDS DSV Kuehne & Nagel Award winning 11% 11% 6% 13% 13% 13% Competitive 21% 18% 16% 30% 20% 21% Cost effective 17% 13% 16% 20% 18% 19% Customer focused 24% 24% 22% 28% 22% 24% Environmentally friendly 17% 17% 11% 24% 16% 15% Expert 22% 14% 23% 24% 23% 25% Flexible 25% 27% 19% 29% 28% 23% Friendly 18% 17% 16% 19% 20% 17% Have a wide network 24% 23% 17% 30% 26% 26% Helpful 24% 23% 19% 27% 28% 24% High Quality 30% 25% 25% 36% 30% 34% Innovative 22% 19% 17% 25% 23% 26% Intelligent 20% 17% 23% 23% 20% 18% Market-Leading 15% 14% 8% 14% 20% 19% Modern 33% 30% 31% 39% 33% 33% Reliable 28% 21% 26% 33% 31% 30% Reputable 28% 26% 21% 41% 28% 25% Responsive 21% 18% 20% 22% 24% 18% Straightforward 30% 24% 28% 33% 31% 32% Strategic 21% 21% 18% 21% 14% 30% = Best performer(s) = Worst performer(s) = 6% or better improvement versus aggregate = -6% or worse improvement versus aggregate 22
Business impact drivers: Logistics The Discover Information driver remains the greatest impact on business outcomes. This driver centres on success and ease of navigating when trying to find out about online tools, services etc. Business impact drivers Brand impact Conversion impact 1. Discover Information (1) 2. Homepage Content 3. Visual Appeal (3) 4. Homepage organisation (2) 5. Site organisation Discover Information Homepage Content Visual Appeal Homepage organisation Site organisation 1 DFDS (1) DFDS DFDS (2) DFDS (1) DFDS 2 DSV (2) DSV DSV (5) Kuehne & Nagel (4) Kuehne & Nagel 3 Damco (3) Kuehne & Nagel Kuehne & Nagel (1) DSV (2) C.H. Robinson 4 Kuehne & Nagel (4) Damco C.H. Robinson Damco (3) DSV 5 C.H. Robinson C.H. Robinson Damco (4) C.H. Robinson Damco = Strength of partial correlation of driver to index The leading site is significantly better than all sites below this line. 23
Discover Information by sub-task When broken down by sub-task it is clear that there have been significant improvements on the DFDS site in terms of getting a quote and finding out about the interactive capabilities on offer. C.H. Robinson Damco DFDS DSV Kuehne & Nagel Get quote 47% 48% 73% 66% 50% Interactive capabilities 50% 52% 67% 55% 58% Service offerings 58% 69% 58% 64% 57% Warehousing 45% 60% 85% 62% 36% For DFDS, success rates for getting a quote improved from 56% to 73% and finding out about interactive capabilities improved from 40% to 67%. Success rates were lowest for those on the Kuehne & Nagel site when trying to find information about warehousing How successful were you at finding the information on the COMPANY website? [1= Not at all successful, 7 = I was completely successful] 24
DFDS Logistics: Find information best practices Participants found it easy to get a quote, thought the site was slick and informative. The help section was seen as being useful and many key tasks were was readily accessible from the homepage. Get quote Easy to find (top of the page) and easy to understand after that. Very easy to navigate. Get a quote is very prominently displayed. Interactive capabilities It was a very slick, informative website, Easy to navigate and offered good tools e.g., EDI, control tower etc. A good help and support page with plenty of FAQ section. Very clear to understand. Comprehensive but somehow uncluttered. Links to key information and tools. Service offerings Everything you required was on the front page. It s fast working and the links are good just not great colours. The information available, which was relevant and concise. The videos were also helpful. Quick access to industry specific information. Warehousing It is modern and there is lot of useful information in it. 25
Discover Information DFDS vs. AGGREGATE Compared to the aggregate, it is clear that the proportion of most potential frustrations is lower on the DFDS site. Too much scrolling bad been the biggest issue in 2016 (10%), this is now an issue for just 3%. Which of the following problems or frustrations, if any, did you encounter while performing this task on the website? Almost all of the comments that participants had about the site were positive. Those that weren t positive had this to say: I found it hard to find where the warehouse section was, it was not obvious from the home page. I only found it by trial and error, clicking on various categories until I found warehousing... Lagged a bit. A bit slow. DFDS AGGREGATE Was not clear from the homepage where to go to find out about warehouse solutions. 26
Discover Information: Search The DFDS search contains items from as far back as 2011, which means that more relevant content is likely to be harder to find. There is also no option to filter or sort results. No ability to sort or filter results. DSV provide the option of sorting by date and relevance. Ancient content shown still within search. 27
Most important content on a logistics website DFDS, Damco and DSV s homepage contain the top 4 most important elements for a logistics website with DFDS having 8 of the top 10. All sites other than Damco are lacking routes and schedules. % rating as most important. C.H. ROBINSON Damco DFDS DSV Kuehne & Nagel Tracking tool 45% N Y Y Y Y Contact information 36% Y Y Y Y Y Manage bookings 35% N Y Y Y N Get a quote 34% Y Y Y Y Y Routes and schedules 33% N Y N N N Transport services 28% Y Y Y Y N Booking tool 27% N N Y Y Y Support 27% N N Y N Y Login to account area 23% Y Y Y Y Y Warehousing 23% N N N Y N Supply chain solutions 20% Y Y Y Y Y Freight management 20% Y Y Y N N Info by transport type 19% Y Y N Y N Industry specific 14% N Y Y N Y Only 2 aspects from the top 10 most important aspects are missing from the DFDS homepage. Q17. Which of the following types of content are most important for you to see on a shipping company website? [Please select up to 5]. 28
2016 2017 Request a quote is more visible. Quicker access to support and jobs. New area on solutions by industry given prominence on the page. Request a quote repeated at the bottom of the page. 29
Logistics Homepage Usefulness The usefulness of the DFDS homepage increased significantly since 2016, moving the site up to 1 st from 3 rd in 2016. Kuehne and Nagel came 2 nd with DSV falling to 3 rd. C.H. Robinson s was seen as least useful. 31. How useful was the content on the COMPANY homepage. [1= Not at all useful, 7 = Extremely useful] 2017 2016 30
