This month, we’re unveiling Angler’s Choice 2021! Winning the award means you’ve been recognized as one of the top 10% performing captains for providing great service to your customers.
In this month’s newsletter, we explain how the award can help your business, and what you can do to put yourself in the running for the e next award cycle. We’ll also cover one of the most important factors that go into determining Angler’s Choice, and how it’s used to measure success, and why we chose it as one of the main components for the awards.
The 2021 awards look at what your listing
has achieved over the last year, from February 2020 to February 2021. Of course, last year came with its own set of challenges. COVID-19 triggered a lot of canceled trips, as customers' travel plans changed and restrictions were put into place. That's why we lowered the expectations for the realization rate in 2020 and 2021, to be in line with this.
To get the award, you need to have earned the following during the last 12 months: at least 7 reviews from FishingBooker customers, an average of a 4.5-star rating, more than a 70% realization rate, and a 90% response rate. The realization rate is used to measure how many bookings turn into trips, while the response rate shows the percentage of booking requests you’ve responded to within a 24-hr period.
Just like last year, the winners of the Angler’s Choice Award will receive an email letting them know the good news.
If you received this email, congrats!
So how do you know how well your listings are performing at the moment? Now you have the Angler’s Choice Progress Tracker that allows you to see how close your listing is to getting the award, so that you know what to focus on in order to qualify for the next round. You can find out more about where to find this feature and how to use it by clicking on the article below.
Each winner will get an Angler’s Choice badge on the listing associated with the award. The badge not only shows up on your listing but on the search results page too. In fact, customers value this so much that they are 5 times more likely to book with captains who have the award on their listing, compared to those who don't. You’ll also get an exclusive widget that you can add to your own website to help increase trust and recognition from customers everywhere, not only from us.
And that’s not all, we’ll promote your business to your local media for a chance to earn even wider acclaim! Last but not least,
we’re working hard on making the next edition of Angler’s Choice even bigger. In the future, we’ll be thinking of ways to provide even more exclusive benefits to Angler's Choice captains, so be sure to stay tuned for these exciting new perks! You can check out our dedicated Angler’s Choice page to learn more about how we determine the winners and how to get your listing in top shape for the next awards.
Over the past few months, we’ve received lots of questions about what the realization rate is and why it’s an important factor for determining the winners of the Angler’s Choice Awards. We want to answer some of your most frequently asked questions, so we included a whole article on it in this month’s edition. So, what is the realization rate? To put it simply, the realization rate is the percentage of your bookings that turn into trips.
Having a high realization rate instills trust and goes a long way in terms of being a successful captain on FishingBooker. It plays a big role when determining the winners of the Angler’s Choice Awards because it not only shows us how many bookings became successful trips but also how many times you managed to meet customers' expectations, despite the circumstances.
Striving for a high realization rate does not mean you should go ahead with a trip if for example, the weather is unsafe on that day. Safety for you and your customers comes first, so you should never feel forced to go through with a trip, especially if the conditions aren’t safe enough to do so.
That’s why, blocking your calendar on the days the weather looks bad and rescheduling for a later date when the forecast clears up, would be the best case scenario for this example.
Our research shows that, in addition to safety, customers also want to be sure that the trip that they initially requested, is the trip that they get. That’s why fast and frequent communication, as well as, keeping your listing and calendars up to date, are key to having a high realization rate. We understand it can be difficult when a customer is not willing to be flexible.
Sometimes it’s hard for them to reschedule or they only have their eyes set on a particular species, that just isn’t in season.
The bottom line is, sometimes there are things you just can’t control. However, offering alternative options, instead of straight-up canceling or declining your bookings, can make a huge impact on your overall realization rate. And of course, since it’s nearly impossible to reschedule every single trip, Angler’s Choice rewards captains who’ve reached a 70% realization rate, instead of 100%.
You shouldn’t be afraid to cancel a trip if there are no other options available. Read about all these tips and much more on how to boost your realization rate and keep your customers, by clicking on the article below. Be sure to check out our Captain Spotlight to hear the stories of how a few captains really hit the ground running in 2021. You can also check out our new video that explains how to manage single-day and multi-day packages.
And again, remember to check out the main articles for insider tips on how to boost your realization rate, grow your customer base, and put yourself in the running for the next Angler’s Choice Awards. And as always, stay tuned for next month’s edition of Captain News to get all the latest tips on how to grow your business online!
The new year always brings a lot of excitement, and this one’s no different. Starting this month, FishingBooker is rolling out its Angler’s Choice Award for 2021. Limited to the top 10% of best-performing captains, this exclusive recognition is one of our most desireable achievements. In this month’s video, we explain how getting the Angler’s Choice can boost your business, as well as what you need in order to get your hands on it!
