Neilson Active Holidays is a holiday company focused on creating award-winning travel experiences for its customers. With glowing reviews on Trustpilot and Feefo from thousands of satisfied travelers in its kitty, the company also continuously aims to improve user engagement on its website.
Opportunity to enhance user engagement through data-backed analysis
The CRO team at Neilson conducted a thorough competitor website research with the aim of improving their own website’s usability and engagement. One of the primary observations during this exercise was the higher number of images used on competitor websites in product carousels.
With only three images available per product on the Neilson Holidays website, there was an opportunity here to meet user expectations better. However, the team wanted to back this decision with data.
This is where VWO Insights helped.
A detailed audit of the search results page using VWO heatmaps and scrollmaps revealed that users heavily interacted with product image carousels in search results, making them the most clicked element on the page.
This indicated that the carousel information was important for users and presented another opportunity – that of potentially boosting click-through rates on the image carousel.
Hence these hypotheses were formed:
Users desired more visual content to make informed decisions at the product exploration stage.
Optimising the image carousel could lead to more users moving ahead in the conversion funnel – from exploration to the production description page, and then to checkout.
Key findings from VWO Insights’ analysis
Using heatmaps and scroll maps on desktop and mobile, the CRO team at Neilson discovered several other key trends on the search results page.
The image carousel’s ‘next’ button emerged as the most-clicked element, indicating a strong user preference for browsing multiple images.
Reviews and “Club Board” information received minimal interaction, suggesting potential usability or comprehension gaps.
Scrollmapping data showed that users on both desktop and mobile typically only view three product cards, with viewership dropping significantly after five cards.
Desktop users were more likely to interact with the “Continue” CTA compared to mobile users, where engagement was lower, mirroring a known trend of reduced mobile conversions.
Hence with VWO Insights, the CRO team at Neilson Holidays could do the following:
Identify high-engagement areas on their search results page
Build data-backed hypotheses for optimising this page
Prioritise the hypothesis of adding visual imagery on the product carousels
Build a testing pipeline for optimising high-engagement areas
Fix implemented: Expanding the visual experience
To give users more confidence about the product, the team implemented additional images in the carousel across various product categories.
Ski & Sail properties were increased to five images, and Beach Club properties to fifteen images, allowing users more comprehensive views.
New page on desktop
New page on mobile
Why Neilson chose VWO Insights
The CRO team at Neilson believes that understanding user behaviour is foundational to their approach to website optimisation. Insights into user interactions are essential for creating data-driven hypotheses, guiding them to develop tests that are deeply aligned with actual user needs and behaviours before implementation.
VWO Insights has been incredibly helpful in providing quick, visual insights that are easy to understand and act upon. The heatmapping visuals, in particular, have played a crucial role in highlighting engagement areas and helping get stakeholder attention.
VWO Insights helps you uncover the “why” behind user actions on your website, turning visitor behaviour into actionable insights. Trusted by thousands of brands, it highlights critical areas for improvement and offers a comprehensive view of your visitors’ experience to meet their unmet needs and enhance their journey.
About Neilson
Neilson Active Holidays is an inclusive holiday company that’s been redefining travel since 1978. With holidays designed for people who crave adventure, Neilson offers everything from all-you-can-ski pistes to all-you-can-sail boats, alongside traditional relaxation. Here, visitors embrace each day fully, earning their rest and creating memorable experiences that leave them truly rejuvenated.
Niti Sharma
I've worked as a writer and editor in the B2B SaaS space for over 6 years. I read and write on all things CRO and experience optimization.
I'm a chai fanatic and a paranoid parent. When I'm not copyediting or working on marketing projects, I love to spend my time reading. Besides B2B content, my passion lies in modern, behavioral astrology. I'm a dreamer and wish to write stories for children someday :)
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