According to Adobe, only 53% of travel brands use personalised emails. This is an astonishing statistic that suggests travel brands focus more on finding new customers than giving valuable existing bookers reasons to return.
Given the events of the past few years, it seems understandable that travel companies are keen to fill up seats by targeting consumers with mass communications in a bid to generate leads quickly. However, for an industry built on delivering brilliant experiences, the travel sector seems to be missing a trick when it comes to retaining customers.
Our recent research has shown the power of customer retention. We surveyed retail CMOs, and others overseeing loyalty at their organisations and found that a majority will focus on retaining their existing customers in 2023. A similar approach should be applied to the travel industry – to first lower budgets (it costs less to retain customers than it does to find new ones), and second fill up seats all year round.
Cruise lines offer a good example of travel companies that have a loyal customer base. Replicating that across the rest of the travel sector starts with having good data, analysis and insight. Data drives CRM, a key weapon in travel marketers’ armoury. This means leveraging all the data available, from booking systems to social media, pre-empting customer needs and intervening at relevant touchpoints.
We know from Zenith’s recent travel research that international travellers will cut spending on long-haul travel until the economic downturn reverses and that one-in-three UK holidaymakers will cut back on the cost of trips in 2023. On the bright side, two-thirds of Brits say they won’t skimp on sun, sea and sand in the year ahead, with many likely to snap up all-inclusive deals to make their budgets go further.
So, what can travel marketers learn and replicate from other sectors? More than half of the respondents surveyed in our retail study declared they’ll enhance loyalty strategies in the months ahead using price promotions, incentives and exclusive offers. Tying these with personalised communications will create a positive customer experience that is likely to convert into sales and retain those customers who are willing and able to spend money on a holiday this coming year.
Find out more on how the travel industry can get lift-off this coming year by downloading our latest report, Just The Ticket: How travel brands can capture consumers’ hearts, minds & wallets. http://goinspire.co.uk/white-papers/just-the-ticket
In our latest report JUST THE TICKET, we take a deep dive into the strategies travel companies can employ to ensure their customers stay seated with them for the long haul.
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