Over the course of two days, many opinions were shared, but three themes stood out.

Driving customer loyalty is more important than ever
eMarketer reports that loyal app users generate 3.5x more revenue and are 3x more likely to make a repeat purchase. This statistic seems to be particularly relevant to the travel industry as the importance of driving customer long-term value through loyalty was addressed consistently across both days of the event. 

Travel companies have typically been focused on new customer acquisition, but the costs are high and, in unprecedented situations such as the global pandemic we’ve just been through, it was thanks to loyal customers that many brands were able to survive the difficult period. Benjamin Foster, Senior Marketing Manager, Central London Cluster, Marriott Hotels, referred to their core ‘tribe’ of loyal customers who truly appreciate and love Marriott brands, continued to engage throughout the pandemic and booked first when the travel ban lifted. 

According to Foster, Marriott Hotels focuses their initial marketing spend on this small group of people, which they rely on as the source of truth for all their marketing communications. Once the marketing is right for the tribe, Marriott believes the masses will follow. Phil Salcedo, Head of Market, UK & North America at HolidayPirates Group referred to the importance of being patient when it comes to driving loyalty. He believes that social media can be a key driver for loyal guests but only when the brand is willing to post consistently with truly relevant and useful content. Salcedo believes that brands who are using social media as a way to monetize their posts, or who still communicate only about the positives of a travel destination, are missing a trick. 

Social media platforms are accessed by savvy customers that can distinguish between being marketed to and being addressed authentically. HolidayPirates social strategy to drive loyalty provides content about travel destinations that addresses both positive and less positive features, so people can make informed travel decisions. This human and truthful approach supports the brand to drive more loyal customers. 

For David Ruiz Martinez, VP of Design & Customer Experience, SNCF Connect & Tech, customer loyalty is achieved through better customer experience. The French train operator recently improved its customer experience by integrating two of their apps into one so customers can find the best route for their journey and also buy tickets. Backed by significant research and a design-led approach, this change in the app promotes autonomy for the passenger and helps deliver a consistent and continuous experience to drive more loyal customers. 

Mobile apps are key to meeting the needs of future customers
Mobile apps offer travel brands a highly visible way to communicate with the customer far beyond the day of travel. According to industry thought leader, Lucia Rubio Zornoza, mobile apps are key to enabling travel brands to meet the needs of the future customer. Not only can mobile apps simplify the travel process before the journey with useful information and reminders, and during the journey with access to in-app check-in or even as a room key, but also post-journey for rewards, travel inspiration and to solicit feedback. 

Brands can encourage customers to download their mobile app by making it compulsory, or by making it a convenient travel companion for storing their loyalty cards or tickets. However, to achieve long-term success, brands need to be better at activating new app users as soon as they download the app. That includes showing them the benefits and usefulness of the app as part of onboarding communications and within initial app experiences, as well as having a plan in place to continuously engage them throughout the lifecycle. 

Engaging with customers beyond the time of travel is a top challenge
During the panel discussion between Wizzair, easyjet holidays, CheckMyBus and Airship, the audience was surveyed on their challenges when it comes to digital platforms and apps, and 52% of the audience said that keeping customers engaged beyond the day of travel is their top challenge. 

It’s to reward the mobile app customer with appealing experiences throughout the entire customer lifecycle. For example, if the mobile app can make the travel experience significantly better by offering key information or simplifying and speeding processes, it will encourage the customer to want to use this brand again – versus a competitor’s that doesn’t offer such a smooth experience.

SNCF Connect, along with parent company SNCF, is doing just that, by rewarding mobile customers with both SNCF-specific as well as general travel information, incentivizing customers to make wide use of the app while keeping the SNCF brand in mind. 

Driving good customer engagement also requires communicating content that is relevant to the specific customer – the audience of one. This can be done by ensuring collection of first-and zero-party data from customers whenever possible. Karisma Hotels has been doing that well by leveraging surveys and gamification through affinity-based quizzes at different stages of the customer lifecycle and then leveraging the data collected to send customers communications they are likely to find useful. According to Karisma Hotels Chief Marketing & Sales Officer Elizabeth Fettes, they don’t want to push upsells to guests who wouldn’t be interested. To avoid being pushy, they run a room match quiz through the app in which they ask guests to identify what is important to them in a room. Based on results, the guest may receive the option to upgrade the room should the results indicate that they would prefer one. 

By leveraging a mix of interactive quizzes, app messaging and other communications that include useful information or inspiration for things to do, travel brands can make the mobile app customer experience far more enjoyable and useful than just the day of travel. 

Conclusion
If we were to take just one conclusion from this two day event, it is the following: only when brands engage customers digitally with the same level of care as they do in person will they start to convert new guests into long-term customers that truly love the brand.

The post Top 3 Travel Themes that Brands Must Address to Meet the Needs of the Future Customer appeared first on Airship.

Vaccine passports on mobile devices have become an important topic in New York and around the world. While New York state and Israel have already developed a vaccine passport, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan are reportedly considering making their own.

