CRM Special: By EFT Correspondent in San FranciscoOnline group travel agency Groople is planning to expand its social networking/collaboration capability...

Published: 24 Jan 2007

CRM Special: By EFT Correspondent in San Francisco

Online group travel agency Groople is planning to expand its social networking/collaboration capability...

Online group travel agency Groople is planning to expand its social networking/collaboration capability, adding additional destination and hotelier content and providing add-on content that is relevant to that customer’s transaction.

Sharing information specifically about CRM initiatives, Groople’s vice-president operations and product management Theresa Fox says the company has been able to provide customers with relevant search results that differ for each of its key customer segments.

“All customer information is available to any agent at every touchpoint. This has resulted in a far superior customer experience. Additionally, by using social networking, we are able to market to potential customers in a non-invasive way that utilises targeted information about their specific needs,” says Theresa, one of the speakers during the CRM in Travel USA 2007 conference held in San Francisco.

In an interview with EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta, Theresa spoke about CRM initiatives, personalisation as conversion and retention tool and much more. Excerpts:

What major have you taken in the recent past as far as CRM is concerned? How did they help you in understanding your customers in a better manner?

We use transactional/shopping data, research (surveys) and feedback from agents to understand customer motivation and choices. As an example, these gave us insight into the amenities that our customers are looking for and the prioritization of price vs location and amenities by event type.

What major trends have you seen as far as CRM in this industry is concerned?

One to many as opposed to one to one. Moving away from lengthy profiles. Focus on customer experience. Integration of customer data across all touchpoints. Delivering content to multiple devices.

What’s your viewpoint on personalisation and customisation? How can they be used optimally especially in online travel business?

Our viewpoint is that the purpose of personalisation and customisation is all about delivering relevance in offers, functionality and customer experience. The degree to which you customise should be directly determined by the level at which relevance is attained. Going beyond this point is often seen as invasive.

How effective is personalisation as a conversion and retention tool? How can you measure it?

We benchmark conversion through the product and then measure pre/post implementation of the initiative. We also compare year over year to account for seasonal impact. We track not only customer repeat behavior but also customer referrals. We use the Net referral Metric from customer satisfaction surveys.

The principal benefit of a loyalty program to the company offering it is the customer data generated. How do you ensure this? How can you obtain the greatest amount of CRM data from your online customers?

Because we have individual transactions as high as $400 thousand, we provide one on one customer service and a highly personalised/high touch experience. This leads to our agents gathering extensive information about our customers needs. The relationships they build with our agents bring them back for future business. We also offer an affiliate programme for travel agents, sports or religious association leaders, wedding planners and others who book on behalf of the end customers.

What are the practical challenges in designing and implementing a more personalised approach?

Having enough information regarding a customer’s needs/wants and matching content to build a truly relevant experience without making the customer feel like big-brother is watching them. Also, to gain the trust of customers to allow them to share their personal needs.