Deby Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Anyone had a success/improvements with new re-launched FC site? When I mean success, are your bookings or enquiries coming in at the same rate previously? Have you received more enquiries as a result of their re-launch?I am not convinced from my experiences/conversations with other owners, but am keen to hear other advertisers experiences.Deby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibou Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 I must agree Deby. We have had significantly fewer enquiries via FC since the new site was installed. Last year was our first year and FC was our only advertising and we were happy with the result. So far, I'm glad we are not relying on them totally this year. We also had the aggravations about the pool and the search criteria. Old system was much more user friendly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrooje<BR>Cheers,<br>-Brooke<BR><br><B><A TARGET=blank HREF="http:www.experienceburgundy.com">http:www.experienceburgundy.com<A><B> Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Hi Deby,I'm new to this forum and will be browsing around a bit......however I did want to post that I'm with you -- our enquiries have dropped by more than half this year compared to last year. We've joined two other sites to try and pick up the slack. How upsetting -- initially I liked the new FC design! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Viney Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I have read the postings that have been received in the last couple of days about French Connections and have been startled to see such apparent disappointment with our new site. This is rather contradictory to the direct feedback we are receiving in our offices here both by email and by telephone. Corroborating that feedback, we have also experienced a record month in receipt of new applications and in hits to the site during this period too. The new site has incorporated all the functions that we have been criticised for previously, for not having deployed earlier. i.e. refined search facilities including search on dates and prices, personal update calendar, more owner interaction etc. We are of course very disappointed to hear about any personal dissatisfaction and will take all comments received extremely seriously but it is gratifying to us that we are getting very positive feedback here, contradictory to what I am reading on the postings in the forum. Members of this forum have identified some important key issues about the new features and functionality and most importantly about enquiry rates.The important key issues with our new features that member owners seem dissatisfied with is the new AVAILABILITY CALENDAR and I would therefore like to comment below on these criticisms. AVAILABILITY CALENDAR There have been a small number of people who have not understood how to complete their availability calendar. Where people have raised a query, we have responded with detailed instructions and received confirmation back that the client was then able to go on and complete without problem. If you have any issues here, please do click on the following link, which answers most problems. www.frenchconnections.co.uk/for_property_owners/availabilityfaq.cfm If this information does not help you, please contact us and we will help you out personally. You can email [email protected] or telephone us on +44 (0)1580 755888 (both appear on our website) and you will receive a personal human response to any problems that you are encountering. The other extremely important issue raised by members is about ENQUIRY RATES.ENQUIRY RATES We have noted that some people have remarked that their enquiries to their advertisement on French Connections have been reduced in the past few weeks. We are trying to balance quantity against quality of enquiries received so that our property owners receive a higher proportion of bookings:enquiry ratio. Because our new French Connections site offers more sophisticated search criteria than before, holiday-makers will be more likely to only contact those owners that fully satisfy all their requirements (including dates when the property shows as available) which naturally will provide owners with better quality tailored enquiries that result in bookings - but inevitably this more refined searching may result in a reduced quantity of scatter gun enquiries Every year we receive emails from people who say their enquiries are either less good than the same time the previous year, or we receive emails from those who report a greater level of interest than in previous years. This year, with the re-launch underway, it may be easier for those who fall into the former category to draw conclusions that it is the re-launch itself that has caused this effect. Our web-design team carefully look at logs of enquiries going through the system and it is clear that some property owners are receiving far more interest than others. We are naturally investigating those who are reporting a downturn to see if there is any meaningful correlation and looking carefully at the way people are arriving at properties of choice. We do recognise it is of small consolation to you if you are one of those people receiving less interest than others and it will not necessarily reassure you to know that we also receive emails from people who are reporting a good (better) response, in particular since the re-launch. Unfortunately, the positive comments that we have received over the past few weeks, tend not to receive the same publicity as those comments which contain less pleasing experiences.Naturally it is in all our interests to generate more and more traffic through the site, resulting in firm bookings, and to this end we are carefully monitoring all feedback. Other Companies who have taken the same path in upgrading their site have also received their share of criticism. We know this from emails received in the past year from the public who have subsequently come to French Connections as a result of disappointment with other advertising sources. It is however, in both the interests of property owners and French Connections that all our clients are satisfied. Having spent the past 8 years achieving the position we now have on the internet, our objective in the coming months is to continue optimising the website to the advantage of us all and we would wish to reassure clients that it is their interests we hold uppermost when taking decisions. Naturally if anyone has an Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deby Posted February 4, 2005 Author Share Posted February 4, 2005 Thank you Karen for your detailed response.It is good to hear that FC are aware of these issues for some of its members. I am pleased to hear that FC are monitoring the flows of traffic and endeavouring to build on their success of recent times. Deby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
passiflora Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Yes I have to admit we too are not getting the enquiries through FC that we had last year. In fact I have just checked my enquiries box and I have had three enquiries through FC since the change of site. One was someone wanting a houseswap who I understand e-mailed everyone else I know as well and one has resulted in a booking. So being positive you could statistically say that 30% of the enquiries have resulted in bookings!!Fortunately I have plenty of bookings through my other advertising. Just shows you have to be careful not to put all your eggs in one basket and also that what works one year doesn't necessarily work the next.It was interesting to see Karen's comments about the good response FC have had to their new site. Is there anyone out there who uses this forum who is doing really well with FC bookings this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineS2 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Nope, not me...As I've already mentioned elsewhere (there is currently a "lively" discussion about this on the LayMyHat.com forum), I have only had ONE enquiry from FC so far this year - and Jan/Feb are usually the busiest month for enquiries...Luckily we advertise elsewhere too, otherwise I would be very nervous by now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 After all this fuss I couldn't resist having a look - I'm sure you will tell me there is a good reason, but I would love to see the actual location in the title of the property rather than 'Typical French Longere' or whatever - some of the titles are so, so twee (LOL perhaps I am not a typical ' searcher ' ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grays Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 We use three sites to advertise our gites, F.C. is the most expensive and brings the least inquiries and bookings.Significantly less inquiries in fact, so this year we will not re-subscribe after two years of using them.Sorry FC but no results= no business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I'd have to agree with most of you - we use FC and Visit France. I would estimate that over 90% of our bookings have come from VF, so we shall renew with them, but I can't justify the expense with FC with such a poor success rate. They don't even generate the same level of enquiries, and this was before the new website! Marie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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