DFDS Homepage: Likes and dislikes Participants felt that the DFDS logistics homepage was professional, modern and easy to navigate. Very few people had issues but those that did complained about it looking dark and lacking information. Professional and modern It was professional and offered easy navigation. Helpful assistance was on offer. It felt 'welcoming. Clear concise, fresh and modern looking. Nice graphics. Comprehensive. Bottom of page has lots of contact and further information. Easy to navigate and no jargon Easy to navigate. Easy to understand info. i.e., no jargon. DISLIKES There is a lot going on and it is very dark. The logistics homepage was seen as being professional and modern. One person commented that it was very dark. Easy navigation to key areas and no jargon. I would like more company information on services and transits. More detail on the business. Didn t look functional enough. 31
DSV Homepage: Likes and dislikes The DSV site contains lots of best practice elements, having day-to-day tasks at the top of the page and simple navigation. Participants liked the simple navigation and ease of finding content. Very few complaints. Simple access to key tools The tracking tool at the top of the screen is very appealing because it is one of the main features I look for. Tracking search bar easily accessible. Get a quote button being prominent at top right, I often just need to get a quote when I visit a freight website. The layout is very fresh and clear and works well on a mobile which means I could not carry a laptop and use it easily on a mobile or tablet if out in the field. Professional look Professionally laid out and informative. All the information that you would expect on the homepage of such an established company. Like the section what can we do for you. DISLIKES Too crowded. Give more information. The get a quote button follows you down the page as you scroll. Quick access to tracking number Benefits of the self service tool clearly displayed. Concise overview of their company size and office finder. News, whitepapers, jobs lower down the page. 32
Navigation and homepage organisation The homepage of DFDS was seen as being the most well organised. The navigation of DFS was seen as the most appealing with DFDS just behind. C.H. Robinson s navigation and homepage org were the worst. C.H. ROBINSON Damco DFDS DSV Kuehne & Nagel The navigation 28% 35% 40% 42% 41% How well homepage is organised 45% 45% 68% 56% 61% Easy navigation One click to get to the important parts of the site. It was professional and offered easy navigation. Helpful assistance was on offer. Plenty of sections and easy to find the area where you need to go. Clear and attractive layout Very clear labels, good graphics and typefaces. Very attractive and inviting. Good layout, easy to see where to click to find the information I wanted. Odd to have these hover-overs that say Click for more information Excellent looking website and loads of information. The site looked very appealing with a lot of bright colours and photos. All the info needed was easy to access. 33
Technology Trends Logistics and Shipping Participants from both the logistics and shipping studies felt that robotics was the most likely trend to impact their industry in the next 5 years. Both also saw autonomous vehicles and drones as important. Logistics Shipping 100. Which of the following trends do you see impacting your industry in the coming 5 years? 34
Technology Trends - Logistics comments Those working in logistics could see the pros & cons of the most impactful technologies. Some feared for loss of jobs and reduced safety / security. Others could see the commercial benefit. Autonomous vehicles Autonomous vehicles may improve industry shortage of drivers but will cause the industry and all rules and regulations to be overhauled, and will also leave millions of pounds of non - autonomous assets obsolete. Safety will be compromised and these vehicles will be banned. Could increase the risk of something going wrong in the delivery process, although it would eliminate human error. Robotics Improved efficiency of manufacturing operations. Will have a negative affect people-wise. Robotics can reduce human costs but it's hard to predict when things go wrong with them. things about cyber security, hacking can affect the robots. 3D Printing 3d printing will have a detrimental effect because the more accessible this becomes to businesses as well as the cheaper it becomes, this will result ultimately in less need for freight to transport items to customers. Internet of Things It will improve our competitiveness. 35
Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendation Discover Information Homepage content 1 st 1 st + Remain in 1 st place, significantly ahead of Damco, K&N and C.H. Robinson. + 1 st place for those wanting to get a quote, find out about interactive capabilities and also warehousing. + Success rates for getting quote increased from 56% to 73% and interactive capabilities up from 40% to 67%. + Participants found it easy to get a quote and thought the site was slick and informative. + The help section was seen as being useful and many key tasks were readily accessible from the homepage. - 3 rd place behind Damco and DSV for ease of finding out about service offerings. - The search tool contains old content & no filters / sort - Top frustrations = not obvious where to start (11%), too many clicks (7%), site hard to search (6%). + 1 st place, significantly ahead of Damco and C.H. Robinson. + homepage usefulness up from 54% to 64% + Only 2 of the 10 most important aspects are missing from the DFDS homepage: routes and schedules and warehousing. - Homepage usefulness was 57% via smartphone, behind DSV on 67%. Consider adding filter and sort capabilities to the search and conducting an audit to remove older content and broken links. Consider having the get a quote button a fixed element that stays at the top of the page as the user scrolls. Reconsider the way in which the hamburger menu functions via smartphone as the current approach of having a link to the toplevel area and a + to the sub-menu items is likely leading to people not finding the submenu items. The addition of the industry content has had a very positive impact as has the addition of quicker access to support and jobs. Consider adding information about routes / schedules and warehousing to the homepage, as this is content that is of great importance and yet not visible. 36
Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendation Visual appeal Homepage organisation Site organisation Technical performance 1 st 1 st + Moved up to 1st place and now significantly ahead of all sites other than DSV. + Visual appeal went up from 48% to 66%, well ahead of the average of 51%. + Colours and photos and images were more appealing than any other site. + Remain in 1 st place, significantly ahead of Damco and C.H. Robinson. + Homepage helpfulness increased significantly from 54% to 65%. - Came 3 rd in terms of ease of navigation after DSV and K&N. + 1st place, significantly ahead of DSV and Damco. 1 st + Just 3% considered the site to be cluttered or require too much scrolling (vs 17% for Damco). + 1st place with only 3% finding it slow (vs. 7% on 1 st average). Continue to ensure that the site contains engaging and relevant photographic elements. Perhaps consider using images that are a little brighter as some complained about them being a little too dark, most notably the main hero photo. The addition of the blue sash is helpful. To address the issue of ease of navigation, consider ways in which the standard top navigation is visible for slightly smaller screen sizes. At present the screen has to be quite wide for it to be shown. Also, it is worth considering is to make the 3rd level top navigation (e.g. logistics > your industry > seafood) visible as soon as the 1st level is selected. No significant issues. No significant issues. 37
Shipping
Index Summary: Shipping The DFDS site performed well for shipping, coming in 1 st place overall, increasing the gap on the competition. The site also came 1 st on the brand, conversion and customer satisfaction indexes. RANK Overall Customer Experience Index This index takes into account all of the questions in the study Brand Impact The impact of the site experience on positive brand perception Conversion Impact The impact of the site experience on likelihood to convert Customer Satisfaction Index Set of measures relating to satisfaction and ease of use 1 DFDS (1) DFDS (2) DFDS (4) DFDS (1) 2 Stena Line (2) Port of Rotterdam (1) Stena Line (1) Stena Line (3) 3 Color Line Cargo Color Line Cargo Color Line Cargo Color Line Cargo 4 Port of Rotterdam (3) Stena Line (5) Port of Rotterdam (2) Port of Rotterdam (4) 5 Kuehne & Nagel (5) Kuehne & Nagel (3) Kuehne & Nagel (5) Kuehne & Nagel (5) DFDS is significantly better than all sites below this line. 39
Overall Customer Experience: Shipping The DFDS site came in 1 st place in the shipping benchmark, making sizable gains since 2016, increasing the lead over Stena Line. Color Line Cargo, Port of Rotterdam and Kuehne & Nagel are significantly behind. Top sites Overall Customer Experience Index comprises three indices: Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction * Bottom sites * * 2017 2016 * * = Significant difference from DFDS 40
Brand and booking likelihood: Pre-Post visit In the shipping study, positivity towards DFDS went up 21 percentage points up to 63%. Post visit positivity is up from 52% in 2016. There was a 21 percentage point increase in likelihood to book with DFDS. Brand perception pre / post study Booking likelihood pre / post study +21% +21% +15% +13% +17% +18% +13% +20% +17% +20% +21% +15% Post Pre % selected 6 or 7 (1-7 scale) 41
Brand perception: Post visit After visiting, perceptions of the DFDS brand were more positive than the other brands on a wide range of positive attributes, significantly increasing for customer focus and expert but declining for reliable. Aggregate Color Line Cargo DFDS Kuehne & Nagel Port of Rotterdam Stena Line Award winning 12% 11% 15% 7% 12% 14% Can-do attitude 15% 20% 13% 17% 17% 10% Competitive 19% 17% 26% 17% 16% 17% Cost effective 15% 13% 18% 12% 19% 12% Customer focussed 24% 21% 32% 22% 25% 21% Easy to work with 15% 14% 19% 15% 16% 13% Environmentally friendly 18% 17% 23% 15% 19% 18% Expert 22% 18% 33% 19% 19% 19% Fast communicator 15% 16% 22% 8% 17% 13% Flexible 19% 16% 25% 17% 18% 19% Friendly 23% 17% 29% 27% 25% 20% Have a wide network 26% 17% 27% 27% 26% 32% Innovative 20% 14% 21% 19% 21% 24% Intelligent 16% 17% 17% 9% 25% 15% Market-leading 14% 11% 15% 15% 16% 11% Modern 30% 32% 35% 30% 30% 25% Reliable 28% 28% 28% 23% 27% 33% Reputable 21% 16% 25% 17% 20% 27% Solution focused 19% 21% 23% 16% 17% 16% Straightforward 27% 29% 32% 21% 28% 23% Strategic 21% 17% 25% 22% 26% 18% = Best performer(s) = Worst performer(s) = 8% or better improvement versus aggregate = -8% or worse improvement versus aggregate 42
Business impact drivers: Shipping The driver analysis shows the parts of the site experience with the biggest influence on brand & conversion. The most important driver in shipping remains Discover Information, then Homepage Content. Business impact drivers Brand impact Conversion impact 1. Discover Information (1) 2. Homepage Content (2) 3. Visual Appeal (4) 4. Homepage organisation (3) Discover Information Homepage Content Visual Appeal Homepage organisation 1 DFDS (1) DFDS (2) DFDS (1) DFDS (1) 2 Stena Line (2) Stena Line Kuehne & Nagel (5) Kuehne & Nagel (3) 3 Color Line Cargo Kuehne & Nagel (1) Color Line Cargo Stena Line (5) 4 Port of Rotterdam (4) Color Line Cargo Stena Line (4) Color Line Cargo 5 Kuehne & Nagel (5) Port of Rotterdam (5) Port of Rotterdam (2) Port of Rotterdam (4) = Strength of partial correlation of driver to index The leading site is significantly better than all sites below this line. 43
Discover Information by sub-task Broken down by sub-task, DFDS were strongest in all areas other than in terms of understanding what you can send. Sailing times are exceptionally clear on DFDS, sailing times are very unclear on K&N. Color Line Cargo DFDS Kuehne & Nagel Port of Rotterdam Stena Line Become customer 64% 68% 57% 58% 53% Route network 61% 66% 44% 56% 70% Sailing times 68% 86% 33% 47% 62% What you can send 45% 52% 50% 54% 69% Success rates for sailing times improved from 70% to 86% and what you an send from 39% to 52%. Route network declined from 80% to 66%. However due to small sample sizes (28 per sub-task) these particular changes are not significant. Finding sailing times continues to be an issue for Kuehne and Nagel customers. Other issues include: Mobile version is almost useless if you wish to find out information about services. Too much detail on single page. Couldn't find any support or fact page. Looks good but not particularly logical. How successful were you at finding the information on the COMPANY website? [1= Not at all successful, 7 = I was completely successful] 44
DFDS Shipping: Find information best practices Participants from the shipping industry found that the DFDS site was easy to navigate and well laid out with good clear information. Considered very fast and intuitive. Route network The site layout gave you the information alongside visual content the drop down menus are informative and easy to follow. It was easy to navigate exactly to where I needed. Good links, clear info. Become customer So well laid out, easy to navigate and instructions were short simple and clear. Excellent. Simple to navigate. Simple and effective high level navigation making use of the full with of the top of the page to make key links as visible as possible. Direct links into routes. Sailing times User friendly, easy to search and navigate. What can you send? It was easy to get around. Easy to navigate. Useful route map. Very fast and intuitive. 45