New York City, like many others locations around the world, experiences broad-reaching benefits of tourism, and with summer months coming, it may be wondering how the state’s Excelsior Pass is going to work since the vaccine passport is a brand-new concept. If people hope that Excelsior will lift the local economy, they’ll be happy to know that shifting consumer behavior in recent years toward mobile wallets indicates such passports can be an all-around success.

The travel industry offers a mobile-minded guide for how vaccine passports can enable in-person experiences. Two years ago, 21% of Americans had an airline app on their phone, and 1.5 billion digital boarding passes were used. What’s more, around 2 million Americans used the Transportation Security Administration PreCheck every day in 2019.

The vaccine passport will be similar to the digital boarding pass and TSA PreCheck experience, centering on a scannable QR code that verifies the individual has been vaccinated or has recently tested negative for Covid-19. With mobile wallet usage established in the marketplace, significant adoption should follow.

Why It’s Secure

For New Yorkers, it’s worth noting that the Excelsior Pass can now be stored in Apple Wallet for iPhone users or Google Wallet for Android devotees. A vaccine passport that’s stored in a mobile wallet is easily accessible and will not require Wi-Fi or a cellular connection to use it.

Mobile wallets are tied to a user’s Apple or Google ID, so they will only be accessible by the owner of the phone with a security code or biometrics login. While vaccination data is medical and private, more and more people entrust their mobile wallets with sensitive information, including credit and debit cards—contactless mobile payments grew 29% in 2020. Storing vaccine passports in mobile wallets isn’t a big leap when you consider their importance in more quickly returning our lives and the economy to normal.

Getting Better

Government and health care providers might have been better served by skipping the dedicated app altogether and going straight to mobile wallet for the broadest possible adoption. Instead of asking people to download an app, enter their information and find their pass, they could have just sent a single link via email or SMS immediately on administering the first dose, enabling citizens to add a personalized pass to Apple Wallet or Google Pay with a couple of taps.

And that pass could be updated automatically by the issuer over time with no manual app update required. Mobile wallets are just that handy, which is something government and health care leaders should keep in mind for future digital needs of this scale.

Prepare for the Future

Want to learn more about how you can use mobile wallet?

Contact us today!

The post Why Mobile Wallets Can Make Vaccine Passports a New York Success appeared first on Airship.

The opportunity is massive, but the competition is fierce. That means working harder, and smarter, to make your messages stand out. Fortunately, one tried and true tactic can make all the difference in driving customer engagement: personalization. 

So where should you start? Here are some simple tips to help you break through with personalization during this year’s holiday season.

Personalize Your Upsell

Combining first name personalization with tailored recommendations is a surefire way to increase engagement and sales. A full 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from retailers that recognize them by name, recommend options based on past purchases or know their purchase history.

When someone makes a purchase, kick off a customer journey that triggers a follow-up recommendation for a related product or service. Or take advantage of the order confirmation to include some personalized product ideas. You can even leverage the APIs you use for recommendations with Airship’s external data feeds, which can hit your API and pull in the product information for that user at the time of send.

A/B Test for Success

Not sure which personalization tactics to focus on this holiday season? The best way to quickly find out is to test it! Run A/B tests on a few variants of your personalizations to see what drives engagement and conversions. It’s also a good idea to test the message with and without personalization. We recently launched A/B testing and control group features for Airship Journeys, making it easier than ever to determine which personalizations have the biggest impact on your customer journeys.

Show Them You Know Them

Although consumer expectations continue evolving, a little personalization still goes a long way. In fact, 56% of consumers say they’re more likely to shop at a retailer that knows their name. If you’re not sure where to start, first name personalization is a great first step.

If you haven’t tried personalizing messages before, it’s easy with Airship’s customer engagement platform. Upload a list of first names for each channel, email or MSISDN and start providing the first name personalization that your customers expect.

Ideas for Retailers

With retailers vying for their share of this year’s online holiday spending, consumers are likely to see more messages than ever across all of their brands’ digital channels. Whether you’re promoting limited-time deals or a big sale, try these simple ideas:

• Grab customers’ attention by personalizing your push messages, SMS, and email subject line by first name. 
• You can also reference the customer’s favorite product category in the subject line to make the message more relevant to their interests. 
• Personalize message center or email messages with highlighted products based on customer shopping history or preferences, so your customers can discover the products and deals they might otherwise miss! 
• Take advantage of your confirmation emails by adding tailored recommendations in the message.

Ideas for Travel & Hospitality

Holiday travel looks different this year, but consumers aren’t staying put either. One U.S. survey found that one-in-four respondents have a personal vacation planned, and nearly half of family travelers (45%) with kids under the age of 18 are taking a leisure trip before the year’s end. 

• Send recommendations for destinations and hospitality based on recent search history, like in-state options for a beach getaway or mountain retreat. 
• You can also offer local add-ons for booked travel, like a flight upgrade, deals on rental cars, or a room with a view.
• Keep customers engaged with your loyalty program with an update on their miles or points, and encourage them to take advantage of their miles or points before year’s end.

