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Provide an Omnichannel Touchpoint experience for every generation

Holidays are about personalization and building great experiences. Consumers now spend more time researching and seeking inspiration, and this is before they’ve even considered their destination. As a travel business, you will be looking at how you can drive new business and exploring opportunities to upsell to your clients. Consider your sales funnel. Buying travel is as much about paying for an experience as it is about buying a product. Consumers want to make the journey from the very beginning, before

Holidays are about personalization and building great experiences. Consumers now spend more time researching and seeking inspiration, and this is before they’ve even considered their destination. As a travel business, you will be looking at how you can drive new business and exploring opportunities to upsell to your clients. Consider your sales funnel.

Buying travel is as much about paying for an experience as it is about buying a product. Consumers want to make the journey from the very beginning, before during and after the booking, and they want the part with you to be as consistent and seamless as possible. As people visit your site, make the experience as user friendly and inspiring as possible. This is part of their journey with you. Live chat makes the initial connection much more appealing and engaging. You can respond immediately to any concerns, questions or doubts at the critical early stages of the sales funnel and you’ve opened that relationship with them.

Social Channels and bricks and mortar branches should be an extension of the experience and the process must be seamless. Offering services through multiple channels is complex, however every customer is unique. They want to communicate and connect via channels of their choosing. Adobe made the point that every screen and customer interaction is an opportunity to connect with travelers, as they are interacting with your brand 24/7 in all kinds of places. Your brand must believe in and focus on all channels. A recent Gartner study found that integrating four or more digital channels outperforms single or dual-channel campaigns by 300 percent. That’s huge, but many brands still provide a very divided approach. A “single view” of customers that can be tracked across their journeys from start to finish- whether online, mobile or email, enables travel businesses to offer a service and a product that resonates with travellers and customer segments. Data then identifies opportunities to further improve the customer experience.

Connecting with travellers through so many channels, at various points in their journey, allows brands to be part of a holiday experience as well as building trust and connections. Providing useful and compelling content also maintains the dialogue throughout.

One of the largest economies globally is the 55+ generation and it’s also the fastest growing. They have the money to spend – more than any other generation- and the time and desire to travel. During their buying path they will spend hours and hours researching travel, whether domestic or international and they respond very well to content. This is content that is relevant, useful and genuinely helpful. According to a report by New Young Consulting they will spread the word to their friends and family because they love talking about great experiences and they engage with visuals, video and information. Trips can be triggered by events and they will want to know as much as they possibly can about local shows, restaurants and more.

As a travel company it’s your job to engage with travellers and make the products you offer as appealing as possible. Content is critical in the pre and post decision making process.

Destination guides, either at the inspirational stage, booking process, in airports or at the hotel, continue the connection with this market and the value add-ons are also a great opportunity to upsell as travellers consider what to do when they arrive at their destination.

Whether Gen Z, millennials or 55+ the key is to understand the market, stay connected and continue adding value throughout the sales funnel.

CEO - Smartvel | + Posts

Inigo Valenzuela is the CEO and founder of Smartvel, which he launched in 2013. Smartvel is a B2B2C solution for destinations, cities and travel companies. Inigo founded the company because he had been working for many years in the business travel area and thought that the TMCs, end suppliers, airlines, hotels etc were not giving the right information about destinations.

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