Discover Information DFDS vs. AGGREGATE Compared to the aggregate, it continues to be more obvious where people should start on the DFDS site than the other sites. Less frustration about text but other issues were proportionally similar. Which of the following problems or frustrations, if any, did you encounter while performing this task on the website? DFDS AGGREGATE 46
Discover Information: DFDS vs. Stena Line Stena Line came ahead of DFDS for understanding the route network. Stena make much better use of maps, to aid those who aren t necessarily familiar with port locations. Stena Line make it easier to identify port locations in the route network. Route map is above the list of ports on the Stena Line site. The DFDS map has no port labels shown these are only visible in the full size view. It is also below the list of routes and does not use the full width of the page. Some of the map labels within specific container routes are virtually impossible to read, due to small font size. 47
Discover information: DFDS smartphone issues The ease of navigation via smartphone when trying to find information was low at 50%. One of the reasons may be due to the way in which the hamburger menu is set-up. The menu content length is too long. The behaviour of the + area and the grey freight shipping isn t clear. To the end user they may seem like clicking either will expand the freight menu. If that happens, all of the sub-menu items will never be seen. Due to the large number of routes and the sub-menu for routes is so large that you could easily miss the other content items such as book and track. On a smartphone the order of this list is completely jumbled. 48
Most important content on a shipping website DFDS have 9 out of the 10 most important content elements shown as determined by the shipping participants. Color line and Stena Line are missing the top 2 most important from their homepage. % rating as most important. Color Line Cargo DFDS Shipping Kuehne & Nagel Port of Rotterdam Stena Line Tracking tool 45% N Y Y Y - arrivals N Get a quote 44% N Y* Y N N Service charges 33% N N N N Y Timetables 33% Y Y N Y Y Routes and schedules 32% Y Y N Y N Contact information 30% Y Y Y Y Y Support 29% N Y* Y Y Y Route map 29% Y Y Y N Y Booking tool 28% Y Y* Y Y N Services on routes 26% N Y N N N Login to account area 22% Y N Y N Y Fleet information 20% Y Y N Y N Port services 18% N N N Y N Terminal services 17% N Y N Y N Freight facts 16% Y N Y N Y Hazardous cargo info 15% N N N N N Company history 14% Y Y Y Y N Forwarding information 13% Y N N Y N Industry information 12% N Y/N Y Y Y Company news 9% Y Y Y Y Y BAF adjustments 6% Y N N N N LCL information 5% N N Y N N Q17. Which of the following types of content are most important for you to see on a shipping company website? [Please select up to 5]. * Added to the DFDS site since 2016. 49
Homepage Content Usefulness DFDS 2016 2017 The redesigned shipping homepage has added a number of rich and useful features such as get a quote, quick links to content, manage booking and customer service. 2016 2017 DFDS content comments Easy booking, geo location evident on page. Get a quote right at the top. Routes can be found using a tab or are listed further down the page. I liked the customer service option and the container routes. I liked the routes and flexibility of booking. The book and track service also looks like it would be particularly useful. Added Get a quote Quick links into content Manage bookings Customer Service Removed DFDS blog 3 photos Clear timetable, in large font with arrival and departure times and nice, concise map with no unnecessary clutter. Good links, clear info. 50
Homepage Content Usefulness 60% of participants found the homepage content on the DFDS site to be useful, an increase of 11 points from 2016. There were slight changes for the other sites in the study but these were not significant. How useful was the content on the COMPANY homepage? 2017 2016 51
Color Line Cargo DFDS Kuehne & Nagel Port of Rotterdam Stena Line 59% 50% 28% 35% 57% Helpfulness of site via mobile device The Color Line cargo website works well on a smartphone, coming in 1 st place for helpfulness. 52
Visually appealing aspects The photos / images and video content are the most appealing on the Stena Line site. DFDS and Kuehne & Nagel are similarly appealing for colours. Appeal of the photos on Stena Line increased significantly. Color Line Cargo DFDS Kuehne & Nagel Port of Rotterdam Stena Line Photos / images 38% 38% 28% 26% 40% The colours 32% 35% 36% 31% 26% The video content 6% 7% 7% 6% 13% DFDS down slightly for images (-6 % points) Stena Line improved 12 % points since 2016 for photos. 53
Technology Trends - Shipping comments Those working in shipping seemed to be more sensitive to the jobs impact of future technologies than those working in logistics. Some suggested impacts would be positive if managed correctly. Robotics Robotics will be broadly positive if managed correctly. Lesser use of staff to cut costs. Not sure this is a good thing! Positive impact, lower costs from employing fewer staff. Future is technology. Autonomous vehicles Potential job losses. I think we will see greater use of autonomous vehicles. Less man hours less workers. 3D Printing Will mean less men for the job. 3D may reduce cost equipment in a positive way. Sharing economy People will club together to make bigger shipments for better deals, could be a good way to save money. Will lead to joint ventures. 54
* * * Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendation Discover Information 1 st + Remain in 1 st place on this most important driver of brand and conversion. + Success rates for finding sailing times (86%) and how to become customer (68%) highest of all sites. + Site is easy to navigate, has clear info and fast. - Not significantly ahead of Stena or Color Line. - Success rates for what you can send only average (52%) and for route network behind Stena on 66%. - 11% felt it wasn t obvious where to start - 8% felt too much scrolling - In 3 rd place for helpfulness via mobile device - Some of the map labels within specific container routes are virtually impossible to read. - The DFDS map has no port labels shown these are only visible in the full-size view. It is also below the list of routes and does not use the full width of the page. - Smartphone users are finding it hard to navigate with only 50% rating it highly. The site needs make route selection easier by increasing the prominence of maps as is done on the Stena Line site. At present, potential customers need to have a good knowledge of geography. Given its importance, consider adding port labels to the 1st view of the route map and moving it above the list of routes. There are only 5 FAQs on the site. Consider adding more to address issues that are reported to customer service to help reduce call volumes. Auto-close an FAQs when another is opened. Consider having the get a quote button a fixed element that stays at the top of the page as the user scrolls. Reconsider the way in which the hamburger menu functions via smartphone as the current approach of having a link to the toplevel area and a + to the sub-menu items is likely leading to people not finding the submenu items. 55
* * * Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendation Homepage Content Visual Appeal 2 nd 1 st + Moved up to 1 st place and improved significantly since 2016. + Homepage content usefulness increased significantly from 59% to 60%. + Added get a quote, which was most important aspect for 44%, support (29%) and booking tool (28%). + DFDS now has 9 of out of 10 of the most important content items on the homepage. + Now ahead of all sites for appeal of online tools, quote tool and support. - Not significantly ahead of any site other than port of Rotterdam. - Missing service charges which was most important to 33%, a login (22%), vehicle freight info (20%) and freight facts (16%). + Remain in 1 st place, still the most visually appealing. + Lots of positive comments about the colours, striking images and clean layout. - 2 nd for appeal of colours, just behind K&N. - 2 nd for appeal of photos, behind Stena - Slight decline since 2016. The changes implemented since 2016 have had a very positive impact. To continue to improve, consider adding the other elements that shipping users find of great importance such as a unified log-in and service charges. Vis smartphone, the site is only performing averagely in terms of helpfulness. Consider reducing the length of the page by potentially using drop-down menus for routes, which would enable key content to move further up the page. Stena provide the best practice example. Since 2016, 3 photos have been removed from the shipping homepage. The addition of the blue sash on the main image has helped, but the centre of the page is quite bland & full of links. Refining this approach would enable more colour and imagery higher up the page. 56
* * * Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendation Homepage organisation 1 st + Remain in 1st place. + Most helpful homepage with a big increase since 2016. + Prominent quote button, clear layout. - Not significantly different from any site. - Direct links take up a large area of the real-estate. Consider a re-think of the large area of links per earlier recommendations. This will enable more useful content to appear higher up the page. Technical performance (not a driver) 2 nd - 2 nd for site speed. - Occasional page not found issue. Carry out an audit to ensure that pages that are surfaced in search are still in place. 57
PAX
Index Summary - PAX Eurotunnel came in 1 st place with DFDS close behind in 2 nd place. DFDS were top for brand and customer satisfaction. No site changed significantly since 2016. Color Line and Hurtigruten performed poorly. RANK Overall Customer Experience Index This index takes into account all of the questions in the study Brand Impact The impact of the site experience on positive brand perception Conversion Impact The impact of the site experience on likelihood to convert Customer Satisfaction Index Set of measures relating to satisfaction and ease of use 1 Eurotunnel (2) DFDS (1) Eurotunnel (2) DFDS (1) 2 DFDS (1) Eurotunnel (4) P&O Ferries (3) Eurotunnel (3) 3 P&O Ferries (3) Color Line DFDS (1) P&O Ferries (2) 4 Color Line P&O Ferries (3) Color Line Color Line 5 Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten 59
Overall Customer Experience Index DFDS s overall score is virtually identical to 2016, only a fraction behind Eurotunnel in 1 st place and only very slightly ahead of P&O. Color Line and Hurtigruten both significantly behind both Eurotunnel and DFDS. Top sites Overall Customer Experience Index comprises three indices: Brand Impact Conversion Impact Customer Satisfaction Bottom sites * * 2017 2016 * * = Significant difference from DFDS 60
Brand perception overall: Pre-Post visit Positivity towards DFDS went up 43 percentage points after visiting the site (2016 = +39), which was higher than for any other brand. Having used DFDS, there was a 29 points increase in booking likelihood. Brand perception pre / post study Booking likelihood pre / post study +21% +23% +43% +26% +16% +29% +29% +23% +36% +20% +29% +14% Post Pre % selected 6 or 7 (1-7 scale) 61
Brand perception: Post visit After visiting the sites, DFDS were considered the most customer focused and best value, Color Line significantly improved perceptions compared to the average for P&O they declined. Aggregate Color Line DFDS Eurotunnel Hurtigruten P&O Ferries Customer focused 31% 30% 37% 34% 20% 33% Environmentally friendly 10% 9% 9% 11% 13% 7% Fun 16% 17% 12% 17% 16% 17% Flexible 31% 29% 34% 38% 16% 38% Good value 34% 38% 42% 35% 18% 38% High quality 36% 29% 37% 41% 40% 30% Innovative 18% 15% 20% 23% 19% 13% Inspiring 17% 13% 15% 17% 26% 13% Leading 15% 7% 13% 16% 14% 23% Modern 40% 42% 39% 46% 36% 36% Popular 22% 14% 19% 30% 10% 35% Reliable 34% 29% 37% 42% 18% 45% Reputable 31% 24% 28% 35% 23% 44% Trustworthy 30% 25% 28% 34% 23% 39% = Best performer(s) = Worst performer(s) = 9% or better improvement versus aggregate = -9% or worse improvement versus aggregate 62
Driver analysis
Business impact drivers: Passenger This driver analysis shows the parts of the site experience with the biggest influence on brand & conversion. The most important driver this year was discover information, followed by homepage organisation. Business impact drivers Brand impact Conversion impact 1. Discover Information 2. Homepage Organisation 3. Price Satisfaction and Understanding 4. Booking Process 5. Visual Appeal Discover Information Homepage organisation Price Satisfaction and Understanding Booking Process Visual Appeal 1 DFDS (2) DFDS (3) Color Line Eurotunnel (3) DFDS (2) 2 P&O Ferries (1) Eurotunnel (6) DFDS (2) DFDS (4) Color Line 3 Eurotunnel (3) P&O Ferries (1) Eurotunnel (3) P&O Ferries (2) P&O Ferries (1) 4 Color Line Color Line P&O Ferries (4) Color Line Eurotunnel (5) 5 Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten Hurtigruten = Strength of partial correlation of driver to index The leading site is significantly better than all sites below this line. Significant change from 2016 64
