Keep in mind that real people are searching on the other end, so there needs to be a balance between expended effort and income. We tried what you're suggesting, but it just didn't work.
As per your example, let's say I find a flight for $400. Would you pay without seeing details? If not, would you paying seeing the details, but without booking instructions? If not, would you pay after booking even if it meant the hassel of returning to our site, pulling out your CC details and then paying?
Our experience is that only a fraction of people will pay in this scenario.
This aside, we are targeting people who we can help the most. That is, people flying to remote places, or on complex itineraries, or who just want to absolve themselves of the stress. In our testing, these people have no problem paying up front. And if they're not happy, we do everything we can to help.
The real challenge of this business is managing the interactions between the two sides of our marketplace. Most of our early assumptions were proven false. :)
let's say I find a flight for $400.
Would you pay without seeing details?
Sure. I mean, I would have to trust your system, but you're not emitting any scammy signals, so I basically do.
we are targeting people who we can help
the most. That is, people flying to remote
places, or on complex itineraries, or who
just want to absolve themselves of the stress.
Keep in mind that real people are searching on the other end, so there needs to be a balance between expended effort and income. We tried what you're suggesting, but it just didn't work.
As per your example, let's say I find a flight for $400. Would you pay without seeing details? If not, would you paying seeing the details, but without booking instructions? If not, would you pay after booking even if it meant the hassel of returning to our site, pulling out your CC details and then paying?
Our experience is that only a fraction of people will pay in this scenario.
This aside, we are targeting people who we can help the most. That is, people flying to remote places, or on complex itineraries, or who just want to absolve themselves of the stress. In our testing, these people have no problem paying up front. And if they're not happy, we do everything we can to help.
The real challenge of this business is managing the interactions between the two sides of our marketplace. Most of our early assumptions were proven false. :)