Getting the right data, and using it right

From spring’s GDPR introduction to British Airways’ recent breach, data has been one of the major topics of this year. JT Wash, head of travel, Acxiom, outlines the challenges and opportunities data presents for travel companies.

"The issues of data run deeper for the travel industry than many others. Travel and tourism has to be one of the most impacted sectors by the digital revolution, in terms of how people now manage their journey bookings as well as the knock-on impacts for business processes for agents and for operators. Many travel marketers have found themselves running to catch up to their customers who are disparate, often anonymous, demanding, and at the same time highly promiscuous when it comes to brand loyalty – often just a mouse click away from a competitor offering.

Data is the answer to these customer conundrums, but thanks to its sheer volume it’s also part of the problem for the sector. If your entire industry has been transformed around you, you have to adapt to your new landscape to enable you to seize the new opportunities which have sprung up. It now feels that customer information really does seem to travel at light speed. By the time it reaches marketers and has been properly understood, it can be almost too late to respond. Emphatically, though, that is what customers are expecting. Blink and miss these opportunities to engage and a competitor will win.

Missing data connections can and will prove costly, so a mindset shift may be in order here. According to the State of Data in Travel report of last year, travel data professionals’ cited data quality and cleanliness as their greatest challenges. However, if you compare this to consumer priorities, there is a marked difference in priority. Brand side marketers focus on their feeds, quality, and overcoming their silos. Customers need to know that the brands they are sharing information with are trusted to act with integrity when it comes to that personal data. They also want to know what worthwhile benefit they will get in return for placing that trust in an organisation. Worthwhile can mean preferential service or offers which, in the grand scheme of things, can cost a business relatively little, but mean a lot to a customer. Most importantly, to truly overcome their data burdens, those in the tourism space need to think like their travellers.

This is essential as the journey to purchase, in every sense of the word, has fundamentally changed. Brands need to manage the fact that each individual booking may have reached them through his or her own unique path. Whether that means through online recommendations and word of mouth, glossy tv ads or digital display, or simply coming across a short term offer which is too good to miss – no two travellers are the same, and increasingly they expect this uniqueness to be acknowledged and served by their chosen operators. Only by mastering data can this knowledge be built up, understood, and acted upon to deliver travellers the kind of experience they know they want. Even better, within that information lie the clues to predicting what those travellers may well be looking for next.

A significant trend shaping travel at the moment is a growing demand for bespoke services. Many holidaymakers aren’t looking for package deals which take in the very well-trodden paths of tourist hotspots, but instead looking for something unusual or different. Research from the University of the West of England highlighted just last year the increase in demand for tailored, bespoke or unusual holiday demands, both when it comes to domestic travel and overseas. This highly targeted approach to marketing is clearly something that works best when you have a one-to-one relationship with a customer and you understand their needs in enough depth to be able to anticipate and nurture them. To be truly effective, it’s not enough to just suggest activities or locations based on previous tours – that would keep suggestions terribly similar. To freshen, encourage and inspire more adventurous travellers, understanding other influences or preferences in their lives can help to assess whether or not they are risk averse, or might like to push themselves and try an adventure trip in future. Increasingly it’s bringing together first, second and third party data that enables a travel brand to learn this about their customers, and be able to act appropriately.

Marketers today know agility to customer needs is paramount in the modern, digitally-driven world. Those in travel and tourism are lucky that what they offer is something many people both view as essential and desirable too. It’s a service that many people actively look forward to buying and researching. Identifying those key points where travellers are searching for their options and being able to enthuse them with a perfectly pitched idea has the potential to help many operators to tap into the global growth predicted for the sector. A commitment to getting the right data, to getting the data right and then using it the right way, is what will underpin a successful travel company’s strategy."