Discover Information: Success by task Participants were more successful on the DFDS site for all three sub-tasks than any other site tested, with healthy improvements over 2016. Rates were lowest for those researching the onboard experience. +15%* 33. How successful did you feel you were at finding the information required on the COMPANY site? +15%* +12%* *Change in DFDS score since 2016. 65
Discover Information: Issues DFDS The biggest issue participants had when using the DFDS site to discover information was that there was too much scrolling (7%), followed by too slow (5%). It is far clearer where to start than average. 40. Which of the following problems or frustrations, if any, did you encounter while researching on the COMPANY website? [Select all that apply.] Earliest departure - dislikes I decided to change my destination of travel from Dunkirk to Newhaven. As soon as I changed the destination the system did not hold the dates I put in, I had to put them in again, irritating. There were too many options and I didn't know what was best. Find route - dislikes It worked except for jumping back to Dover Dunkirk on 2 occasions. It was ok to use but the feel of the website is a bit clinical and although it has some modern features it feels a bit out of date. DFDS AGGREGATE 66
Research onboard experience issues DFDS Only 68% of participants were able to find out about the onboard experience. Navigation, smartphone and video issues were all reported. Onboard content is pushed down by the booking tool. Navigation issues There were too many links embedded in links, had to click so many times and keep on narrowing down to ensure I was at the final most comprehensive information page and even then I wasn't sure. I struggled to find information on the on board experience. I didn't understand where to find information on the food options, on board entertainment or facilities offered on particular trips. I looked at all the tabs at the bottom but couldn't find the info that I wanted. Search did not help. Smartphone issues Doesn't work very well on a smartphone, quite a few glitches and problems loading. The onboard information is hidden under a booking tool. Consider removing the search tool from the route information page or just providing a link to the tool. The top frustrations of those trying to find the onboard experience were: Too many clicks: 8% Too much scrolling: 7% Website was slow: 7% Start point unclear: 6% Video issues One of the links lead to a YouTube video, which didn't appear to play. 67
Discover Information: DFDS issues The DFDS search tool needs some attention. A search for a common term such as route map brings up a route map from 2014 and an op stack test page. Odd to have the booking tool on the main help page. To have the booking tool at the top of the customer service page is unlikely to make sense to the end customer needing help. It is especially an issue on a mobile device due to the additional scrolling. No ability to filter or search to narrow results. Op stack test page showing. There is also a route map from 2014 but not a current one shown. 68
Homepage Organisation Rankings The DFDS site came in 1 st place in the homepage organisation driver, improving since 2016. The organisation of P&O declined, moving it from 1 st to 3 rd although the drop in scores wasn t significant. Top sites Bottom sites 6 metrics make up the homepage organisation driver Q22. How helpful was the company home page for understanding what you are able to do on the? Q25. How well organised was the company homepage? Q26. Which of the following aspects of the company home page did you find appealing? How the information is organised How navigation is laid out Information about destinations The amount of information on the home page 2017 2016 * * = Significant difference from DFDS 69
Homepage designs The Color Line homepage has less content than the other four sites and uses a horizontal search tool, as does Hurtigruten. P&O provide an interim route signposting page. All sites use lots of photography. 70
Most important information on a ferry website Participants were asked to rate the most important types of content on a ferry website. DFDS has 9 of the top 10 on (or readily accessible via) the homepage. Missing info on travelling with kids and bikes. % rating as most important. Color Line DFDS Eurotunnel Hurtigruten P&O Ferries Sailing times* 68% Y Y Y Y Y Offers 59% Y Y Y Y Y Route information 57% Y Y N N Y Destination information 56% N Y N Y N Booking tool 54% Y Y Y Y Y Onboard 48% Y Y N N N Port directions 39% Y Y Y N Y Holidays 35% N Y Y Y Y Travelling with kids 33% N N Y N Y Travelling with pets 21% N Y Y N Y Travelling with bikes 12% N N Y N N Groups 11% Y Y N N N FAQs / support - Y Y** Y N N Customer reviews - N N Y N N Videos - N Y N N N Port directions are hard to find and yet are of considerable importance. While of lesser importance, information on travelling with kids / pets is not readily visible. 69. In general, when you are on a ferry website, which of the following kinds of information / content do you feel are important to see? *Accessed via search tool. ** Hard to spot in footer requires scrolling. 71
Homepage Organisation: Appealing aspects While the DFDS page is slightly ahead in terms of many of the homepage attributes, it is considerably behind Hurtigruten and Color Line in terms of the photos and images. 27. Which of the following aspects of the COMPANY home page did you find appealing (if any)? 72
Price satisfaction & understanding: Key Metrics 10% found the optional extras content on DFDS confusing. The removal of content about optional extras has led to an issue. The Hurtigruten proposition is different and a higher price point. Optional extras content was confusing Color Line DFDS (vs 2016) Eurotunnel Hurtigruten P&O Ferries 7% 10% (+4) 7% 13% 9% Total price satisfaction 44% 52% (+9) 46% 17% 39% 2016 2017 The increase in price satisfaction is likely the cause of increased booking satisfaction. In 2017 the two images and explanations have been removed. For those that found the optional extras confusing, only 33% would consider booking with DFDS in the future having been through the process, compared to 58% for those that didn t have that issue. 73
