Pamela Whitby hears that new customer enhancing technologies, which also deliver business benefits, are a priority for the world’s third biggest airport but not at the expense of the human touch

It may be tough for airports to compete with destination desert island, chic city break or mountain retreat, but they can compete with each other. And with the rise of the concept of the airport as a destination they are. As the world’s third busiest airport, according to the Airports Council International, Heathrow has invested significantly to improve the experience of customers and mobile has played an important role. In 2015 that looks set to continue and here are five

1.   Lighting the way

Heathrow’s primary objective is getting passengers through the terminal building and on their way to their final destination safely and securely. Perhaps one of the best ways that mobile technology can assist is in the area of passenger way-finding.

“Having digitally mastered our estate to create an interactive map service we have begun to develop capability to allow indoor navigation by mobile device,” says Chris Annetts, Commercial Passenger Services Director, Heathrow Airport.

That said, the architecture of modern airport terminals, with their vast expanses of thick glass and multilevel design, present some difficulty in achieving an accurate user location. To overcome this Heathrow has been working closely with a major consumer electronics company to trial their emerging functionality and will shortly be in position to rollout its new way-finding tools.

2.   Right place, right time

Unsurprisingly, iBeacons feature significantly in Heathrow’s 2015 plans. 

“In conjunction with our airline partners we will enable capability from the simple surfacing of a mobile boarding pass ahead of ticket presentation to more complex tracking of passenger flows,” explains Annetts.

As a major retail destination, Heathrow is looking into and is excited by the proximity marketing potential afforded by iBeacons. By delivering micro-location based notifications the aim will be to engage customers at the right place and time. 

Wearables are another opportunity and early investigations suggest potential in areas such as bespoke flight notifications for passengers and security queue monitoring for staff.

However, Annetts is not convinced that 2015 will be year that wearables take off. “Many predicted 2014 would be the ‘year of the wearable’ but I don’t think we’ll see mass adoption this year either as businesses concentrate on developing more robust use-cases for this channel,” he says.

Many predicted 2014 would be the ‘year of the wearable’ but I don’t think we’ll see mass adoption this year either as businesses concentrate on developing more robust use-cases for this channel

Chris Annetts, Commercial Passenger Services Director, Heathrow Airport

3.   Retail heaven and impressive results

Heathrow is already utilising a mobile wallet solution provided by Passkit to distribute vouchers and promotions via CRM channels. In 2015, the airport will see e-vouchering integrated within its new fully responsive heathrow.com website.

Personalisation, another push, will be improved through the implementation of a cross-channel campaign management tool by making sense of the ‘big data’ amassed from sources including Heathrow’s retail loyalty scheme and the browsing habits of users across all websites.

According to Annetts, a recent integration of retail promotions into Heathrow’s digital map service has delivered results worth highlighting: twice the number of click-throughs to outlets when featured with a promotion than when not.

With the vast majority of users accessing via a mobile device this is set to become a key mechanic to help passengers ‘discover’ the wealth of shopping opportunities available while at Heathrow.

4.   A steer with self-service and the human touch

There is no doubt self-service allows us to deliver an improved customer experience, and many airports have acted on this. Implemented correctly it allows greater choice – a contactless path through the airport for those in the know and a virtual hand-holding for those that require a little more assistance.

“Our challenge lies in getting the technology in the hands of the customer at the right time and ensuring either total simplicity of use or commonality across other airports around the world,” stresses Annetts.

But while technology is very helpful, it’s important to remember the benefit of human interaction though. “As an example, our team of multi-lingual passenger ambassadors remains a key strand of our commitment to making every journey better,” he concludes.

Why not join EyeforTravel @ Mobile World Congress 2015 on March 2 where Chris Annetts will be sharing views along with 17 other board level execs