Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow: Why Now is the Time for Travel Companies to Invest in CX
Understanding the ROI of a great customer experience in the travel industry
While travel companies may not always prioritise resources to improve the customer experience, the reality is that these investments lay the groundwork for long-term success by capitalising on three key factors:
- Word-of-mouth recommendations have enormous sway in travel.
According to McKinsey, 49% of travellers get inspired to plan their trips based on suggestions from family and friends, and 92% of younger travellers say their most recent trip was influenced in some way by social media. These figures highlight the impact of memorable customer experiences. Travellers get inspired to share their stories—inspiring others, which drives organic growth and brand visibility. - Meaningful customer journeys create valuable upsell opportunities.
Engaging customers throughout their journey—from the moment of booking to the time of departure—creates opportunities to upsell and cross-sell that are relevant and well-received. A shift away from “one-size-fits-all” recommendations, which often fail, to personalised content offers maximised customer satisfaction, and, most importantly, a revenue boost. - Greater focus on customer experience drives continual innovation.
Companies that prioritise customer experience foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. They can gain deeper insights into customer expectations, needs, and pain points by leveraging data analytics and customer feedback. This ongoing dialogue enables them to refine their offerings and ultimately align more closely with their customers.
Why companies fail when calculating the ROI of customer experience
In today’s travel industry, the focus often leans towards short-term gains, but long-term success means fostering customer loyalty and maximising lifetime value are crucial for long-term success. However, achieving this depends on a data-driven approach that captures and analyses the right metrics—not just the immediate ones.
They put too much emphasis on short-term metrics.
Many travel companies are drawn to short-term metrics, overlooking the fact that travellers typically book holidays only once or twice a year. The real value lies in measuring metrics that reflect long-term success: such as customer retention, lifetime value, reduced churn, loyalty, word-of-mouth referrals, and cost savings from operational efficiencies. Balancing short-term gains with a long-term perspective provides a more comprehensive understanding of how customer experience drives business outcomes.
They overlook and undervalue customer feedback.
Ignoring or failing to actively solicit customer feedback is a missed opportunity for travel companies. Feedback collected throughout the customer journey—from pre-booking inquiries, and pre-departure sentiment tracking to post-trip surveys—offers critical insights that can help refine the customer experience. Using this data to address pain points and enhance services not only reduces churn but also promotes customer loyalty, creating repeat bookings and referrals that drive growth in a competitive market.
They focus too much on vanity engagement metrics.
While engagement metrics like social media likes and website traffic can indicate brand visibility, they don’t necessarily translate to bookings. Focusing too much on these “vanity metrics” can create a false sense of success and obscure meaningful insights needed for strategic decisions. Instead, travel companies should prioritise metrics that directly reflect customer value, such as booking completion rates, repeat booking rates, and conversion rates, which are more reliable indicators of revenue growth.
They don’t own the end-to-end customer experience.
Often travel companies miss out on easy opportunities to drive value between the booking and the start of a trip. By owning the entire customer journey—from initial interest through post-trip follow-up—companies can enhance communication and deliver personalised experiences that engage, strategically upsell and set them apart from competitors. The customer experience should be a continuous journey, maintaining engagement throughout the entire lifecycle, not just at booking or trip commencement.
Conclusion
By focusing on these strategic areas, travel companies can better leverage both short-term and long-term data, foster customer loyalty, and ultimately maximise the return on investment from customer experience initiatives.
In the fiercely competitive travel industry, delivering an exceptional customer experience is no longer optional; it’s a necessity.
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