With a little personalization and the right tools, you’ll give your customers more reasons to engage and convert this holiday season. To learn more about how Airship’s customer engagement platform can help, get in touch!

The post How Simple Personalizations Can Drive Big Engagement this Holiday Season appeared first on Airship.

Now Alaska Airlines is leveraging its mobile leadership to create safer, touch-free travel experiences. Learn how in this article originally published on the Alaska Airlines blog.

More Convenience — Less Contact! Alaska Airlines is Making Travel Almost Entirely Touch-Free

With hygiene and safety concerns top of mind, we’ve made it easy for your travels to be almost entirely touch-free.

With the Alaska mobile app, you can check in for your flight, generate a mobile boarding pass and so much more. Plus, our improved technology will soon allow us to scan boarding passes up to six feet apart, print bag tags without touching the check-in kiosk and purchase food and beverages on board using your stored payment preference.

>> Learn more about how Airship powers mobile wallet boarding passes

See what’s in the works to make your journey more convenient and touch-free:

Pre-Order Meals & Store Payment For Touch-Free Purchase in the Air

Great trips call for great planning! Now available in First Class on select flights over 2 hours—and coming soon to Premium Class and Main Cabin—guests can pre-order meals on flights (that have them) beforehand using the Alaska app or at alaskaair.com. You can also store your payment preference using your Alaska Airlines account so when it comes time to pay for your meal in the air, you can do so touch-free.

Unfortunately, our food & beverage service is still limited to reduce the interactions between our flight crews and guests. So your foodie favorites may not be there but hopefully will be back soon!  

Print Bag Tags Without Touching the Check-In Kiosk

Soon, you will be able to print your bag tags by simply scanning your boarding pass (mobile or printed at home) at one of our kiosks. Here’s how it works: Once you pay for your baggage fee(s) using the Alaska mobile app or online, you can simply walk up to our kiosk at the airport, scan your boarding pass and your tags will be printed from the kiosk where you can safely grab the tag from the machine to place it onto your bag(s). You can also print your bag tags from home if that’s easier or ask one of our agents for assistance.

Unfortunately, our food & beverage service is still limited to reduce the interactions between our flight crews and guests. So your foodie favorites may not be there but hopefully will be back soon!  

Scan Boarding Passes From a Distance 

Currently, our agents are able to scan guests’ boarding passes using a mobile tablet or scanner while boarding. To help create more distance between guests, we’re providing our agents with the ability to scan a boarding pass from six feet away—if the conditions are just right.

To scan from that far away, the boarding area will need to have good lighting and the barcodes need to be printed clearly. While we can’t achieve this laser-focus every time, our agents are working hard to “mind their wingspan” and taking every measure to keep our guests safe.

Get a Text or Email Instead of Paper

Coming soon to an airport near you will be a messaging tool that our customer service agents will use — to avoid printing & handling boarding passes or receipts — that is capable of sending you a text message that includes all of your travel information with a link to your boarding pass, gate and seat assignment.

Agents can also email any receipts, such as bag fees, if needed.

>> SMS is a quick and powerful way to communicate with customers who don’t have your app. Learn more about Airship’s SMS solutions.

Touch-free Check-in, Mobile Boarding Pass, Prepaid Bags

The Alaska mobile app is still the single best tool to limit contact while traveling. You can make sure your trip is as smooth as possible every step of the way by using it to check in for your flight, generate a mobile boarding pass, change seats and prepay for your bags. 

The app also keeps you up to date on your flight status, gate changes and boarding notifications. Download the app today if you don’t already have it!

This post was originally published on the Alaska Airlines blog and is reposted here with permission.

The post Alaska Airlines Has Created an “Almost Touch-Free” Travel Experience With Mobile appeared first on Airship.

Since launching the Alaska Airlines app in 2010, the airline’s customer base has become increasingly connected through their mobile devices, and with this connectivity comes great opportunity. Here’s how Airship and Alaska Airlines have improved app engagement and streamlined the day-of-travel travel experience for its 47 million annual passengers.

Get the highlights below and read the customer story here.  

Push Notifications Keep Passengers Informed in Real-Time

With all of the details to keep track of before departure, Alaska wanted to enhance the day-of-travel experience for its passengers through its helpful app and timely updates. Mobile check-in, a feature used by 56% of all travelers, eliminates the hassle of waiting to know your departure gate or seat assignment. It also serves as a gateway to the airline’s digital experience. When paired with Airship Mobile App Push Notifications, the benefits of mobile check-in go above and beyond.

Mobile Wallet Reduces Stress and Hassle While Traveling

To take the convenience of mobile check-in one step further, Alaska Airlines also harnesses the power of Airship Mobile Wallet. This allows passengers to download digital boarding passes via email or the Alaska Airlines app, and save them to their Apple Wallet or Google Pay. Boarding passes automatically appear on the passengers’ home screens when they arrive at the airport and are updated with flight details like boarding times, seating changes and gate numbers in real-time. This drives loyalty and engagement for Alaska Airlines’ passengers, and then some.

