eCommerce in the Airline Industry

Colin Lewis

eCommerce Maturity models

• Unplanned – Uncontrolled with limited integration. Content focus.

• Diffuse management – A more structured approach in some areas. Visitor acquisition focus.

• Centralised management – Organisation level objectives and control. Conversion focus.

• Decentralised operations – Execution integrated with marketing activities. Retention focus.

• Integrated and optimised – A refined approach to improve digital marketing. Optimisation focus.

eCommerce process map: the day-to-day

Acquisition

Ope

ratin

g p

roce

sses

Conversion /Proposition Dvlpt

Retention& Growth

Search engine optimisation

Pay Per Click search

Partnerships / affiliates

Online ads / sponsorship

E-mail marketing

Online PR

Offline campaigns

Proposition development

Content creation

Content management

Site usability & accessibility

Design & Development

Merchandising

Customer service

Proposition development

Touch strategy definition

Customer management

Personalisation

Loyalty programmes

E-mail marketing

Outbound communicationsM

anag

emen

t pro

cess

es

Staff development, educationand retention

Creating the vision.Assessing technological innovation.

Market analysis and competitor benchmarking

Defining the multichannel customer experience. Managing customer information

Financial analysis and modelling

Interfacing with IT

Interfacing with marketing& corporate communications

Interfacing with senior management

Managing external relationships.Vendor selection & management.

IT Project and campaign planning and management

Strategy &Planning

Annual planning and budgeting

Managing relationships

Managing improvementand change

Performance improvement including Management Information, web analytics and customer analysis

Design guidelines and operating procedures

Technical infrastructure including service level management

Supporting processes

Source: eConsultancy

Acquisition tools map

1 Search marketing· Search engine

optimisation (SEO)· Pay Per Click (PPC)· Trusted feed

2 Online PR· Media alerting services· Portal representation· Blogs and RSS

3 Online Partnerships· Link-building· Affiliate marketing· Sponsorship· Co-branding

4 Interactive ads· Display ads/banners· Rich-media· Dynamic/behavioural· Sponsorship

5 Opt-in e-mail· Cold (rented list)· Co-branded e-mail· 3rd party e-newsletters· House list e-mails

6 Viral marketing· Pass-along· Prompted· Incentivised

Web siteand

microsites

Offline communications1. Advertising2. Personal selling3. Sales promotion4. PR5. Sponsorship

Offline communications6. Direct mail7. Exhibitions8. Merchandising9. Packaging10. Word-of-mouth

Online communications Offline communications

Source: eConsultancy

Example: Thomas Cook online strategy model

CustomerAcquisition

• SEM

• Affiliate Marketing

• Display

• Aggregators

• Email

• Offline

• Online PR

• Viral

• Consumer

generated content

CustomerRetention& Growth

Measure& Optimise

CustomerConversion

Attracting new

customers

• Customer

service

• Process

• Segmentation

and targetting

• Email

• Cross-sell

• Online PR

• Personalisatio

n

• Multichannel

Harvest repeat

business from

existing

customersers• Usability

• Accessibility

• Enhanced

content,

copywriting

• Promos and

better

merchandising

• Email

• Customer

decision

support

• Payment

options

Turn ‘lookers’

into

‘bookers’

Track & analyse

every

aspect of activity

• Web analytics

• Site

performance

monitoring

• Market

intellignece

• Online

surveys

• Usability

testing

• Online panels

• Customer

insightSource: eConsultancy Thomas Cook

Customer conversion – connect site visitors and convert as many as possible

• Proposition development – planning and specifying the product to appear

• Content creation – sourcing the information used to define appropriate pricing and messaging,

• Content management – managing the software and database infrastructure

• Merchandising – product presentation

• Site usability and accessibility

• Design & Development

Customer retention

• Touch strategy definition and execution can define appropriate combinations of timing, targeting, product:

o Automated event-triggered messaging through customer booking cycleo Developed with a acceptable level of

• Timing frequency • Target• Interval • Content

• Email marketing is the keystone to retention (and further acquisition)

o low-cost, personalised o integration of customer behaviour including email response patterns and

transactional data is ideal o DM

Operational support processes across acquisition, conversion and retention

• Performance improvement including web analytics, commercial analysis and providing management information

• Design guidelines and operating procedures such as the review process for publishing new content or triggers for when content updates were required.

