Page 30 - Express Travel World

SPOTLIGHT

The digitalisation of travel

In order to leverage technology to transform and create great customer experiences,
travel businesses must understand what customers currently expect of them and
accurately predict and prepare for what they will expect in the not-too-distant future.
Excerpts from a PhocusWright report

he benefit of digital anthropologic, ethnographic,
transformation to Research needs to pull in “voices” from customers, employees and the organisation and/or deep data analysis; some
both travellers and even map their competitors’ cus-
Tthe travel industry tomer journeys.
cannot be ignored. According to Building and interpreting
a World Economic Forum re- journey maps. Once all the re-
port, between now and 2025, search data has been collected,
“digitalisation in aviation, travel the customer journey map-
and tourism is expected to gen- building process begins. It can
erate benefits valued at US$ 700 be as manual and seemingly sim-
billion for customers and wider ple (but likely arduous) as put-
society, while at the same time ting each customer's touch point
creating up to US$ 305 billion in on a sticky note. Alternatively, it
increased industry profitability.” can be flow charted with tools or
Meeting the demands of digi- even specific journey-mapping
tal transformation and customer software. An organization’s com-
experience can be, however, a plete journey map will likely be
slippery slope. With each trans- relatively complex.
formative change – from nu- At the end of the exercise –
anced to leapfrogged – cus- which can take 10-12 weeks or
tomers come to expect more more initially – the result should
from their experiences. The bar reveal the current state of the
gets raised, delight gets height- customer journey. The process
ened, while customers’ patience typically identifies 'moments of
and tolerance for sub-par expe- truth', during which travellers
riences diminishes. make key decisions such as their
Travel can be especially af- destination selection or where to
fected, since choice and compe- protect their sensitive personal and defining customer journeys who in one scenario plans a va- stay. It should also reveal com-
tition abound along every phase data. is called 'mapping'. Mapping is a cation for her family, and in an- mon pain points to create a vi-
of the customer journey. With tool to diagnose and understand other is a corporate executive sion of the ideal future state of
travel’s first digital transforma- Customer journey where your customer is across administrator booking a trip for the customer journey, and help
tion, the human travel agent suf- mapping all experiences, to help you un- her boss. Her needs and expec- build the road map – the strat-
fered. But something happened The customer journey is gen- derstand the gaps and opportuni- tations will be very different egy – to move from current state
when the agent was removed erally thought of as a lifetime re- ties to grow the customer rela- from one scenario to the next. to future state. The strategy
from the equation – something lationship with a customer, from tionship. It should be dynamic, 360-degree research. To should be one that plans for this
the industry now realises it must the moment the customer be- constantly re-evaluated and con- build customer journey maps, process to be an evolution, not
address. To cite Expedia presi- comes aware of the brand, until tinuously updated. Customer seek insights from many an overnight success. The de-
dent and CEO Mark Oker- the time the customer is no journey mapping involves sev- sources. From within the com- sired future state may take up
strom’s statement during the longer a customer. The fragmen- eral components: pany, involve representation two years to attain.
company’s October 2017 earn- tation of the traveller’s entire Understanding your cus- from any department – online or
ings call: “We will become much journey makes it even harder to tomers. In travel, this doesn’t off – that might touch the cus- Digitallytransforming
more customer-centric, putting understand and control, because just mean leisure versus busi- tomer. In travel, that could mean customer experiences
the A back into OTA.” the journey may involve so many ness versus group customers; it call center representatives, desk Examples of digital transfor-
Today’s travellers want mo- disparate providers. In business means breaking down cus- clerks or agents, bellmen, house- mation of the customer experi-
bile-first enabled experiences. travel, because corporate policy tomers into more meaningful keepers, flight attendants, reser- ence abound, ranging from radi-
They want easy, immediate an- requirements about where to segments. Whereas a common vation agents, restaurant cally disruptive (Airbnb, Uber)
swers and solutions to their shop and book may lead to sub- technique to journey mapping servers, managers, marketers to experimental (mixed reality,
problems. They’re curious about optimal preferences with re- by segmentation has been to cre- and tech support personnel. Ex- or Aruba’s Happy Flow, which
home-sharing, short-term spect to travellers’ choices, ana- ate demographics-driven per- ternally, survey or interview past uses biometrics to process pas-
rentals, and last-minute deals. lyzing their customer journey sonas, travel’s unique variability and present travellers, mine so- sengers without any docu-
They expect personalised experi- and experience may be even lends itself better to mapping by cial media mentions and senti- ments). In today’s mobile-first
ences. But they also need to more difficult. scenarios instead. For example, ment; do some mystery shop- world, digital both informs and
trust that travel providers will The process of describing consider the same individual ping. Some companies conduct creates travel customer experi-

30 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD
February 2018