Booking Process Rankings Eurotunnel, DFDS and P&O all significantly improved on the booking process driver between 2016 and 2017. Hurtigruten were significantly behind DFDS. P&O and Color Line were only slightly behind. Top sites Bottom site * 13 metrics including Q42. While booking the trip, how satisfied were you with this website? Q45. How difficult or easy was it to go through the booking process? Q46. How satisfied were you with the search tool? Q51. Problems or frustrations (booking process)? No help during booking process Site was cluttered Too many steps 2017 2016 * * = Significant difference from DFDS 74
Eurotunnel: Booking process Likes Participants evaluating Eurotunnel were generally very positive, describing it as effortless and very easy. Journey times were thought to be listed well. Participants also commented on the low pricing. Simple Process Quick and easy, all information clearly displayed and laid out, accessible, easy to choose and select. It was effortless and easy. Very easy to use. Times listed well. Easy to use, options all made sense. Easy to navigate. Easier to choose tickets than a UK train ticket site. Very easy to navigate. all info and options were easy to find - in fact you didn't need to look, they were just available. this included insurance options, any pets, different times and dates and upgrades. Summary on the right hand side. Times clearly shown. Fast Process, good pricing It worked really fast, just took moments to come up with options, travel details followed me around the page. Changing booking details was very fast and easy. Amazed and how easy to use and only 135 return amazing. 75
Booking Process Issues: Hurtigruten There are some fairly major usability issues on the Hurtigruten site. If you wish to add a vehicle, you are taken to a blank looking page where the confirmation button is hidden under marketing content. If you wish to add a vehicle you are taken to a separate page. The Done button is hidden right at the bottom of the page under the latest newsletter offer! The pages on the site tended to perform quite slowly. The calendar too can be quite slow to load. 76
Booking process likes: DFDS Many participants commented on the overall ease of the DFDS booking process. They liked the good availability of sailing options and the ease of choosing the right option. Price satisfaction is up significantly. 2016 2017 Ease of booking 68% 72% (+4) Satisfaction with search tool 77% 84% (+7) Success determining total cost 70% 81% (+11) Satisfaction with total price 43% 52% (+9) Booking satisfaction 56% 66% (+10) Much of the reason behind the significant improvements to scores on the booking driver relate to increased satisfaction with pricing, since the changes to the site design were minimal. This may well be due to this year s study running later in the year (late Aug and Sep vs July in 2016). Easy of choosing the correct option It done all the hard work for me and let me chose the cheapest option. It was quick and easy. The extra charges were obvious & explained clearly. Quite easy to select information you want and results well laid out. Information organised in a logical way for the most part. The booking process is simple, and all prices are clearly displayed. I like that I can add in breakfast, choose the tile of cabin I want, and add on excursions in Amsterdam if I want to do these too. Good choice of sailings Good range of times and it pre selected a crossing at a reasonable time and one that was the cheapest. There were a good range of options available and I liked that the price was displayed for each option. 77
Booking Process problems and frustrations The biggest issue encountered during the booking process on the DFDS site was that 14% felt the prices were too expensive. The 2 nd biggest issue was confusion about the extras content, as it was in 2016. 52. Which of the following problems or frustrations, if any, did you encounter while going through the booking process on the COMPANY site? DFDS AGGREGATE 78
Booking process dislikes: DFDS Those who were negative about the DFDS booking process had a wide range of issues, including confusion about French routes, lack of price clarity, insufficient details about extras, registration and tech issues. Confusion about routes to France So confusing when selecting Dover to Dunkirk all I saw was Dover to Calais, ridiculously illogical and confusing. I asked for Dunkirk so why give me all the other places (e.g. Calais first). Place them as alternatives underneath. If I am selecting one destination, it should be only that destination, no others. Information overload and misunderstandings I just found it overwhelming seeing all of the times and prices to every destination that the company travels to all on one page. It should only show the times for your selected trip, rather than making you scroll down the page to find another time for your selected trip. The price options could have been explained better. It looked a bit cluttered didn't initially appreciate that dover to Calais and Dunkirk were on the same page so made a mistake also didn t initially appreciate that the flexi option column was linked to the timed departures. List of sailings too long The list of ferry times is way too long. It didn't give the return options when selecting the outgoing times. Issues with extras It didn't tell me anything about the extras I could book. No ability to view menus/dietary requirements etc. When booking rooms and extra tickets there was nothing to say if I was booking 1 set of tickets for me and my partner or one each. This was a bit confusing. Other issues: Needing to register and technical glitches I would like to be giving the option to proceed as a guest. Too slow, if a mistake is made when adding extras, site never loads, have to go back then forwards. Slow had to repeat some steps. Froze on the last page a few times (after 'extras ). 79
Travel options page: Feature comparison Compared to most of the competitor sites, DFDS don t show arrival time, ship name, or journey length, but do provide colour coding for rates (not explained however) and do highlight the cheapest rate. Color Line DFDS Eurotunnel Hurtigruten P&O Ferries Depart time Y Y Y Y Y Arrival time Y N Y Y Y Journey time Y N N Y Y Ship / train name Y N N Y Y Saver / Economy rate Y Y Y N Y Premium rates Y Y Y N Y Each date on new tab Y N Y N Y Return journey shown below Y Y Y Y Y Date picker N N Y Y Y Time picker N Y Y N Y Colour coding for rates N Y Y N Y Cheapest rates highlighted N Y Y Y Y Number of journeys per day 1 20+ 10+ 1 10+ Layout Horizontal Vertical Horizontal Vertical Horizontal 80
