As the way people use the internet for communication and information sharing continues to change, travel companies need to consider how to adapt their customer acquisition and retention strategies in the new online paradigm.

Published: 20 Mar 2008

As the way people use the internet for communication and information sharing continues to change, travel companies need to consider how to adapt their customer acquisition and retention strategies in the new online paradigm.

Whilst personalising your relationship with your customers is as important, if not more so, than ever before, the ways in which you engage with them and build their trust and loyalty are changing.

Any marketer knows that customer data is crucial to the provision of an effective CRM strategy. In order to provide your customers with what they want, you need to know about their preferences, in terms of what they have bought from you in the past, but perhaps more importantly what they may buy from you in the future. To ensure relevance, you also need to personalise your offerings and target your customers only with the products you think they will be interested in.

This is all well and good. However, while individuals are sharing more information about themselves online than ever before, they are also far more protective over how this information is used. Customers want all information relevant to them at their fingertips – but they don’t want to be sold to. They want to make informed decisions, but remain in control.

This sentiment is also echoed offline. As Diane DeWindt, Director of Customer Insight, Starwood said in a recent interview with EyeforTravel, “Sending marketing communications based on guests personal preferences expressed during a stay is potentially dangerous – if a guest expresses a preference on-property, you must get that guest's permission to store those data, and for what use. The best thing to do both from a data privacy perspective and from a customer-service perspective is to give the guest a channel to explicitly tell you what they want, where, and how, and deliver for just that instance.”

Nevertheless, as long as you follow these rules, Web 2.0 tools offer a valuable and effective opportunity to engage on a more personal level with your customers. Interviewed at EyeforTravel’s recent CRM in Travel event in New Orleans, TripHub’s John Pope summarised it thus,“As social networking sites aggregate and rank trusted reviews from other travelers, and as the semantic Web becomes a reality, travel providers should participate in the conversation and use the medium to address issues head on and to serve the needs of customers. Customers begin planning many months ahead and by engaging with them when they are researching the best options, travel providers expand their opportunities to develop a trusted relationship. The beauty of Web 2.0 is the inherent flexibility in creating solutions that meet customer needs. Planning and development cycles are shorter and customer feedback is real time.”

The point Pope makes about planning cycles is an important one. If you start to understand not only what your customers buy from you, but also the process which led them to that decision, then you have a much better chance of engaging with them effectively at the crucial point in the buying cycle when they make their purchase decision.

Ken Leeder from Real Travel agrees, “It (social media) provides travel companies with an opportunity to engage customers before, during and after a trip. In addition, since the internet has emerged as the primary means of research and planning for travelers, whether they ultimately book online or offline, it provides an ideal opportunity to influence a potential customers decision or reinforce a brand message.”

The concensus appears to be that Web 2.0 and social media when used correctly can improve your CRM and increase customer retention. Use these tools to engage with your customers on a more personal level, but make sure that they are in the driving seat. Abuse their trust and try to take over the wheel, and you will probably lose their custom forever.

Web 2.0 and CRM will feature heavily at EyeforTravel’s second annual CRM in Travel Europe event, taking place on 20-21 May at the Business Design Centre in London. To see a full agenda for the event, go to http://events.eyefortravel.com/tds/crm-conference.asp?q=tds/crm-conferen...