Message Center Engages Passengers in the Right Place at the Right Time

While the pre-flight hustle is an easy target for streamlining and engagement, Alaska Airlines also partners with Airship to promote services that enhance passengers’ in-flight experience. For example, on flights with no Wi-Fi, passengers can be prompted to download the Gogo Entertainment App so they still have something to watch. They can also be invited to preorder in-flight meals or other services that help them have the most relaxing and enjoyable trip possible. These engagements result in happier, more engaged passengers, and an uptick in revenue for Alaska Airlines as well.

Streamlining Travel Is Just the Beginning

Alaska Airlines and Airship are working to improve the day-of-travel experience for passengers around the world, but our mobile engagement platform has the ability to enhance the customer experience no matter your industry. The Alaska Airlines customer story can be found here, and our full slate of customer stories can be found on our customers’ page.

Airship Can Help

Leading Brands Trust the World’s Leading Customer Engagement Platform

Learn More

The post Seamless Day-of-Travel Experiences, Courtesy of Alaska Airlines and Airship appeared first on Airship.

With Airship, AccuWeather Delivers Critical Alerts Quickly & Reliably

AccuWeather is the leading provider of vital weather forecasts to millions of global users every day. These alerts save lives, protect property, and ensure that its users are informed and prepared. But keeping millions of users informed requires massive amounts of segmentation and automation, which can slow down the delivery of time-critical details. Discover how AccuWeather uses Airship Boost to help their customers make critical decisions in record time (Read the story here). 

Seamless Day-of-Travel Experiences, Courtesy of Alaska Airlines and Airship

Alaska Airlines prides itself on creating seamless day-of-travel experiences for its more than 47 million annual passengers. As an early adopter of branded apps, Alaska has long been at the forefront of using new technologies to improve operations and deliver better experiences. Now, thanks to its partnership with Airship, the Alaska Airlines app is more efficient and helpful than ever. Learn more about these day-saving tools and the 68% of users who benefit from them (Read the story here). 

On-the-Road User Retention with GasBuddy and Airship

Over 80 million drivers use the GasBuddy mobile app to locate the best-priced stations with the amenities they need. The Boston-based startup keeps GasBuddies coming back to the app by continuously investing in new features and programs, but these don’t add much value without rapid adoption. Enter Airship: We helped GasBuddy boost traffic and increase retention by 60%  To find out how, read the story here. 

OPB Showcases Its Storytelling With Airship Mobile & Web Notifications

Public media relies on its listeners, viewers and readers to ensure its vital public service continues. OPB — which relies on contributions from its 150,000+ members for two-thirds of its operating budget — is fiercely dedicated to building and maintaining quality relationships with these members. Partnering with Airship, OPB has fostered a 78% long-term user retention rate, creating unrivaled audience loyalty. Here’s how. 

Chicago Tribune Creates Loyal Readers With Airship’s Customer Engagement Platform

As newspapers struggle with flagging subscription and home-delivery rates, the Chicago Tribune is getting proactive with its engagement. Serving over 820,000 daily readers, the Tribune is meeting its customers where they are through a mobile app that gives readers a simple and customizable way to follow their favorite topics and receive exclusive, premium storytelling. Powered by Airship, this customer engagement platform drove a 62% decrease in app uninstalls, and that’s just the beginning. Learn more by reading the story here. 

Let’s See What Airship Can Do For You

Customer engagement transcends industries, and we’re proud of the range and scope of our success stories. These are just our most recent — to read more about what Airship can do for your business, and see who else we’ve helped, visit our customers page.

We create deeper relationships with customers on any channel, at every lifecycle stage.

Learn more

The post Customer Engagement Saves Time and Money in New Airship Case Studies appeared first on Airship.

Smartphones have already radically changed travel marketing. With AT&T soon rolling out 5G in about a dozen US cities, this long-anticipated technology is becoming a reality and will further transform travel into a mobile game.

The stakes are high: Digital travel sales are expected to hit $219 billion by 2021, with nearly half of these transactions happening via mobile. Travel brands have been undergoing an intense digital transformation for the last few years, but that journey has only begun. There’s plenty more to learn, especially from neighboring sectors. Here are a couple of tech-driven innovations from other marketing categories that travel brands can call their own and why they are important as the 5G era approaches.  

Take Them to the Experience

There’s been a lot of recent buzz around mixed reality playing a bigger and bigger role for in-flight experiences and hotels’ in-room offerings. Tourism marketers have also embraced 3D-powered video while offering jaw-dropping views of their mountains, lakes, plains and deserts. While these efforts are exciting, airlines, hotels and tourism boards may not be thinking enough about how far they can take AR, in particular.

