A new survey suggests that travel providers are losing out on business because they are missing opportunities to better customize the experience.
The "Expectations vs. Reality: How to Better Serve the Connected Traveler" commissioned by Mindtree found that new technology provides access to create more personalized journeys, but that brands and providers haven't bridged the gap to use it efficiently.
"Whether traveling for business or for pleasure, travelers have very high expectations from the brands that they depend on to make their experience memorable," said Nalin Vij, senior vice president and global head-travel, Transportation and hospitality for Mindtree. "The technology around personalization is available, but our survey found that most travelers are disappointed in how effectively their travel provider offers a custom-fit ecosystem. This is a challenge travel brands need to address, as many are still burdened with their investments in legacy systems."
Take offers as one example: Travelers said that the reason why they don't use them is that the offers don't arrive at the right time, expire before they can be used, don't offer enough savings or don't apply to their areas of interest.
However, if travel agents can get the right offers to the right clients, they can build on loyalty. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said that they are more loyal to a brand that offers relevant deals. Forty-seven percent said that they would be open to paying a premium of at least 17 percent for more contextual and relevant offers.
There are a few more ways that travel agents can reach clients by offering them what they want. Twenty-two percent noted that they weren't recognized for loyalty, and 92 percent said that leisure activities are an integral part of travel, even when traveling for business. These two areas offer savvy travel sellers the chance to engage business clients with more personalized offers and recognize them for repeat business.
Mindtree recommends travel providers take the following steps to deliver a more personal experience:
-Integrate data silos for a more accurate view of customers from multiple digital touchpoints.
-Build rich customer personas, powered by a strong customer 360 foundation, enabling customer recognition at every touchpoint.
-Create tailored customer offers by creating content, offers and recommendations using context-weighted personalization algorithms.
-Employ omnichannel strategies across channels including voice, mobile and web to target and deliver personalized information and services.
"Travel providers are poised to harness the most advanced digital technology in the age of personalization by delivering seamless, context-relevant and connected customer experiences," said Vij. "Our leadership in digital, combined with our extraordinarily deep expertise in the travel industry domain, has given Mindtree a range of personalization capabilities that is bridging the expectation gap that most travelers in the market today are experiencing."
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