Editorial Articles

The travel industry has suffered some major blows over the course of the past 12 months. Volcanic ash, holiday operators and airlines going into administration and strikes have left confidence in the UK travel industry at an all-time low. Couple this with tight household budgets and the rise of the British ‘staycation’ and it is no surprise that travel operators are fighting to restore customer confidence and instil brand loyalty.

The challenge that many operators face is that consumers cannot afford the two holidays per year which they enjoyed 5 years ago. Reassuring customers that their brand offers value and that a holiday is an affordable luxury is an uphill struggle. Consumers are looking to find the best deal and get the optimal value for what is an increasingly sporadic purchase. For the airline trying to sell weekend break flights to the continent, customer loyalty is crucial. Without it, cheaper competitors have a considerable upper hand. The question then is, what can travel companies do to engender this loyalty?

Inarguably, the internet is now the first resource which many consumers use when they are researching their holiday decisions, whether it’s to compare resort reviews or compare the costs of flights. So, with this in mind, digital marketing has to be at the front of a travel company’s campaign to maintain or restore customer confidence and loyalty. Consumers who are researching travel arrangements and holidays are some of the most engaged consumers on the internet, as evidenced by the success of peer review sites like Tripadvisor.com and Holidays-uncovered.co.uk where people are sharing their views and ideas about hotels and resorts internationally. Looking on travel sites is rarely purely speculative as most consumers who are starting this research will have a holiday in sight; a well-executed digital marketing campaign could be the final step needed to encourage that consumer to make a purchase.

Traditionally, our experience with e-mail marketing tells us that contacting customers too frequently can be a major turn-off and result in your e-mail campaign not just falling on deaf ears but also falling straight into the spam folder. However, for travel companies, regularity and contacting the customer at the most appropriate time are essential to the success of a marketing campaign. It is almost impossible to predict when a consumer is going to want to make a holiday purchase so trying to time an e-mail to arrive at the right strategic moment is completely ineffective. With e-mail marketing for the travel industry, every customer touch point is an opportunity to remind them of your service and the great deals that you offer. Whether that is through a welcome e-mail, a booking update, an e-newsletter or the latest sale, front of mind is the only place to be if you want to be considered by the customer.

However, beyond boosting sales and getting to the point where your customer heads to you first before they make a purchase, means getting the message right as well. Holidays are an extremely personal purchase so engaging with the consumer is critical; that means ensuring that the consumer’s preferences are visible to sales executives whether they are in a call-centre, in a high-street branch or that they are reflected on the website once the customer has logged-in. A complete picture of the customer is really at the heart of making them feel valued, something which is crucial to making that customer feel a sense of loyalty to your brand.

What customers need in these difficult times is reassurance. Reassurance that they are getting value and quality, so using a well-targeted e-mail campaign to highlight the positives of your business, such as the quality of service, the extra benefits of joining a loyalty scheme, partnerships with other brands which will lead to a reduction in cost, will all help the consumer feel more confident when shopping with you. What’s more, if they see conversations on independent platforms such as social networks and review sites, which highlight the good work your brand is doing then they will be significantly more likely to feel confident that making a purchase with you is the right decision.

The accountability of digital marketing means it is a cost-effective way of interacting with your customer base, but if it is to be used to full effect and if it is to reinstate lost brand loyalty, then it needs to form a central part of a marketing campaign.

Simone Barratt
MD, e-Dialog International