Customer Journey of an Online Traveler 01/23/11
When it comes to booking flights, airline websites have become predominant for 64% of travelers in the past two years, compared to 60% in 2007 and 2008. Booking through the office jumped from 2% to 10% in the same time period, while travel agents fell from 17% to 10%. A 64% majority report using their frequent flier miles to book free flights, while 28% use them for upgrades – Zagat.com 2010 US & International Airline Survey.
Building a picture of the Online Traveler’s Customer Journey from travel desire through to ticket booking and post-flight experience, is the first step towards maximising the value in your customer database with a segmentation strategy that enables delivery of personalized communications.
We are talking about gaining insights into customer behavior that will allow us to construct an optimized customer lifecycle messaging framework that increases both conversion and long-term retention. This framework serves as a roadmap for the stakeholders in your organization that have a say in shaping the customer journey: From awareness building through to loyalty management.
The Online Traveler: Someone who uses digital channels to plan and book their travel and then share the experience with others.
This is a series of two posts. In Part 1, I will segment each of the steps in the online traveler’s customer journey, present some real-life scenarios and present some thought provoking questions.
Then,in part II, I will create a framework that identifies communication opportunities to improve the online traveler’s experience while adding value to the selected airline’s bottom line. I will cover awareness with inbound advertising, conversion with on-site messaging trigger messaging (as part of a lifecycle messaging plan), incorporating a broader discussion of behavioural messaging and how to use a Cohort Analysis to derive insights for an optimal lifetime customer relationship management plan.
PART 1: Understanding The Online Traveler’s Customer Journey
Stimulated interest to Travel and Destination Discovery: Search Engines ar Gateways, Social Networks are Decision Drivers.
SEO and SEM serve as a gateway: 64% of leisure travelers and 65% of business travelers use search engines to begin their travel planning - Google, September 2010
Social Media fuelled word of mouth is arguably the primary source of travel inspiration today, be it for a specific destination, or just seeding the idea of going somewhere new into someone’s mind. As a traveler, a field report by friends and family is what usually stimulates interest in a destination or serves as a reminder that it’s time to get back on a plane – making me more receptive to travel promotions.
Social Networks are decision drivers: Facebook users who are referred to travel booking sites are far more likely to book travel than those who are referred via search engines like Google.
That’s the power of “wisdom of friends,” which was a key factor behind TripAdvisor’s new Trip Friend initiative. Trip Friends harnesses the concept of Facebook’s social graph to enable trip planners to get travel reviews and ask questions of trusted friends. – PhocusWright, 2010
At this stage, i’m visiting Kayak, Zuji, Expedia and Orbitz to get ideas and am also more likely to engage with marketing collateral through display, search, mobile and social media. I know that some airlines opt-out of metasearch engines and I will always make a point to visit that airline’s website to check fares. I use metasearch for research, but always book my flights on the airline’s website. This is usually a little cheaper and it also let’s me manage the booking online with greater ease. I am also interested in booking accommodation, things to do at the destination, airport transfers and transport options while I am there.
It’s not just about the destination. It’s how you get there
Recommendations and reviews also form part of the selection process. The average travel planner will visit anything from 2 to 10 websites before a transaction proceeds. Skytrax reviews always form part of my research before trying a new airline. Online peer reviews are seen as independent and believable sources of information, second only to recommendations from friends and family. This raw and unbiased user-generated content can be the determining factor between securing a ticket sale now, rather than giving the prospect a reason to search for and consider other offers. Do you solicit feedback from customers after they fly? Do you show reviews from people who have flown on your routes? Why not? Also consider how can you integrate Facebook Social Graph (Likes) into the sales funnel?
Airline / Flight Selection & Ticket Purchase
To turn a prospect into a customer, provide them with everything they need to complete the purchase – without having to leave your website.
source: Zagat 2010 US & International Airlines Survey
Choice Factors: When choosing a flight, respondents’ main considerations are: direct routes (65%), ticket price (55%), past experiences (50%), time of day (48%) and seat comfort/leg room (46%). If a meal is not offered on the flight, and most aren’t, 55% of surveyors opt to purchase food in the airport, while 18% bring food from home.
source: Zagat 2010 US & International Airlines Survey
Assurance that they are getting the best price (or at least within your class of airline.) Highlight the unique features your airline offers on that particular route that sets you apart from competing airlines. Display reviews and ratings. Work with Skytracks if you need to. They have a database of unbiased and route specific information that will help prospective buyers make a purchase decision without leaving your website. Booking travel usually takes time. It’s not uncommon for someone to spend hours, spread over several days, weeks or even months to make a purchase decision. That’s a lot of time for them to weigh all of their options, across all airlines.
