Personalisation is the buzzword at the Travel Convention. But Travel Weekly managing director Stuart Parish wonders whether the focus glosses over some established issues for the industry
‘The Power of Personal’ is the theme of this year’s Travel Convention, but after day one I questioned whether personalisation is really just marketing jargon for the power of common sense.
Yes, there have been some great examples of companies doing differentiated things, which could be deemed personal, but there have been all too many examples of companies glossing up what seems all too obvious.
Merchandising, marketing, and selling a customer what they want, giving them quality service and making them feel special or loved; isn’t that just the essence of business?
What this new crusade on personal marketing does is actually gloss over the age-old issues of the travel industry, particularly those who are predominantly online. The most significant of these issues is that of conversion, which has long been the Achilles heel of many OTAs.
The most concerning factor about this topic of conversion, is that it’s the same conversation I had day in, day out during my time at a large OTA a decade ago. Has nothing changed over this period? Where has 10 years of technological advance taken the industry?
The truth is that technology has advanced, businesses have improved, products have developed, but despite all of this the online booking funnel still lacks key elements that you can only find when you pick up a phone or walk through the door of a travel agency.
Reassurance and the confidence of a seasoned travel seller are two elements that are hard to replicate online, while persuasion has been at the core of sales conversion since trading began.
Isn’t this quest for the personal simply another way to lift a poor conversion to a slightly less poor conversion? How many of these companies could have saved a fortune and converted far more sales by investing in people, training, and service rather than slogging it out for that extra fraction of a percentage point?
Don’t get me wrong. To a business of a certain size, that fraction could be worth a tidy sum, but will it evoke loyalty and how long will it be until every other OTA creates their own algorithms and brings the market level again?
Personalisation is a key part of any company’s marketing campaign, but let’s not fool ourselves that it’s anything more than basic common sense. How much would your conversion improve if you had better product, better people, and better awareness? My hunch is that investing in these areas would be a much more powerful use of our time.