Kate Spade offers an example that’s unusually applicable to travel brands. When promoting its first storefront in Paris last year, the women’s fashion brand acted with a destination marketing mindset by launching an AR app dubbed My Little Paris. It takes users on virtual walking tours the brand called Joy Walks, roaming the City of Lights and offering AR-enabled surprises like flamingos appearing by the Seine River or a rainbow digitally overlayed around the Eiffel Tower.

Keep Them Assured

Relevancy is everything; for instance, sending high-value push notifications frequently can increase mobile app retention rates by 3 to 10 times. With that in mind, I love what Lyft has started doing with notifications. After the app pings you that it found a nearby driver, it alerts you when the driver is approaching your location. Then, it will let you know the driver is outside your door and how long he or she will wait for you. It will also let you know if there’s been a delay in his or her arrival or if a nearer driver has been given your assignment.

How travel marketers can copy this idea right now:  For instance, when you are on your way to the airport — or even in an airport — every push notification, SMS message or email from your airline is appreciated. Typically, airlines only notify a passenger when a flight is delayed — and it’s sometimes via an email. Airlines, bus lines and cruise ships should steal this “friendly updates” page from Lyft’s mobile notifications playbook and alert customers that their departure is on time. Alerts and updates should be a common piece to an airline’s mobile boarding pass. It’s good information, and such a service will save, in particular, airport frequenters many anxious walks up to the departures screen at the airport and endear them to the brand.

How 5G could advance this idea even further:  Imagine getting a text with live video from your terminal that reveals your plane pulling up, showing that it’s is on time. Or how about live video of your vacation resort’s pool and outside bar to get you excited for an upcoming trip? 5G will make these experiences possible.

How travel marketers can copy this idea right now: Travel brands can employ this concept to upgrade the customer experience before and after the purchase. To encourage vacation bookings, airlines and hotels could enable consumers to show what the experience will be like at destinations. For instance, if you wanted to convince family members or friends that a particular place is worth everyone’s time and money, you could use such an app to overlay images of them at a tourist attraction, and then share the digital inspiration with them. The app users could also utilize the features to post AR-enhanced images while they are on the trip, promoting whatever travel brands helped them get there.

How 5G could advance this idea even further:  The opportunities for marketers in the airlines, hotels, tourism and destination-minded events spaces are going to be endless. The innovations will range from VR-powered films to get consumers excited in travel to live video taking them behind the scenes at such places. Organizations like Tourism Vancouver and The Venetian will be able to experiment with immersive videos like never before.

Watch Always and Borrow Often

In the end, travel customers worry a lot about their trips, and they take their time before spending their hard earned cash on this brand or that company. After all, the average vacation in America costs $144 a day per person.

So, as a travel marketer, your strategy cannot be all about acquisition, otherwise, you’re just a small part of the $80 million that’s spent by the sector on Google daily. It also needs to be about retention, about giving people a customer experience worth repeating. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on what the Lyfts, Amazons and Kate Spades of the world are up to and trying their tactics for yourself.

The post Tech-driven Innovations from Other Sectors that Travel Brands Need to Steal appeared first on Airship.

Mobile and media thought leaders from GameStop, SXSW, TGI Fridays, and Bottle Rocket took the stage at our Dallas Digital Engagement Forum. Here are a few of the insights they shared:

Use Smart Engagement Strategies to Create Great Customer Experiences

“Customer experience is everything,” said Michael Brown, Director of Innovation and Emergent Technologies for SXSW. They’re always looking for ways to use tech to make experiences at the event better — more frictionless, more engaging and more modern. Brown shared a few examples of successful customer-first initiatives:

• Replacing wristbands with mobile wallet passes: customers loved them, and production costs were slashed.

• Implementing location-aware notifications that makes messaging more personalized —  including using beacons to trigger location-specific experiences.

• Piloting the use of a machine learning-powered recommendation engine to help give event attendees a more personalized experience (including discovering events they might not otherwise have uncovered) based on their preferences, which events they’ve been too (gathering data via RFID scans) — and even third-party data like their Spotify favorites and playlists.

To get CX right, Brown encouraged digital marketers to have an experimentation mindset, and to be dedicated to creating ways to get customer feedback — and really pay attention to it.

Mark McKinney, SVP Corporate Strategy at Bottle Rocket echoed this sentiment, “The bar for what customers consider a good experience is going up every day.” He also made the point that customers increasingly equate trust with digital savvy. And the bottom line business costs are growing, too. McKinney said 57% of consumers in a recent study said they’ve stopped buying from a brand and went to a competing brand for a better experience — and 62% of consumers say they’ll tell other people about a bad experience they’ve had.

McKinney also noted the importance of recognizing that brands are no longer competing with their immediate competitors — they’re competing with brands who are creating frictionless, intuitive, highly personalized digital experiences. All the more need to get it right.

Use Data to Be There in the Moments That Matter

GameStop and TGI Fridays talked about ways their brands are using data to better serve customers — by predicting the moments that will matter most, and being there in those moments.