• Managing the technical infrastructure including hosting in order to deliver the right service levels, experienced by customers as site performance and availability.

eCRM – where it fits within eCommerce

Managing the online customer experience

• Supporting the customer journeys through useability evaluation and web site design.

• Providing web-self service facilities giving access to customer support

• Customisation / personalisation to provide recommendations at individual and customer segment level.

Customer insight

• Managing the data quality and usage of our knowledge of customers including their:o Characteristics (who are they?) including managing profiles, segments and e-mail lists.o Behaviour (what they do and when?) including response and purchase behaviour.o Value (how much are they worth?) including customer lifetime valueo Attitudes (what do they think?) including surveying perceptions, satisfaction & loyalty drivers.

Customer loyalty and response analysis

Touch-strategy definition

• definition and execution defines appropriate combinations of timing, targeting, producto Automated event-triggered messaging through customer booking cycle

E-mail marketing

• Outbound – acquire and build repeat sales through campaigns and e-newsletters to a house-list. May include direct mail and SMS.

• Inbound – answering enquiries from e-mails and web-based forms.

SEO Fundamentals

Internal SEO - Relevant - Accessible - Keyword Rich - Quality

Signals - Targeting

External SEO- Quality, related

links- Relevant- Linking speed- Social Media- Linking Signals

Technical Spec- Site

Architecture- Navigation- Meta data- XML Options- Quality signals

15% 55%30%

Suggested eCommerce Strategy for Airlines

Convert

Retain and

Grow

Acquire

• Site design• Tracking code• User friendly

content• Site security• Good calls to

action• Site speed• Viral• Offers• 4 stage

process

• Customer service

• Email• Personalisatio

n• Site security• Referrals

• SEO• PPC• Email• Affiliate• Banner• Video• Viral• RSS• Email list• Buy-in

Effective web design

• Accessibility – w3C

• User-centred design and usability

• Linking with marketing planning

• Information architecture and findability

• Search engine optimisation (SEO)

• Web standards

• Web analytics

• Legal requirements

• Right fares, appealing

• Combining these will deliver a compelling website experience

Effective web design • 1: Usability and Brando Problem: Which way do I go? Which navigation is the right one? Which company and site am I booking on? Where am I? Can I trust the airline?o Solution: Provide consistent user experience throughout the site to avoid disorientation and create confidence and trust through a single,

focused and consistent booking experience

• 2: Usabilityo Problem: How many steps will booking really take? o Solution: Optimise the booking flow to create a & efficient 4 step process to avoid drop outs

• 3: Brando Problem: Who is the airline and are they for me? What can they offer me others don’t have?o Solution: Ensure site represent the company’s positioning, mission, values and personality? Enable customers to understand our offer by

providing platform for marketing positioning

• 4: Usabilityo Problem: Where can I quickly compare availability and prices? o Solution: Focus homepage on key user goals: booking, manage my booking, travel info, offers

• 5: Experienceo Problem: Why should I come back? Does the site cater for my needs?o Solution: Create an effective site structure based on target audience specific needs and provide a platform to manage relationships such as

online check-in updates, flight updates, etc.

Number 1 rule - building a database

• Capture customer information in terms of

oName

oEmail address

oMobile number

• Through

oWebsite

oCompetitions

oBusiness cards

• Build a customer database

• AND ideally – but not a deal breaker

• Capture some related demographics helps airline build accurate and timely profiles about airline's customers

• Create personalised communication.

Best practice recommendations

• Acquisition has two meanings:o Using web site to acquire new customers as qualified leads that can be converted

into saleso Encouraging existing customers to use online channels

• Balance resources between acquisition, proposition development / conversion and retention.

• Create detailed digital marketing plans to provide focus and direction with a structured planning process for E-commerce

• Achieve senior level sponsorship and involvement in planning and review. o Align E-commerce objectives and resources with business objectives.

• Be flexibleo Have a flexible response to planning with operational reviews enabling reallocation of

budget o Avoid the delays in “time to market” for introducing new web applicationso Use ‘Test, learn, refine’ model

• Allocate sufficient organisational resources for customer insight, customer data quality, customer satisfaction, touch-strategy definition, not just web site efficiency and effectiveness.