Digital advancements bring personalisation to travel marketing

In 2019, online sales in the travel sector will reach over $750 billion globally, and almost 50% of those coming from mobile (Statista). Why is the travel sector thriving? Travel marketers are using the right channels and utilising the technology available to them when they communicate with consumers, providing them with personalised experiences.

Technology has allowed travel firms to bring an engaging and personalised experience to users. We’ve seen some great examples over the last few years. Thomas Cook’s virtual reality product giving customers an immersive experience of exotic destinations. Technology allowed customers to get a taste of their dream destination in more than pictures.

Whilst these initiatives are great at highlighting the potential of technology, it’s not only about high-tech immersive experiences when it comes to personalisation. Here are 3 ways we’ve used innovative solutions within the programmatic space to bring tangible benefits to our clients;

1. Data partnership with travel search companies

Flight search comparison sites capture enormous amounts of data on different flight searches including; routes, cabin class and flight dates. They can categorise these into different segments. For example, all searches for first class flights from London to New York in December. We can then buy that data segment and target that specific audience later across any site. This enables us to target very specific hard to reach audiences. Such as someone searching for flights to the US, we can deliver ads for hotel offers in New York over that period.

2. Immersive storytelling through smart creative integrations

Technology now allows us to drive audiences on a journey of discovery using data and creative. Working with our technology partners to drive both awareness and to educate people on the benefits of the brand/destination. Using our technology platform, we sequentially deliver messaging to people, introducing them to the brand, educating on the key benefits and finally provide a nudge to convert, either via programmatic or more commonly through paid search or direct. This is a great tool to allow brands to create an ongoing dialogue with new and existing customers, especially within the travel sector where storytelling and creative are key.

3. The use of smart data to inform creative

We now use insight data from digital campaigns to analyse audiences which are most engaged. For a recent tourism client campaign, we used data insights to reveal that families with young children, who indexed very highly for an interest in exotic holidays, were most engaged with the ads we were serving. Using this insight our client was able to build bespoke ads featuring young families and exotic holiday destinations, and then revised the targeting criteria to focus on this demographic. The results confirmed our belief in using data to inform creative, with engagement levels increasing dramatically; CTR increasing from 0.1% to 0.25%. Whilst the Cost per Acquisition decreased by over 35%.

The digital advertising space is constantly evolving and programmatic sits at the center of this change. With 36% of travelers more likely to pay for more services when brands use personalised information based on preferences or past behaviour (Google). Why wouldn’t you consider incorporating personalisation into your advertising? If you’re eager to learn more about how programmatic can benefit your business, get in touch with one of our specialists. You’ll see what a difference an always-on programmatic approach can make.