It’s a case of good news/bad news for the travel app industry. The good news is that people are using apps to book travel more often than ever. The bad news is that the travel app space is highly competitive.
According to recent research from Criteo, smartphones now capture one in five of all online travel bookings, and the majority of mobile bookings happen in apps.
At the same time, there are multiple travel apps to choose from, and people have become more selective about what to download. This increases the average cost per acquired user. Now, app marketers not only have to work harder to get users to download the app in the first place, but they also have to convince them to keep using it.
Savvy marketers are using data to accomplish that. By taking a data-centric approach to mobile app marketing – one that utilizes meaningful in-app events across the user lifecycle, beyond just tracking bookings – you can help your app stand out, drive engagement and revenue.
Focus on retention, not just user acquisition
To build a sustainable business, marketers need to shift their mindset from acquiring users to retaining them.
This is true across verticals, but particularly in the travel space, which is not only crowded, but also fragmented in functionality. The top 100 free apps in the travel category include utilities, taxi, booking and planning, lodging, public transit, maps, guides, rental car, branded experience apps and more.
The other challenge is that the same major players – Yelp, Google Earth, Delta Airlines, etc – tend to dominate the rankings in the app stores. In fact, Uber has been in the top 10 list of free travel apps in the US since 2013; there is not a ton of movement in the top tier.
