While the travel and hospitality industry have recovered from the worst of the pandemic disruptions to their businesses, there is still plenty of room for catching up, especially for travel and hospitality companies implementing a CDP. And in a time when people are still traveling less than they used to, winning out on being the option of choice for when people do travel requires new dexterity.
According to the Skift Recovery Index, the travel and hospitality industry has improved significantly since the onset of the pandemic, but performance is still 35% below pre-pandemic levels. Competition is greater and customer expectations are higher. The clear path forward is to differentiate your travel and hospitality business with streamlined customer experience and an exciting, worth-the-investment customer journey.
All this energy being driven toward CDP adoption also calls for more information on how to best onboard and implement a CDP for financial service firms. Tealium is hosting its annual Digital Velocity Customer Experience Series – the premier CDP event of the year – with industry specific virtual events, including financial services.
The Ultimate Travel & Hospitality CX Event
Tuesday, May 3rd
9:00 AM PT | 12:00 PM ET
Attendees will hear from industry experts on how to power the CDP for travel and hospitality specifically, including how to:
- Achieve a single view of your guests
- Optimize ad spend for cost savings
- Employ sophisticated data collection and privacy strategies
- Create amazing acquisition, retention, and loyalty campaigns
- See a complete and consistent view of your customers
- Use customer behavior to create real-time guest experiences
Beyond the event, travel and hospitality organizations should also follow these best practices when implementing a CDP.
5 Best Practices for Travel and Hospitality Services Implementing a CDP
1. Improve your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
This is a primary driver for travel and hospitality organizations investing in a CDP, because advertising is a key component of gaining visibility and acquiring new customers in this industry. Beyond customer experience, you should utilize your customer data to improve your targeting and real-time advertising for greater ROAS. One travel organization that utilizes Tealium’s CDP ran a targeted campaign to selectively offer high value coupons to customers and realized an 18% return on investment of their CDP, directly attributable to better return on ad spend. A secondary benefit of greater ROAS is better customer experience, as the customer is getting personalized and relevant prompts for engagement, making them feel seen and connected to your brand.
2. Own Your Customer Relationship
Your customers have given you a wealth of knowledge about who they are and what they prefer. As with any relationship, having these insights helps you to control positive outcomes. As a travel and hospitality companies implementing a CDP, you can take ownership of your customer relationship instead of it being something that is merely happening to your business. You can use your CDP to implement travel reminders and reduce churn, run purchase and ticket abandonment campaigns, orchestrate better trip experiences through targeted upgrades and add-ons, and create mobile app personalization to produce more customer stickiness.
3. Activate an Omni-channel Loyalty Program
A recent McKinsey consumer survey found that “customers are twice as likely to try new brands and experiences as a result of COVID-19 and 75 percent of US consumers tried a different store, website or brand during the pandemic.” For an industry where customer loyalty is imperative for sustained revenue and continued growth, companies now have to compete just to maintain their satisfied base. One way to firm up customer loyalty is to focus on omni-channel customer experiences. Your loyal customers do not want to feel unseen or unappreciated. And something as simple as having disparate experiences across channels – where preferences are not communicated or offers are not made that should have been based on their customer profile – can be a make or break situation.
4. Empower Your Customer Support with Customer Data
Even the most loyal customers can be turned by a bad customer experience. Worse yet, to then deal with customer service members who have no insight into the issue, to their preferences, travel history, or loyalty to your company. Your CDP can integrate your customer profiles into your customer service platforms, breaking down silos and creating the chance to turn a lemon into lemonade. This customer support enablement allows your team members to be a part of the solution, instead of the problem, which not only creates greater productivity internally, but also makes working in customer support a more positive experience, as well. It’s a win-win-win across the board, for your customers, your customer service representatives, and for your bottom line.
5. Choose Your Own Adventure – Give Your Customers More Control
At the end of the day, people travel largely to create positive experiences, memories, and moments that go beyond the day to day. They’re investing their hard-earned money into what your organization has to offer. While you spend countless hours curating these experiences on their behalf, they also want to control the moment. So empower that control through your CDP. Integrate your customer data into every possible aspect of your service – into your website, your mobile devices, your social media and advertising. Let them define their preferred means of communication. Have a comprehensive and intelligent data privacy opt-in. Let them curate their own adventure. Provide more unique offerings for them to choose from, and then launch even more personalized offerings based on those selections. Empower their own control through your strategic use of their customer data.
For more information on how to unlock new opportunities if you’re one of the many travel and hospitality companies implementing a CDP, make sure to attend Digital Velocity ’22 – The Ultimate Travel & Hospitality CX Event, Tuesday, May 3rd at 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM ET.