For GameStop, it’s about taking the data they have about their customers — especially their loyalty customers — and picking up and analyzing the “breadcrumb trail” they’re leaving to anticipate what they may want and when they will want it, said Sonia Williford-Gill, Senior Manager, Integrated Communications. Part of the solution is stitching together information from multiple business systems, including Salesforce, display ads and more to really see where customers are in their journey. They’re also looking for ways to make smarter recommendations and understanding customer intent.

At TGI Fridays they refer to these “moments that matter” as “occasions,” said James Washington, Director of Digital. They are listening to the data for signals of what occasions are important to customers — whether it’s an upcoming birthday celebration, pre-movie drinks or needing a quick option for takeout dinner. They want to be there in those moments with messaging that feels like a complimentary service, “not just another brand shouting at you,” said Washington.

Make (the Right) Data Accessible to the Right People

There is a ton of data available, said Washington, the key is making it meaningful, “shining a bright light on the things that are most important.” Staying focused on data points like what areas of the app and website customers have visited and how they engage with notifications are all important. Also important is stitching together what customers have done online versus what they’ve done in stores is a big challenge and a big focus. Connecting those dots — and working to make quicker decisions, and scale them, Washington says, is critical both for serving customers better and meeting TGI Fridays goals.

Look For Smarter Ways to Use Different Engagement Channels

TGI Fridays decided to launch on Alexa last year, and the results were interesting. While they loaded their entire menu into Alexa, their main focus was on promoting ribs — a great product for to-go orders. What did they learn? “Not all channels are created equal,” said Washington. While customers browsing the menu on their phones or on a desktop might want a lot of detail, on Alexa, the team found, customers just wanted to say something very quickly and get in and out of there. They made ordering ribs as easy as saying “I love ribs,” which helped. Another major boost to conversions happened when TGI Fridays implemented Amazon Pay with Alexa, which meant customers didn’t have to go through the multiple steps of connecting their credit card with their account. 

The GameStop team has also taken a deeper dive on how best to engage with customers on different channels, making sure messages on different channels are complementary, not repetitive, and are building out a journey and a story. For example, said Williford-Gill, if an in-store event is coming up for loyalty members on a Saturday, they’ll first send an email about a week before that gives event details and a sneak peek of the deals. Then on Friday, they’ll send a push notification reminding customers that the event is tomorrow, and on Saturday morning, they’ll send an SMS text with a very quick alert that the event is starting or just underway. This approach is driving bretter engagement and results. It’s important to understand how customers are using different channels, and match your messaging to that use, said Williford-Gill.  

Look For New Ways to Get More From Your App

TGI Fridays app is their highest growing channel and their main form of communication with customers. To capitalize on that, TGI Fridays uses the app data they get from Urban Airship to identify what the traits and behaviors of their highest value customers are, then applying that information in paid media channels to be more out of those buys.

For GameStop, it’s adding more and more reasons to use the app so that it has a compelling value prop — for both customers and employees. For example, they’ve added in an app feature that allows customers to estimate the value of a game trade-in, and then lock in that pricing offer for 24-hours. Loyalty program members also get a ton of benefit from the app, including being able to access coupons straight from the app. Selling the app to front-line employees, Williford-Gill added, is a critical step in getting even more adoption and engagement from customers.  

Don’t miss out on our upcoming Digital Engagement Forums, coming to cities near you! See the cities and register to attend here!

The post Insights From Marketing Pros at GameStop, SXSW, TGI Fridays & Bottle Rocket From Our Dallas Digital Engagement Forum appeared first on Airship.

Who wouldn’t want a personalized concierge/butler/BFF right by our side during a long and stressful day of travel?

We work with many leading airlines that are creating this kind of hyper-personalized customer experience on mobile. Combining the user-level customer intelligence (like flight times, layover location/duration and loyalty/frequent flyer information) airlines have in their systems with other data sources (like airport information systems, weather APIs, etc.) opens up the opportunity to use mobile to be there for customers at exactly the time and place they need you the most.

Creating better connections with customers on mobile also pays dividends in improved brand affinity, customer loyalty, and NPS score/referrals, while helping reduce costly customer service calls, and contributing to increased ancillary revenue through upsells and add-ons.

Read on to see how airline industry trends around mobile engagement are evolving — and how you can keep up with ever-growing customer expectations around mobile messaging before, during and after their day of travel.

Urban Airship powers mobile engagement for top travel and leisure brands around the world — from Virgin America to Starwood Hotels and Results to the Sydney Airport. See more of our Travel & Leisure customers.

Be There For Customers Before, During and After Their Travel

As marketers and customer experience managers at airlines know, it’s important not to overwhelm customers with too many mobile messages on a day of travel. However, it's also important not to miss opportunities to upsell or deliver “nice-to-know” messages that can really improve customer experience. Mixing up your mobile messaging channels — and matching messages to the right mobile messaging tools — is key.  

Here are some examples of the compelling ways airlines can leverage multiple data sources and mobile messaging channels to make every customer feel like a VIP.

BEFORE THE FLIGHT

Check-In: Check-in reminders can come via notifications across any or all digital channels 24-hours before check-in time:

• “Good [morning/afternoon/evening] – it’s time to check in for your flight!”

