As the mobile landscape continues to evolve, businesses are seeking innovative solutions to stay ahead of the curve. For trivago, embracing swift app development through Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) has been a game-changer in creating a better, more stable mobile experience.
Founded in Germany in 2005, trivago has grown to become one of the world's leading hotel search engines, with over 1000 employees and a listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. With a strong focus on innovation, the company recognizes the importance of keeping up with emerging technologies to stay ahead of the competition. "We're a technology company, and we're passionate about using the latest methods and tools to improve our services," says Tom Dwyer, Project Lead for PWA and Front-End Developer at trivago.
The rise of smartphones has been a significant trend in recent years, with mobile devices now being the most popular means of getting online globally. In fact, more trivago users access the service through mobile devices than on desktop and laptop computers. With a further billion users set to come online using smartphones in emerging markets, it's crucial for businesses like trivago to succeed on mobile.
While the ubiquity of mobile devices presents huge potential for growth, there are also challenges that come with it. Mobile data is often expensive, and users won't always accept the cost of downloading a native app just to find out if it provides the service they need. User experiences are often dependent on an active data connection, which can be easily undermined by unreliable networks.
Conscious of these challenges, trivago began exploring solutions that would enable them to provide a seamless mobile experience. Their search led them to Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), a collection of APIs that allows mobile websites to provide much of the functionality of a native app, such as offline access, push notifications, and homescreen shortcuts.
"The new standard for mobile sites is set to do for mobile user experience what AJAX did for the interactivity of Web 2.0 sites like Google Maps," says Dwyer. "Just as we now no longer accept websites constantly reloading while we browse for fresh content, mobile users who experience the seamlessness of PWAs will quickly come to expect sites to just work, regardless of flaky wifi or poor mobile reception."
When trivago first became aware of Progressive Web Apps, they were initially dissuaded from pursuing the technology due to a perceived inability to run effective A/B tests on users with interrupted mobile connections. However, with the development of the Background Sync API, this issue was resolved, and a small team of developers began working on implementing the first pieces of PWA functionality.
The results have been impressive, with more than half a million people adding the trivago site to their homescreen. Engagement for users who add to homescreen has increased by 150%, from an average of just 0.8 repeat visits for users of the old mobile site to two visits for users of the PWA. Prior to the new, evolved site, trivago's only means of re-engaging users was via email, but with push notification subscriptions now eclipsing email subscriptions, the brand now has a valuable new means of outreach.
Offline access is still relatively modest, with only around 3% of users currently using this feature. However, growth over time is expected as trivago grows its presence in developing markets and users begin to expect offline access.
As Rolf Schrömgens, Co-Founder and Managing Director at trivago, summarizes: "At trivago, we have been always proud of how fast we are growing, and how fast we are learning. And with all these new technologies evolving, we want to be among the first to adopt them and leverage their benefits for our users."