New technologies are becoming digital marketers best friend.
As we have seen in our previous article, with the B2B marketplace the implementation of new technologies (mobile platform), has become essential in the formulation of future strategies for leading marketers. The travels industry which has always been a pioneer in digital marketing, mainly of its early successful use of online booking, is using AI and machine learning to better facilitate the changing demands of their clients.
What changed?
Consumer behavior continues to evolve, so must the playbook by which companies operate.
Today’s travelers are increasingly impulsive and want information quickly. For travel companies, that means meeting customers’ rising expectations for assistance at every point of the purchase journey. A recent study conducted by Google and Phocuswright suggests that
more than 60% of U.S. travellers would consider an impulse trip based on a good hotel or flight deal.
Furthermore, consumers don’t just want faster access to information. They want better and more personalized experiences, and numbers seem to be agreeing with this tendency. The same survey showed that
57% of U.S. travellers feel that brands should tailor their information based on personal preferences or past behaviours. Furthermore, if a travel brand tailored its information and overall trip experience based on personal preferences or past behaviour, 36% (over 1 in 3) would be likely to pay more for their services.
How can AI help you to step up your game?
And here’s where machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) factor into the picture. Artificial intelligence is the study of how to make machines intelligent or capable of solving problems. At its core, machine learning is a new way of creating those problem-solving system. As we transition to a new era of computing with machine intelligence, machine learning unlocks new insights and opportunities for travel companies to deliver better, more useful experiences for users than ever before.
Automating marketing campaigns with consumer-intent signals such as purchase history and contextual relevance, coupled with customizing those experiences on the fly, is just one example. Companies will be able to use machine learning in more impactful ways moving forward.
AI is reinventing existing products and powering new experiences.A prime example is the case of Google Translate a very useful tool in the travel industry. When Google converted most of the Translate traffic to an AI-based system, they saw overnight gains in quality roughly equal to what the previous system had accrued in its entire lifetime.
The survey also stated the increasing importance of voice and digital assistants. In fact,
almost 70% of requests made to the Google Assistant are expressed in natural language.
Meaning that people are getting more comfortable having conversations with computers. More specifically for travel,
more than 30% of travellers across countries are interested in using digital assistants for research or book travel.
Keeping up with the evolving landscape travel companies can get ahead by thinking user-first and experimenting with new platforms. Machine learning is already helping unlock new insights, better predict customer needs, and deliver more relevant experiences at scale.
Until next time…