Don’t Travel Empty is the coach job matching service that makes the promise to operators that they can maximise profits by reducing empty journeys. Founder and MD Anthony Marett talks us through some of its latest features, and ultimate goals
Don’t Travel Empty (DTE) started in 2008 with a simple purpose – to create data on empty and full legs of coach journeys to help operators to assist each other and match jobs in the event of breakdowns.
For the past 10 years, Founder and Managing Director Anthony Marett and his team has grown and developed DTE’s coach management software system. In the quest to achieve up-to-date vehicle data where vehicles match on a consistent basis, he reveals how new avenues of profitability opened. It may prove a lifebuoy for operators through one of the darkest times the industry has ever faced.
Powerful data
With the data populating the management system cloud-based, Anthony (who runs Marett’s Chariots) realised he had instant access to the system wherever in the world he was. As a result, users of the system have a competitive advantage when returning to a customer with a quote.
Like many good things, DTE aims to maximise operator revenue while minimising the amount of work that has to be put in at the operator’s end. “What we’ve built here is now so simple, easy and effective that we’re hoping it helps our members come out of this dark period,” he says.
By using the ability to instantly return to customers and analysing the data, Anthony says he has taken the profitability of Marett’s Chariots up 25% last year from 2018 – and was on track to 30% profit growth in 2020 before coronavirus COVID-19.
How it works
The coach management software creates publically visible ‘empty leg’ journeys and available vehicles which can then be matched to other operators’ private ‘full leg’ journeys and passenger recovery jobs respectively, the latter of which DTE does about 500 per year.
The coach management software is a step above the basic DTE membership, which gives users access to a social network, mechanical assistance and passenger recovery service. It allows users to recognise how much time their fleet is actually booked, i.e. travelling with paying passengers, and uses a dynamic pricing model to maintain its appeal throughout the year – ensuring jobs are not ‘too expensive’ and turn off customers. “Every time a job comes in, we look at the conversion rate and cost per mile, so the price of the trip is determined by how busy we are. By using dynamic pricing we managed to increase bookings in January by £15,000 – without adding to any of our costs.”
Further to the coach management system, DTE has created the ability for all of its members to access Next Generation – its new eCommerce system granting them the ability to build a website that they have control over. Operators can manage the page colour and search engine optimisation tools, photographs and text.
Next Generation can be optimised further with additional web pages – for instance, an individual landing page for coach hire tailored to towns in that region. The goal is to allow Google’s search algorithm to categorise those pages so they appear at the top of the page ranking, and maximise that operator’s exposure in the region they work.
63% of all Google coach hire searches click through the paid advertisement that appears at the top of the page, so DTE works with operators to create a Google ad campaign to capture that interest for £500 a month – and guarantees at least £5,000 in enquiries or a full refund. Not to use that is madness, Anthony argues – “At a time of desperation, operators are missing out those enquiries.
“Crucial to all this is the ability for the coach operator to give an instant answer to any customer,” Anthony adds, returning to the original concept. Conversion rates – i.e., when an inquiry turns into a booking – are often dependent on who delivers first.
Within this new system operators have the ability to load their vehicles onto the site alongside a pricing structure for hours and miles driven, as well as for different times of year. This automates the process in simple terms, giving customers an instant quote and removes the need for a phone call or email.
The quote is subsequently logged into the coach management system, and needs only a confirmation from the operator to confirm it. “Conversation rates with these kind of instant quotes are about 50% greater than other methods,” Anthony says. “Customers’ purchasing decisions are made very quickly, and based on the level of service experienced. A brilliant experience can easily persuade a buyer to spend more.”
Logically, Anthony argues operators with more quotes coming through than they can deal with can then afford to charge more – and profitability is increased. The streamlined service also takes the burden off the office when it comes to staff levels.
Helping out during COVID-19
It is no secret now that coach companies that survive the current effects of the global pandemic will have to work harder to funnel what work is available into their business.
That may involve looking at traditional cost base and saving money, whether on staff or by using competitively priced systems. Anthony predicts a degree of ‘carnage’ regardless of what is chosen.
The Next Generation eCommerce system is an additional module to DTE which is marketed at £45 per month per operator. “The website is meant to represent each operator well and rank them in search engines for the terms customers will be looking for in their area,” Anthony says.
And people are favouring Google more, ‘without question’, he finds. With £1.7m worth of quotes that he could not convert due to sheer volume last year, and £1.3m of those from Google at a cost of only £500 a month, the web has entrenched itself as the main source of incoming coach enquiries. Anthony argues that conversion rate could be made greater if discounts were offered to those who enquired, but did not book.
The right time?
When asked if this is the right time for operators to begin marketing themselves in this manner, Anthony warns of the ever present risk that comes in 2021; That by January and February, available quotes online might have gone to competitors through coach brokers, and operators might not be able to hit the ground running. “Now is the time for a soft marketing approach so operators can start getting quotes that will sustain them into the new year,” he says.
The Next Generation system is in a constant state of development, and Anthony has plans to take it to the next level as a coach management software system. The coach management directory site was never officially launched, but is being run in conjunction with many operators’ existing sites. An official launch was planned later this year, but with signs of recovery in place that date was brought forward.
And if it has not been made obvious so far, the ultimate goal is for the system to allow a member of the public to book a coach with an operator without a human being present. “A customer will find the website, ask for the quote, receive an instant price, and the system will be able to judge automatically whether a vehicle is available. The only input the operator will need is whether they want that automatic process to be in place, and accept all available bookings.”
The system is to be tidied up with ongoing improvements and launched when Anthony and the team are happy everything is in place. If speed in providing a quote is a chief decider in converting a quote, then Anthony’s automated system may herald in the most efficient means of coach booking the industry has available.
