Online customers want to chat, not book
Today’s online customers want a chat not a booking when looking for a holiday.
Travel firms were advised to invest in mobile apps and social media as well as updating websites to become mobile and tablet friendly.
Since TUI introduced its travel companion app, MyThomson, four months ago, it has received 170,000 downloads with 5-7,000 daily users that the tour operator ‘didn’t talk to before’.
He said customers are not necessarily looking to book, with the most popular features being the holiday countdown, resort information and the weather.
"Customers are looking for a conversation, not just a booking," TUI group CIO, Mittu Sridhara told delegates at ABTA’s Travel Convention.
Companies should:
– make sure they are visual wherever their customers are through websites, apps and social media
– offer relevant information and convenience
– create mobile content which customers can tap, pan and zoom.
TUI aims to grow the MyThomson app into a concierge service, to offer targeted information like excursion or packing suggestions if the weather forecast is bad.
Sridhara said: "Whatever business you’re in, if you care about your customers, if you want to engage and build a relationship with them, then mobile is no longer optional for you.
"Businesses can no longer afford to ignore the mobile channel and if you don’t do it, you can be sure the competition is. Most importantly get started."
Tim Williamson, director of customer experience & marketing at Monarch Airlines said the travel trade needs to ‘get started on it now’ and advised them to ‘start small and improve’.
Adam Levene, senior vice president, strategy, Monitise Create said: "We’re more informed that we’ve ever been before. We want to act impulsively – we’re the time poor generation. The consumer is also more vocal using Facebook and Twitter to share opinions.
"You can’t stop it from happening. You need to embrace it. Customers are humans first and they’re the ones who will help build your brand."
This was endorsed by brand expert Graham Hales, CEO of Interbrand London who said about booking a holiday: "It’s an emotional process not a transaction. It’s more important that you capitalise on the emotional process. These people share those experiences with everyone who will listen."
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