How will mobile change the travel industry
in 2018? A new
mobile market report investigates.
Mobile is a growth category for the travel
industry as established markets experience rising usage and emerging markets add
millions of consumers who look and book with their smartphones. It is even more
vital tool for in-trip engagement as the majority of travelers globally report
that they use their smartphone as their main conduit for information and
communications as they travel. It is
therefore an area that travel brands must address in 2018 in order to maximise
their return on investment and avoid falling behind competitors.
Based on EyeforTravel and SAP Digital
Interconnect’s new Driving Intelligent, Interconnected Mobile
Engagement Throughout the Travel Journey report, here are three key
ways in which mobile will influence the travel marketing in 2018.
1.
Getting to customers through
their smartphones as they travel is going to be key in building a relationship
Smartphones are used most during the actual
trip itself, presenting a golden time to reach them through this medium. For
67% of British, French and German consumers, the smartphone is their key device
during their trip and 98% of Chinese international travelers report that they
use their smartphone whilst abroad, with 65% reporting that they use their
smartphone to search for restaurants or to use navigation tools.
What’s more there are more ways than ever
to reach the consumer through their smartphone, none of which are being fully
exploited by travel brands so far. First and foremost there are apps. Although
these are difficult to get installed on a user’s device, they have excellent
engagement rates and allow owners to send push notifications, which were found
to be the most effective form of in-app advertising by our research.
However, just a third of travel brands currently have an app. Beyond this,
consumers can receive or request messages from travel brands through SMS, used
by 24% of travel brands, MMS (8%), QR codes (16%), and instant messaging
services (29% of travel brands). The latter of these could be key, as IHS
Markit predicts that there will be 7.5 billion messaging and communication app
accounts by 2020, giving unrivalled reach.
2.
Automated outreach is going to
go wider and get a whole lot more effective
In order to get relevant and engaging
messages to consumers, travel brands will need to automate the process through
data analysis and AI-enabled services. We found that among the 41% of travel
brands that have automated mobile outreach, 83% report that is effective at
driving satisfaction. These services can be used to build loyalty and drive
revenues through a variety of services that give the consumer key pieces of
information that makes their journey easier and upsell and marketing messages. Currently,
78.4% of travel brands that have an automated messaging service report that
they can send booking confirmations and reminders but just 37% can send
post-stay marketing messages and 35% emergency notifications. We can expect the
number of travel brands with automated outreach to grow in 2018 alongside the type
and content of their messages. Brands will take on a multichannel strategy with
their messaging, using the most appropriate format for the customer based on
where they are in the journey. For example, SMS for a change in gate, or push
notifications from an app for excursions at the destination.
3.
Mobile sites will become better
at grabbing the last-minute booking
Although mobile is a fast-growing channel
when it comes to the booking itself, desktops and laptops still rule the roost
when it comes to share and even more so when it comes to spending. Instead,
mobile appears to still be a last-minute channel, especially for hotels. Just
under 65% of respondents from all verticals in the survey say that mobile lead
times are either much shorter or slightly shorter than desktop bookings, with
40% answering that they are much shorter. Nearly double the rate of respondents
from the accommodation group report that mobile lead times are much shorter –
59% to 31%.
This makes the mobile web experience
critical, as smaller screens and a need for swift information will make
relevancy and presentation critical. In our survey 39% of brands reported that
they were prioritizing the mobile web and a further 6%, said they were shifting
to mobile web, far above those who said they were prioritizing apps. We can
expect the number of travel brands who have a responsive or adaptive website to
rise from the 58% who currently do.
Optimizing this experience will be driven
by growing abilities to personalize landing pages and streamlining the moments
from arrival on the site to the check-out based off growing data analysis
capabilities and A/B testing. Furthermore, advances in revenue management and
yield maximization techniques will increase the profitability of last-minute
mobile bookings.
To access the research and get ahead of the
competition, download this
completely free mobile market report to access:
- A major industry survey of all travel verticals uncovering their mobile strategies and technology deployments.
- Analysis of how consumers are using the mobile channel.
- Projections for mobile’s growth across travel.
- Where you should be investing to reach the mobile consumer.
- How you can ensure mobile-focused communications are effective.
- An overview of how you should be measuring and overseeing an m-commerce operation.