Visual Appeal The issues for DFDS around visual appeal appear to be in relation to the colours used as opposed to the photos and videos on the site, which were 2 nd only to Hurtigruten. The photos, information and price all are extremely helpful in deciding where to travel. Big clear graphics showing promotions and prices, a map of destinations and ports. Good visuals. Excellent click options at the bottom of the page. All timetables easily found. Clear layout and good choice of fonts - easy to read. Attractive use of colour and pictures would keep your interest levels up. Nice layout and imagery, it looked easy and straightforward. Color Line DFDS Eurotunnel Hurtigruten P&O Ferries The photos / images: homepage The colours used: homepage 45% 48% 44% 54% 47% 38% 41% 40% 41% 49% 81
DFDS: Amend booking: Dislikes A number of participants found it difficult to find the area where they could amend a booking online. A few participants experienced technical troubles. Difficult to find where to amend the booking The 'about your booking' link I had to use was (a) at the bottom of the page (b) is not obvious as the route to amending a booking. It took a while to find. used the search bar and then just scrolled to the bottom of the page to the help centre. It was difficult to find the alterations page. It was difficult to find the page to amend a booking, it was buried at the bottom. Technical problems Would not allow me to alter the original. It said: Our apologies but our online booking system has had a problem processing your request. Apologies for any inconvenience caused The site crashed on me. 82
Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendations Discover Information 1 st + 1st place on the most important driver, up from 2nd. + Participants were more successful on the DFDS site for all three sub-tasks than any other site tested, with healthy improvements over 2016. + It is far clearer where to start than average. - Top issues: Too much scrolling (7%), site too slow (5%), site cluttered (5%). - Some complaints about too many options and having to re-enter information. - Only 68% of participants were able to find out about the onboard experience. Navigation, smartphone issues, and video issues were all reported. Onboard content is pushed down by the booking tool. Overall a strong performance. Some information such as the onboard information is hidden under a booking tool and the same is true on other pages such as the customer service help centre. Consider removing the search tool from the top of pages where it isn t part of a logical flow for users. The DFDS search tool needs some attention. A search for a common term such as route map brings up a route map from 2014 and an op stack test page. Address technical issues which lead to people having to re-enter information when using the search tool, especially when they hit the back button. Ensure all video content is functioning correctly. 83
Driver Rank Strengths / issues Recommendations Homepage organisation Price Satisfaction and understanding Ease of Booking 1 st 2 nd 2 nd + 1 st place, up from 3 rd. + DFDS has 9 of the top 10 most important types of info on (or accessible via) the homepage. + Virtually all comments were positive. + The DFDS homepage is slightly ahead in terms of many homepage attributes. - Missing info on travelling with kids and bikes. - Port directions are hard to find and yet are of considerable importance to 39%. - Support is hard to find in the footer. - Lacking customer reviews and live chat. - Considerably behind Hurtigruten and Color Line in terms of the photos and images. + Remain in 2nd place. + Price satisfaction has gone up 9 points. - 10% found the optional extras content. confusing. Of this group just 33% would consider booking with DFDS in the future vs 58% for those that didn t have this issue. + Significantly improved and up from 4th to 2 nd. + Many found the information to flow logically with clearly displayed prices and a good choice of sailings. + Booking satisfaction up from 56% to 66%. + Satisfaction with the search tool is highest. - Top issues: Price too expensive (14%), extras content confusing (10%), unclear how long journey would be (7%), hard to determine cost (6%), website was slow (6%), no live chat (6%). - Some complained about the list of sailings being too long, the need to register, confusion about Calais vs Dunkirk and technical issues. Give support greater priority on the page, putting it at the top of the page, not in the footer. Make content on port directions much easier to find on the homepage / via a prominent link. Make content about travelling with bikes and children somewhat more prominent. Consider adding customer reviews and live chat. Look to Hurtigruten and Color Line for best practices in terms of photography. Add greater detail about the option extras within the booking process as the changes made since 2016 to remove photos and detail have been detrimental. The improvements to scores on the booking driver mostly relate to increased satisfaction with pricing. Test alternative design solutions to the list of sailings - best practice = Eurotunnel. Enable the user to change dates without going back to the start and risk losing info already entered. Add info on journey times, ship name, and arrival time. On a smartphone, the journey details are shown at the bottom of the booking page, consider moving some to top. Add more detail about the benefits of getting the optional extras. Consider moving the mini-map of the closeness of Calais and Dunkirk above the main content so that users on all devices can see this easily. 84
Executive Summary: Smartphone DFDS DFDS came in 3 rd place overall via smartphone in 2017. Eurotunnel came 1 st with 82% satisfaction compared to 73% for DFDS. The smartphone experience pushed up both brand and booking likelihood. DFDS Overall experience 3 rd (662) Overall satisfaction Visual appeal (homepage) Ease of finding info Booking likelihood Brand positivity 73% (3 rd ) Eurotunnel 1 st 82% 52% (4 th ) Color Line 1 st 59% 73% (4 th ) Eurotunnel 1 st - 76% 37% (3 rd ) +30% pre-post 59% (3 rd ) +49 pre-post Top issues when researching The site was slow (9%), too much scrolling (7%), Too many clicks to find info (7%), Content was dull (7%). Site was cluttered (5%). Top issues booking process Prices were too expensive (14%), Optional extras content confusing (10%), No online chat (9%), Hard to determine total cost (5%). Typical comments Easy to use. No problems using website on smartphone. It was simple, easy to use and pleasant. Easy to see where I can go and for how much. Calendar selector popped up so didn't have to type and easy selection of route and number of people. 85