As a marketer in the travel industry, you understand the importance of encouraging customers to book in advance.
As the seasons seem to move faster than the calendar, promoting destinations for the next holiday becomes a top priority. And with ever-changing scenarios, finding new ways to engage customers is crucial.
According to Deloitte's "2023 Travel Industry Outlook," the industry has seen a steady climb in demand and performance metrics throughout 2021 and into 2022. However, as health worries ease, new challenges emerge, including consumer financial anxiety, a labor shortage, climate change concerns, and the likelihood that corporate travel may never return to pre-pandemic levels.
With the rapid changes in the travel industry, marketers must focus on personalization strategies and customer experience optimization techniques in order to drive growth and stay competitive.
Providing personalized experiences based on customers' interests can improve the number of reservations in advance.
So, if you look to stay ahead of the competition it’s time for you to bet on segmentation and personalized marketing strategies dedicated to travel industry!
Personalization strategies are essential for marketing with success in the travel industry marketing.
Travelers are becoming increasingly demanding and expect a more personalized experience, which can be achieved through online strategies that are designed with their specific needs and interests in mind. Personalization is all about tailoring your marketing messages, products, and services to the unique needs and desires of your target audience.
What allows you to create personalized customer experiences is segmentation, that is the ability to divide your target audience into smaller groups based on common online behavioral characteristics such as bouncers, hesitant users, booking abandoners, highly engaged users. Segmentation allows marketers to create targeted and relevant content that resonates with each segment, ultimately leading to better engagement and conversion rates.
For example, with segmentation you can identify a cluster of new users that arrive at your website but immediately leave it without visiting a second page and prepare a dedicated strategy to invite them not to go away. Or, on the other hand, identify users who are the most likely to complete a booking and show them the benefits of selecting a higher fare for their flight.
Now that we know what personalization and segmentation are, let's look at 4 ways they can help in increasing customer engagement and improving conversion rates.
Do you have many site visits but few conversions? And are returning users few? Web push notifications are the right tool for you!
Web push notification are a very powerful tool 'cause they overcome the problems linked to email collection 'cause they allow you to can ask your web visitors to subscribe to push messages and use this customer base to send dedicated communications.
This overcomes privacy constraints because there is no data to collect for those who are reluctant to leave the email.
For example, you can engage your customers who haven't booked a cruise in 4 months and tell them to hurry up and make a reservation before prices go up. With push notifications you can show them a message while they are browsing the web; customers will appreciate you taking care of them and also the fact you are not disturbing them with generic promotions.
Do you have a large database of contacts but don't know how to engage them early booking?
You can start sending them personalized content and messaging based on their behavior and preferences. For example, if a visitor has been browsing your website for beach destinations, you can send them targeted messaging about your latest beach vacation packages to increase the likelihood of converting them into a customer.
Or for example you can identify registered users who purchased a flight to a seaside destination the previous year, to send an email with suggestions for seaside destinations.
According to Attentive Mobile Consumer Report, 91% of consumers would opt-in for text messages from brands: SMS is a powerful way to connect with consumers without having to compete for attention in their email inboxes or busy social feeds–and consumers welcome it too. So one of the best marketing tips for travel marketers is to send proactive messages based on customer’ behavior and interest such as special promotions or suggestions to book specific destinations.
One of the strategies you can apply to invite people to make an early reservation is to identify users who have selected a flight or a room but have not completed the purchase and send a text message with a discount code to be used within 3 days to complete the purchase.
It may happen that people surfing your website get lost and don't finalize the booking.
On-site targeting techniques offer the possibility to identify users that looked for a flight or a room in a specific time in the future and encourage them to book showing dedicated messages while surfing.
The customer experience is at the heart of any successful travel industry marketing strategy. This means creating a seamless journey that delights your customers at every touchpoint, from initial inspiration to booking and beyond. Whether it's providing exceptional customer service, personalized recommendations, or exclusive perks, the goal is always to create a positive and memorable experience that builds brand loyalty and generates repeat business.
In conclusion, marketing strategies that focus on personalization are critical for the travel industry. By adopting these strategies and leveraging the right technologies, marketers can connect with consumers on a more meaningful level and drive growth in a highly competitive marketplace.