Payment options: Would you not fly an airline if it doesn’t accept your preferred credit card? Doubling up on mileage earnings with a credit card to purchase your ticket is common practice, but not all airlines accept the full suite of cards on the market.
Consider this: It’s common for airlines to offer multiple fare options with additional ‘benefits’ to be had with the higher fares.
- A discounted fare, with no refunds. Any date changes come at extortionary rates.
- A dearer fair, but refundable (less administration fees) and changes won’t cost a small fortune
- Flexible fares, tickets that cost even more, but are valid for 12 months – for those who are unsure of their exact travel plans.
But you’re not just paying for flexibility with your travel dates anymore.
Consider this: Would you pay an extra 10% just to secure a ticket that counts towards your mileage and tier status vs. a cheaper promo fair that does not accumulate miles? It’s a strong drawcard, especially for people who might be just an inch away from Silver status, or accumulating enough points for a business class upgrade.
Scenario: You book a ticket on the airline’s website, but realize you picked the wrong flight time. Within minutes of your booking you speak with a call centre agent. What are expectations? To be able to change your flight time easily without being a charged a gazillion bucks right? Kudos to Air New Zealand for making this happen for me. So, even if your official policy states that the fare is non-refundable and that you have to charge a $100 change fee - don’t do it. Give up this short term revenue opportunity in favour of a long-lasting and potentially lucrative relationship.
Online Audience Segmentation: It’s easy enough to segment travelers by demographics or class of ticket purchased, but there is much more value in segmentation by behaviour. For example, a booking is made for a travel party of 4 including 2 adults and 2 kids. That is obviously a family trip. The destination provides a clues as to wether it is a vacation, or if they are visiting family. If they are going on vacation, there’s an opportunity to push ancillary revenue opportunities: high margin accommodation, car rental, activities and insurance. We will delve further into customer database segmentation in second part of this post. For now, let’s look at some qualitative data:
I have a 78 year old uncle to whom travel metasearch and online travel agencies may as well not exist, whereas for me, they are where my flight search begins. Where we agree is pricing: Transparency in the ticket price – what is displayed is what you actually pay, is a critical decision factor. Websites that display additional fees after the initial search result instantly lose favour.
The family vacation: My 45 years old friend with a wife a 2 kids needs to get from Melbourne to South Africa. What’s important ? Convenience. Get us from point A to B as quickly as possible. ”We’re on a hard earned vacation, we don’t need to deal with flight delays, uncomfortable cabins, bad airplane food or seats with no video screens. Budget airlines are pretty much a non-option for us.”
Other websites visited by business and leisure travelers in making their trip decisions:
- Airline website: 40% / 40%
- Hotel website: 36% / 36%
- Websites of the destination visiting: 32% / 40%
- Travel websites (eg TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, Rough Guide): 29% / 31%
- Online travel agency: 26% / 25%
- Website of a high street travel agent: 16% / 15%
- Car rental website: 14% / 11%
- Social networking website: 11% / 10%
source
Travelers are clearly interested in planning their accommodation, transportation, insurance and activities before arriving at their destination. There is a clear opportunity to increase ancillary revenue through providing a remarkable planning and booking solution as part of the ticket sales process or even afterwards in the time leading up to departure. Integrating these necessities into a customer lifecycle messaging plan could prove to be a key driver of high margin ancillary income.
At The Airport - Taking Off
What about the travel experience – both at the airport and in-flight ? I hate waiting in check-in queues, so kudos to Star Alliance at Vienna International Airport, where there’s no shortage of self check-in kiosks and Austrian Airline assistants to hand-hold those who need it.
I arrive at Vienna airport and need to access my email in order to find my booking reference and use the self-checkin kiosk. I log on to the free wireless internet and get what I need. – Wifi access is a big money maker for airports, but it’s also extremely inexpensive to provide. I see an opportunity for an airline to offer free wi-fi at the regional hubs and also growth market airports in order to build goodwill. I think the brand alignment works exceptionally well for airlines that offer inflight wi-fi and also budget airlines: ”Free wifi – the lowest price we can give you.”
Scenario: You arrive at the airport late. You miss your flight. What does the airline do? Put’s you on the next available flight at no extra cost. Thanks Virgin America, you rock! vs. AirAsia (who do not rock) because they made me cough up for another ticket.
Scenario: You arrive at the airport late. The airline has already offloaded you. You’ve got no check-in baggage and the e-boarding pass you printed just says you need to be at the gate 35 minutes before the flight. However, you get to the airport, and security says you need to visit the airline counter and get the boarding pass ‘endorsed.’ Ok, so aside from negating the benefits of an e-boarding pass, I’m late for my flight, but fortunately the Emirates Airlines staff are good about it and after a phone call, they let me through.