Just like last year, all the winners of the Angler’s Choice Award have received an email notifying them about the good news. If you received the award, congrats – you’re in some elite company!
The Angler’s Choice Award – Why You Should Care
Listings that have won the Angler’s Choice Award are highlighted in FishingBooker’s search results, but the benefits go far beyond a cool-looking badge. On average, listings with the Angler’s Choice Award are likely to get almost five times as many bookings compared to a regular listing!
On top of that, award winners receive an exclusive widget that they can add to their own website to gain increased trust and recognition from customers everywhere. And that’s not all! Building on last year’s Angler’s Choice Award, the winners will be promoted to their local media for a chance to earn even wider acclaim.
Criteria
This year, the Angler’s Choice Award is going to the best performing listings between February 2020 and February 2021. To qualify, this is what you needed to achieve:
7+ Verified Reviews
Unlike reviews received through invitations, verified reviews only include those from your FishingBooker customers. As you know, reviews are a huge deal for anglers looking for a charter. They show your customers who you are before they even set foot on your boat.
We always recommend inviting your own customers to leave a review for you, but know that these don’t count towards your eligibility for the Angler’s Choice Award. Here’s a short article that will help you understand how reviews work.
4.5+ Star Review Rating
We know that you set high standards, and a good review rating will help customers see that. If your customers had a good story to tell when they left your boat, chances are that more bookings are on their way!
Just like all the other criteria, the review score counts reviews that came in from February 2020 to February 2021.
>70% Realization Rate
The realization rate is the percentage of your bookings that turn into trips. Our research has shown that, in addition to safety, this is what customers care about the most when choosing a fishing charter. Let’s face it, who likes to have their booking fall through?
To get the 2021 Angler’s Choice Award, you needed to reach a realization rate of at least 70%. Why 70? Well, as you know, running a fishing charter isn’t the same as running a delivery service.
To set our criteria, we looked at how listings performed over the year, taking bad weather, boat malfunctions and customer cancellations into account. We also looked at how frequently captains updated their availability.
After analyzing hundreds of thousands of bookings, we realized that captains who consistently go the extra mile tend to reach a realization rate of around 80%. The important thing here is that we looked at how your listing performs in the long term.
Now, we understand that 2020 was an unprecedented year. This is why, just like in August, we lowered the realization rate requirement from 80% to 70% to make the award more attainable.
Keeping your realization rate high can get you a lot more than an award, mind you. In this article, we dig into how the realization rate influences your listing, explain some common misconceptions, and uncover what steps you can take to improve it.
💡 Striving for a high realization rate doesn’t mean you should ever feel pressured to go through with a trip in unsafe weather conditions. Canceling due to bad weather will not count negatively towards your ranking. With that said, we always encourage you to take advantage of our features to try to reschedule the trip for a brighter day.
> 90% Response Rate
The response rate measures how many booking requests you replied to within 24 hours. We understand that things can get busy when you’re running trips but, thankfully, your app makes it easy to manage booking requests wherever you are.
More importantly, why risk losing a potential customer to a more responsive captain when you could be the one who gets the trip? Even if you’re not able to go on the customer’s requested date, responding early can give you the chance to reschedule, and effectively keep the booking!
If you have Instant Book enabled, things are even easier as your booking requests will be automatically confirmed. As long as your calendar is up to date, Instant Book will save you time, as well as give you a valuable ranking boost!
Looking Ahead
You can expect the next edition of the Angler’s Choice Award to feature a similar set of requirements. If any of the criteria end up changing, we’ll make sure to let you know in advance.
Speaking of requirements, tracking your progress towards the next release of the Angler’s Choice Award has just gotten a lot easier. The all-new Angler’s Choice Progress Tracker lets you check your performance right on your mobile app!
Last but not least, we’re working hard on making the next edition of Angler’s Choice even bigger. Stay on track with the requirements, and you’ll be able to look forward to some exciting new perks!
Once again, to all the recipients of the Angler’s Choice Award, congratulations! If you’re among the lucky winners, it’s time to reap the rewards. If not, the running for the next edition of the award has already started – time to go fishing!
Here’s a rundown of the perks you get, as well as some commonly asked questions about the Angler’s Choice Award.
Did you get the award this year? Have questions about the criteria? Drop us a comment below, we always like hearing from you!
Sean is a former optometrist who quit his day job to write about fishing. He calls himself a lucky angler because his favorite fish, the Mahi Mahi, can be found almost anywhere – though he’s lost more of them than he’s willing to admit. Nowadays, Sean works as a product marketer but can't help writing a few words about fish every now and then.
