In order to satisfy consumer needs and improve interactions with customers, digital marketing has become highly important for the airline industry. Digital marketing is applied from, the moment the customer is searching for places to go on holidays, booking on a mobile phone or computer, to the moment they are boarding using the app of the company as boarding pass on their mobile or even Google Glass.
There are several digital marketing strategies applied by the airlines. One very frequently used is email marketing. Ryan and Jones (2009) highlighted the importance of customer relationships management when using email marketing strategies. According to them, by using CRM technologies, companies can segment target lists, allowing them to focus highly targeted campaigns to the customers most likely to respond. The company can fine-tune its email offerings and align it with its customers purchase history. In the case of the airlines industry, for example, American Airlines uses triggered-email strategy to remind consumers that had add a booking to the cart but haven’t purchased the ticket yet. In this email American Airlines provides the lower prices and the best offers compared to the option abandoned in the cart.
Experian has searched some interesting facts about email marketing in the airlines, for example, the winter email campaigns generates the most clicks due that the people want to spend holidays in warmer destinations. Another fact is that Airline loyalty mailings have high customer engagement with a 72 percent lift in unique click rates for loyalty mailings compared to non-loyalty mailings.
Nowadays the presence of any company in the social media is an essential channel to deliver promotion, information and to interact with consumer. In the airlines industry there is a new trend called “Social Seating” . Airlines are increasingly allowing passengers who opt-in to share their social media profiles and use others’ to pick their seatmates.
A company launching a successful digital campaign that had over 1m YouTube hits was British Airways with its cross-channel campaign, Magic of Flying, that connected with consumers through an interactive billboard campaign. The key to the campaign’s success was its call to action – the hashtag – which encouraged people to go to its #lookup branded site.
Another way in which airlines enrich interaction with consumers is through online booking and check-in. This not only improve the customer experience but its also provide the company with wide customer data that can be use for future marketing campaigns such as mailing.
However, many companies have been criticized because of use of passengers data. For example, Delta Airlines mentioned this subject and received negative responses. When customers found that their personal information was programmed onto Delta’s website, they were less than pleased.
The goal for airlines, however, is to deliver a better experience. Imagine the flight attendants with tablet computers researching the people on the flight. Some is beneficial- allergies, preferences, and nationality may affect the food they serve to each flier.
Experian, (2014). Email Marketing Trends. [online] Available at: https://www.experian.com/assets/marketing-services/white-papers/ccm-travel-industry-email-marketing-trends.pdf [Accessed 1 Feb. 2016].
OnSpot Social, (2014). Airlines Turn Digital Marketing into Data Collection. [online] Available at: http://onspotsocial.com/digital-marketing-turns-data-collection-major-airlines/ [Accessed 1 Feb. 2016].
Ryan, D. and Jones, C. (2009). Understanding digital marketing. London: Kogan Page.
Smart Insights, (2015). Digital Marketing in the Airline industry. [online] Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/b2b-digital-marketing/b2b-strategy/digital-marketing-in-the-airline-industry/ [Accessed 1 Feb. 2016].
the Guardian, (2014). Five brands leading the way in omni-channel marketing. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2014/nov/28/omni-channel-marketing-john-lewis-british-airways [Accessed 1 Feb. 2016].