It seems that personalisation, if done right, does work. This is certainly the belief of Trivago, which believes that displaying generic content for all searches – a picture of the hotel and a standard room – often misses the customer connection.
Instead, Trivago identifies whether a customer is business or leisure, whether they are looking for a room for a weekend jaunt or a week long vacation, for an individual or a family, and then, based on that assessment, offers content more appropriate for that customer type. This could a picture of the pool, an offer for faster Wifi or information about nearby restaurants or tourist attractions. Trivago claims that the display of content specific to the customer type or trip type has a huge impact on click-throughs.
In fact, a more personalised approach to hotel search, Trivago told an EyeforTravel conference earlier this year, had resulted in an 82% increase in click-throughs.
So are airlines missing a trick? It would appear so.
Airlines today still generally respond to searches with generic content and offers. But the question is: would they likewise gain an 82% increase in click-throughs from responding in a more personalised fashion?
Currently, most airlines have a generic response to flight searches with a display of alternative flights, flight times, and fares. They differ, however, on the initial search page itself – before the actual city pair/travel date is entered. Here are some examples.
- A large airline displays frequent flyer offers, information about new products, and destination-specific inspiration all on one screen surrounding the search boxes.
- Another legacy airline has little content/information except the basic search requirements – a simple, very focused response that is in sharp contrast to its competitor described above.
- One low-cost carrier includes a generic promotion of low fares to various destinations.
- Another low cost carrier promotes its’ own frequent flyer program that offers even steeper discounts.
These different approaches reflect different views of what the customer is looking for. Will he be enticed by new information about special fares or destinations or frequent flyer deals? Presumably, most customers simply proceed with the search they had intended to initiate.