On the Plane
A frequent disappointment is when one airline does not have a standardized on-board experience. Too often I get on a plane that happens to at the bottom of the airline’s refit queue. However, the real issue is that the condition of the aircraft is not made clear to me when I am buying my ticket. The result: I won’t be flying that airline again. This lack of transparency in the booking process is short-sighted. All airline booking engines should provide a full description of what’s on-board the aircraft.
I also appreciate the little things on full service airlines: More leg-room, wider seats, adjustable headrest, my little tv screen with access to a plethora of entertainment, the TV dinner with a tantalizingly descriptive menu, free refreshments and generally happier and therefore friendlier cabin crew. So when it comes to flying on a LCC, I can’t help but be disappointed by the narrow seats and another traveler packed into the middle seat next to me like a sardine. Some airlines like Easyjet take things too far – Not assigning seats and making people line up for at least 30 mins and encouraging everyone to charge onto the plane like a herd of cattle to get a decent seat is a bit ridiculous. It really gives a new meaning to the term “cattle class.”
source: Zagat 2010 US & International Airlines Survey
At the Airport – Arrivals: In the Traveler’s mind, there is no separation between the airline and their experience at the airports – Every part of the experience impacts on the airline’s brand.
Scenario: There’s a long immigration line and Airport Customs give you a hard time at the airport. How does this affect your choice of airline the next time you fly?
Does it not make sense for the airline to schedule their flight arrival at a time when passenger-load is lower? One could argue that this is purely an airport operational issue, (Melbourne,Tullamarine – need to get their act together for morning arrivals) and passenger volumes will rise to a point that forces a hand, but until then, airlines should realise the extend of the negative image that a passenger is left with. The result is flying with a different airline (even if just to arrive at the airport off-peak) or to fly into a neighboring airport (also means another airline.)
Sometimes you will find airport security or biosecurity staff placed outside of their normal checkpoints to pre-sreen a ‘random’ selection of passengers and then mark their customs declaration cards with special codes that get them a ticket to a lengthy interrogation and baggage inspection. Airport Customs personnel need more training into the nature of an air traveler’s journey. The common factor is stress – from getting to the airport on time, to getting a decent seat on the plane. Add in a jet-lagged traveler coming off an overnight flight and put him up against a cranky, newbie airport customs officer who hasn’t had her morning coffee = disaster waiting to happen. We need to move passed by-the-book stereotypical ‘random’ inspections.
Scenario: An 8 hour flight from Singapore is approaching Melbourne on schedule, but the tower advises the flight to circle and wait for a runway to become available. The flight eventually lands 25 minutes late. People who have just spent 8 hours in small, uncomfortable economy class seats, with the cries of babies who can’t handle the air pressure changes does not want to spend a single minute more on the plane.
Scenario: Flying from South East Asia to Europe: Cheapest flight in. Because once you’re there, domestic routes are highly competitive and there’s a host of flights for you to choose from.
Post Trip Engagement: ”We Hope You Enjoyed Your Flight”
90% of unhappy customers don’t file official complaints, but they do tell their friends and lash out on Twitter and Facebook. An email asking me how my journey went and to share my experience in an open forum accomplishes three things:
- First, it lets me know that you’re listening – that you care.
- Two, its a great source of reviews that are valuable in the decision making process.
- ThreeL the feedback is collected on a forum that you control, allowing you to easily respond to criticism, rather than allow third party websites to hijack your search engine visibility. The message itself can be more than just a request for a review. While I am advocate of a single call to action in a communiqué, the richness of the email can be enhanced with information like:
Here’s how many miles you earned….and heres how many more you need to score that upgrade or free flight.
If you’re not already signed up, there’s still time to count this flight towards your miles, just sign up within the next 48 hours (by this date.)
It’s free to join and a free flight is just another 3000 miles away!
Conclusions
With an ample selection of new opportunities, there is a need to develop a framework that enables a business to rapidly assess if a solution is right for them.
Through customer journey analysis you can derive insights that inform database segmentation and access the data that leads to the formation of hypotheses for A/B and multivariate testing, which in turn leads to optimal website usability and ROI. The result is a system in that leads to constant incremental improvement.
It’s important to consider the customer journey in its entirety and recognise the fact that the experience a passenger has from discovery through to arriving at their destination reflects on the airline’s reputation, regardless of whether things like long immigration and customs lines are outside of their direct control. Qantas can be commended on providing priority clearance passess to their business class passengers.
PART II: The Opportunity – Optimising The Profitability of the Online Traveler Sales Funnel
In the follow-up to this post, I will develop a strategic framework that will help identify and prioritise the value-add opportunities available throughout the customer journey.
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One Responses to this article
nice post!
I am curious about your second post, about the framework. When is your’e second post?
grt..remco