IN-DEPTH: Today travel companies have to participate, listen and respond to all the conversations that are taking place about them. This becomes increasingly important as even loyal customers are taking part. EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta explores how airlines can reward their loyal customers and what it takes to be relevant on an ongoing basis.

Today loyalty programmes are no longer only about points, discounts, miles and rewards. It is also important to consider how interactions engage an individual with the brand. Unsurprisingly today travellers can earn points for ‘liking’ a brand’s Facebook page or be rewarded for watching a video on YouTube!  Two of the main reasons that have brought about this transformation are social networking and the rise of mobile technology.  

Social loyalty

Airlines are embracing social loyalty and in these programmes, one feature stands out - rewarding a customer for not only flying with the airline, but also for being strong advocates online.

In the case of Estonian Air, late last year it chose to consider advocacy actions, like sharing reviews about the airline on Facebook and tweeting a deal. Consumers are being rewarded for advocacy without even having to fly with the airline.

There are reasons for doing so. A few months ago SimpliFlying’s study on how frequent travellers (who travel at least five times a year) use social media found that

almost 90% of frequent flyers use Facebook regularly, and over 65% ’like’ at least one airline on Facebook. Also, for frequent flyers the cheapest fare is the least significant loyalty factor among customer service. The ability to earn loyalty points and onboard experience would have 72% of frequent fliers joining a social loyalty programme.

But it’s not only about Facebook. It’s about leveraging all the sites where consumers today express their views and collaborate. For instance, technology start-ups have developed platforms that help in leveraging a company’s existing loyalty programme and turns into a distribution platform via social media. Such platforms offer customers loyalty points for engaging in social media activity via Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and YouTube.

“Social loyalty will continue to increase as more airlines find creative methods of customer engagement and retention,” says Bangalore-based Meeta Budhrani, who is a senior consultant in the Travel, Hospitality and Leisure Industry Group at MindTree.

Old and new, a powerful combination

Budhrani says airlines are using a mix of conventional and unconventional methods to ensure relevancy of offerings to customers. Travel companies have to look beyond social loyalty to sustain the interests of loyal customers.  Aside from social loyalty firms are embracing new concepts such as:  

•   Gamification- Fun and entertaining, games allow players/customers to visualise progress, while satisfying fundamental needs and desires – for reward, status, achievement and perhaps self-expression. For a few airlines, social gaming is jut at the examination stage.

“This is still a space we are watching closely and have had limited exposure in the gaming arena.  However, it’s a growing opportunity for airlines, particularly with loyalty programmes,” says Dennis Owen, vice-president marketing Americas at Cathay Pacific Airways. 

•   Augmented Reality- Airlines are leveraging this to showcase their tour packages and destinations - an interesting medium that’s gaining momentum.

Five emerging trends

So going forward what are the key trends in the customer loyalty space. MindTree consultant Mariam Shireen identifies the following trends:  

1. Points alone will no longer create loyalty:Loyalty programmes need to be about more than earning points. They need to be a hub around which the customer can develop a real relationship with the brand and where marketers can manage and enhance loyalty. This is where social networking will come into play and where loyalty programmes have the opportunity to become part of more than just the shopping experience, but of the greater social experience as well.

2. Loyalty programmes will become more interactive:Loyalty programmes that encourage customers to interact with the brand have far greater 'stickiness' than those which don't. Downloads of recent ads, mobile apps, and interactive games may work well in the youth market, while more mature, discerning consumers might value the opportunity to post their opinions about products and services online.

3. Quality customer experience: Brands need to recognise customers at all touch points, especially the call centre, to deliver a quality customer experience. Creating a great customer experience involves delivering quality customer service across all touch points, and marketers are realising that this means integrating the call centre into the overall customer experience.

4. Targeted marketing/messaging:Brands will increasingly use the rich information about customer buying patterns generated via loyalty programmes to create more targeted marketing or messaging. Gathering and tracking data amassed in the loyalty programme will be used to help marketers with segmentation, messaging, for acquisition and retention.

5. Social personalisation will increase:Marketers will harness the power of recommendations and referrals to persuade customers and prospects to follow their friends' leads. They will become more proactive in encouraging reviews, implementing refer-a-friend programmes and so on.

Open your ears to stay relevant  

Be it for old or new methods of rewarding customers, the objective is to engage. And when they give their feedback, it has to be incorporated in the best possible way. Shireen says this is the case right now as far as the loyalty programmes are concerned.

“In order to keep customer loyalty the aviation industry is rethinking on traditional view of loyalty and rewards. Currently many of initiatives taken by the airlines are a direct result of customer feedback. Based on the issues consistently raised by the customers, airlines have started playing a role is solving customer issues,” she says.

For instance, in case of Air New Zealand, the airline chose to transform its loyalty card into a ‘travel companion’.

Air New Zealand asked customers about their considerations when travelling overseas and arranging travel funds was consistently raised as an issue. The team thought about convenience, security, usability, low fees and ease of access to cash overseas. At the same time, it also wanted to reward people in a similar way to direct earn credit cards.  So it came up with a prepaid debit card that rewards one with loyalty points.

So be it for general comments about your brand or feedback from loyal customers, airlines need to build on these conversations.

“Fully engaged customers are less likely to move away from a brand and more likely to turn to their existing provider for future products and services,” says Shireen.

There are a few ways one can ensure that offerings are relevant to the customer:

•        Maintaining a CRM solution which keeps customer information in a central database (as opposed to disparate systems), reducing the possibility of inconsistencies and errors. Shared information helps companies provide better service.

•        Earn loyalty through deeper customer engagement and data gathered from loyalty programmes .This can be used effectively to drive a quality experience across all touch points and at all stages of the customer lifecycle.

•        Capitalising on social media customer feedback.

Budhrani concludes by saying it’s the renaissance of the airline loyalty programme, which means there is more customer engagement - from the choice of products or services to the many different touch points.

Incorporating customer feedback at every stage should be a checkpoint in the process of determining relevancy.