Time Savers: Whether it's directing customers to the shortest security lines or alerting them to gate changes, airline apps that send push notifications to help customers save time are always appreciated.

Push notifications are the ideal channel to use for “need-to-know” messages — like reminders to check-in, gate changes, alerts about delays, etc.  Airline apps should use them wisely to avoid notification fatigue for passengers.

Mobile Boarding Pass Delivery: Once a passenger is checking in online or on mobile, they’re also ready to get their boarding pass. Mobile wallet is the perfect channel for mobile boarding passes. Why?

• Better customer experience: Don't make customers dig through mobile email to find their pass: mobile wallet boarding passes can stay visible on a lockscreen until the customer gets on the flight so it's always at the ready.

• Wallet passes update dynamically: A mobile boarding pass that lives in a mobile wallet isn’t static — it can be automatically updated (no user action required) with changes to flight times or gates.

• Send notifications directly from wallet passes: Proactively alert passengers to changes to updates by sending a push notification directly from the mobile wallet boarding pass. 

Alaska Airlines uses our mobile wallet solution, Reach to power their mobile wallet boarding passes.

Those reasons and more are why Alaska Airlines (ranked number one for the 10th consecutive year in the J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey) uses our mobile wallet solution, Reach for mobile wallet boarding passes.

(New to mobile wallet and mobile wallet passes? Learn more about them in this FAQ for marketers.)

BETWEEN FLIGHTS: THE LAYOVER

As customers land and turn off airplane mode, airlines can be there to assist.  

Wayfinding: As they're waiting for their next flight, a push notification can help passengers get where they need to go next:

• “Here’s where to go for your next flight…” with a link that takes us to a map, including walking times between terminals.

Enhance Customer Experience During Layover: For a longer layover, sending a message to a customer's in-app message center creates an opportunity to provide a concierge-style experience (maybe even a chance to offer a partner promotion) that might say:

• “Need something to eat? Here’s a map of top spots nearby” and link to an in-app airport map with restaurant listings and ratings, or

• “Make the most of your layover!” and link to information about the airport in the terminal the passenger is in — or the one they need to go to for their second flight.

App Feature Discovery: As passengers are more likely to be active in your app during a trip, now might be a great time to promote app feature discovery with an in-app message.

With in-app messaging, airlines can deliver contextual in-app messages (like modal pop-ups inside your app) that encourage feature discovery and adoption, as well as app updates as needed.

AFTER THE FLIGHT

Your passenger has landed at their final destination and they're ready to roll! Help them get them smoothly on our way:

Luggage: A push notification can let customers know where to go to get their bags:

• “Got luggage? Head to [Carousel #] – it will be there within 15 minutes or we’ll refund your checked bag fee!”

Transportation: Ground transportation options can help too:

• “Need a ride? Here’s a list of options out of [Name of Airport]”

Explore & Get Deals: It’s also a great time to send an in-app message to share offers from partners:

• “Enjoy your time in [destination city]! Here’s a list of deals and things to do from our partners…”

An app inbox (message center) is a fantastic addition to any airline app.  Share information about in-flight perks and amenities, partner offers, FYIs on new destinations — similar to content you use in your email marketing. Use a badge (that little red dot next to an app icon) to alert users that there’s new content in the app for them to see.

Loyalty Updates: For loyalty members, an in-app or message center message can remind them of the miles they earned or rewards they could cash in — and their mobile wallet loyalty card can update as well.

• “You just earned [number] points on your mileage plan! Just [number] more to go for gold status.”

• “You’ve now got [number]  points to spend! Click here to browse options”

Share Feedback: Collect their thoughts: send a message center message or a rich, interactive push notification with a button pair:

• “How would you rate your flight experience? [Great/Not So Great].” From there, you can choose where to send the customer for the best next step — gathering more information, connecting them with a representative, or asking if they want to rate your app.

PLANNING THE NEXT ADVENTURE

As passengers plan their next trip, they’re open to airlines sharing inspiring ideas. In fact, more than 50% of travelers don’t have a set destination in mind when planning a trip — and 60% will search their next trip from a mobile device.

Inspire: Consider sending an in-app message or rich notification when flights to cities a passenger has visited before go on sale — including rich text images of the destination, or partner offers/packages.

• “Thinking of everything you missed on your last trip to [XX]? See our low fares…”

Provide Perks: Offer a frequent flyer mobile wallet pass so your customers' up-to-the-minute point status is always just a tap away. Send notifications from the loyalty pass about new offers or point-earning opportunities.

• “Earn double miles next month – learn how!” or “Use your status to fly standby for free.”

Make Magical Mobile Moments During Day of Travel & Beyond

Customer experience is everything. The more ways airlines can create in-the-moment mobile experiences  that meet travelers’ needs, build better and deeper customer relationships — and grow goodwill, loyalty and value for their business.

