Activating Insights and Data Analytics for a Personalized Travel Booking Experience

Global Commercial Airline

Activating Insights and Data Analytics for a Personalized Travel Booking Experience

Challenge

A major commercial airline created a booking service to help customers who have purchased a flight to research and book the rest of their trip, using flight information to make individually tailored suggestions for travel components like hotel stays and car rentals. The service had been highly successful in driving rental car bookings. However, the biggest revenue opportunity was in hotel bookings. The airline believed it could increase hotel bookings through increased personalization of the research and booking experience. To accomplish this, it needed to better understand its target customers, and what needs and motivations they had when researching and booking accommodations and rental cars.

Approach

Hypothesizing that customers think differently about different trip types and components, we used a three-phased approach, including insights (qualitative and quantitative research) and digital analytics to understand customer mindsets, choice drivers and online behavior
Identified and sized three context-driven booking mindsets, concluding a one-size-fits-all user experience strategy would not be effective
Leveraged digital analytics to rethink the online experience to better meet the needs of each booking mindset, identifying opportunities for relevant and effective personalization
Developed personalized research and booking journeys for each booking mindset, serving the most relevant information to customers when they most wanted it and in the way they wanted to receive it
Designed a series of interventions and nudges to nurture customers through their research and booking journey and maximize conversion
Created a personalization test-and-learn plan for each booking mindset using a ranked and prioritized set of data elements

Outcomes

Fueled by Material’s insights, the three priority booking mindsets provided a framework for ongoing personalization activations and growth. As the highest performing personalization elements continue to be determined, the airline is empowered to optimize content, strengthen messaging and refine its personalization strategy to continue to increase conversion.

Global Commercial Airline