Our experts have helped some of the world’s leading airlines craft a customer experience on mobile that’s an extension of their brand, and that helps earn and keep customer loyalty. Let’s work together to identify the moments that matter most to your customers, and bring together the data and technology you need to deliver a stellar experience on mobile. Contact us and let’s get started.

The post How Airlines Can Grow Brand Loyalty & Revenue By Creating Hyperpersonalized Customer Experiences On Mobile appeared first on Airship.

If there’s room for improvement — or if you're behind the curve — consider the following stats. The numbers clearly demonstrate the potential for massive ROI for travel companies who stay ahead of consumer expectations — and keep innovating on mobile.

1) 40% of travel sales will come from mobile in 2017, increasing to 50% by 2021.

As smartphone screens grow larger, mobile forms and payment get easier, and people are spending more time on mobile overall, consumers are booking more travel on mobile. eMarketer estimates a steady increase in mobile travel sales — 40% in 2017 and a prediction of mobile travel sales increasing to 50% by 2021.

Our Take 

Is your app — and your messaging and engagement strategy — structured to support fast, frictionless conversions? Have you thought through the customer journey, and provided conversion points all along the way? Customer expectations around ease of use on travel apps — which can be complex in terms of data entry (all those dates and traveler names to deal with) — are skyrocketing. Make sure your app and mobile website make it unbelievably easy for customers to convert.

Related Resources

• How to Make a Successful App: 10 Fundamentals for Maximizing Your Investment

• Five (Costly) Mistakes to Avoid In Your Mobile Marketing Strategy

2) 88% of leisure travelers will switch to a different app or website if yours isn’t meeting their needs.

That stat (via Google research) stings a bit. But it’s not shocking. If you’re not delivering a seamless experience in your app and mobile web, travelers won’t keep fighting through your UX. They’ll just take their business elsewhere.

Our Take

If you’ve got friction in your app — especially in the buying process — fix it. Look at your mobile analytics and do user testing pinpoint where users are getting stuck, and smooth out the UX. For some brands this may mean re-engineering the entire customer experience on mobile.

Related Resources

• “I’ve Got the Worst App Ever and Limited Development Resources. What Do I Do?”

• How to Build a Push Notification Strategy That Creates a Better UX for Mobile Apps

3) More than 50% of travelers don’t have a set destination in mind when planning a trip — and 60% will search their next trip from a mobile device.

Travelers are looking for inspiration. More than half are browsing around, looking for their next adventure — and 60% of them are browsing on a mobile device. Put these two stats together, and it’s clear that mobile is where travel brands need to be — with rich, inspirational, personalized, mobile-friendly messaging.

Our Take 

A lot of brands still aren’t taking full advantage of the image-rich capabilities of in-app messaging and rich push notifications. Use the data you have about your customers — where they’ve been in the past, their preferences, their location and more — to create visual messages that grabs their attention.

Related Resources

• Rich Notifications: Use the Power of Pictures to Further Mobile Engagement

• How To Create Rich Push Notifications

4) 81% of travel shoppers will abandon their shopping carts online.

According to research from SalesCycle, travel shoppers tend to abandon their shopping carts more often than retail or other shoppers. The average rate for abandoned baskets across all industries is 77%, but for travel shoppers, it’s 81%.

Our Take

Whether abandoned carts are more common because of a travel shopper’s need to coordinate with other travelers, more intensive comparison shopping on more sites or other factors, mobile can help re-capture lost revenue from abandoned baskets with real-time, personalized, automated messages.

Related Resources

• How to Use Mobile Messaging to Prevent Shopping Cart Abandonment

• How to Use Custom Events for More Effective Mobile Messaging: FAQs

5) 1 in 3 boarding passes will be delivered via mobile by 2019.

More than 1.5 billion airline boarding passes will be delivered worldwide via mobile phone by 2019 according to a study by Juniper Research. That’s part of an even bigger shift to delivering paperless passes and tickets on mobile in the native mobile wallet app.

Our Take

Mobile wallet can be a lifecycle customer engagement channel (see #7 in this blog post to see what Forrester has to say about brands missing the boat on the larger mobile wallet opportunity) — not just a way to deliver a ticket, coupon or pass.

That means it holds massive potential for travel brands who want to innovate — and expand their mobile footprint on customers’ phones. Our State of Mobile Wallet Marketing survey showed a major shift in consumer expectations for using mobile wallet for everything from boarding passes to event and attraction tickets to coupons and offers.

Related Resources

• The State of Mobile Wallet Marketing Report

• Top 10 FAQs About Mobile Wallet Marketing

• How to Update a Mobile Wallet Pass — and Engage 100% of Your Mobile Audience

Our strategy team has helped leading travel and hospitality brands build a mobile-first, customer-centric plan that boosts engagement and revenue. Schedule a free 30-minute consultation today to brainstorm ideas for your strategy — and the inside scoop on what your peers will be doing next on mobile.

The post Travel Trends for Mobile Marketers: 5 Stats That Show the ROI of a Mobile-First Approach appeared first on Airship.