CRM in Travel SpecialAccess to data and profile of users is a huge asset in a networking site's arsenal. Because loads of data can be compiled, which can be converted into sales leads.

Published: 08 Aug 2008

CRM in Travel Special

Access to data and profile of users is a huge asset in a networking site's arsenal. Because loads of data can be compiled, which can be converted into sales leads.

A travel and lifestyle social networking community website like WAYN.com recognises the importance of data privacy and only utilises the data in an aggregated form, so that advertisers can target groups of users based on their interests, demographics, location, whereabouts and behaviour.

"We do not sell or rent our users' data to third parties. We clearly recognise the value of the data that we are collecting and with the introduction of new product offerings and the development of intelligent agents, we are better able to mine the data to provide content and advertising opportunities that are more relevant and valuable to the users and advertisers respectively. This in turn leads to increased monetisation opportunities as we are able to charge more for highly relevant channels and increase conversions," says WAYN.com's co-founder Jerome Touze.

In order to know more about CRM from a site like WAYN's perspective, EyeforTravel.com's Ritesh Gupta spoke to WAYN.com co-founders Peter Ward and Jerome Touze. Excerpts from a discussion with them:

Ritesh Gupta: Considering role of CRM in building trust with consumers, what is the focus of WAYN when it comes to being relevant, adding value and building loyalty?

Peter Ward: For WAYN, building loyalty comes from engaging with our users and encouraging users to engage with each other by interacting or sharing content, whilst respecting users' privacy.

When it comes to being relevant, we try to tap in to the users' needs wants and desires, which is invariably not how to make money from them but simply how best to provide them with a platform to express themselves. This in itself feeds their interest and engagement and allows advertisers to better target users based on their interests and behaviour also in a non-intrusive way. You have to get the balance right or you risk scaring off your users.

Trust can be built up over years and be lost in a second, so we pay particular attention to the issues that members raise so that we can avoid similar issues in future. Our focus right now still remains on how to deliver the best possible experience both to our users and our advertising and business partners, by actively engaging with them, learning from our mistakes and building on our successes.

Ritesh Gupta: OTAs and meta search engines admit that most valuable things that online travel companies can do is follow up on the experience that one of their consumers has had on a trip. What role do you think social networking sites can play when it comes to utilising customer data, intelligence to measure satisfaction of travelers?

Peter Ward: Social networking sites such as WAYN can play a central role when it comes to utilizing customer data and intelligence to measure the satisfaction of travelers. Every month, over half a million trips are added on WAYN, which means that for all those who have added a trip from the past, we are able to immediately find out what they liked the most about their trip and perhaps more importantly – what they liked the least! The same applies for those planning a trip in the future, except that not only are we able to contact them to share their experiences when they get back, but we can present these users with targeted and local benefits to take advantage of before they go or when they are there, such as cheap travel insurance and special offers in restaurants in their intended destination. We are also able to run customer surveys to find out what our users think about a particular subject. For example, we are currently running a survey with HotelClub, part of the Orbitz group, to find out what are our members' favourite hotels in certain destinations and why? The winner of the competition will win a trip around the world worth $40,000 in business class, so there are great incentives for the users also.

Online travel agencies are offering personalised experiences based on the customer's recent shopping activity. What are you doing to offer your customers with more relevant travel offers?

Jerome Touze: When users add a trip, we are able to present then with relevant travel offers for them to benefit from either before they go on their trip or when they get there. As a result, there are plenty of opportunities for companies to partner with us to target people based on where they have been, where they are now and where they are going.

We also promote relevant travel offers on the destination pages of our travel guide and search results so that users can take advantage of what is on offer. We've also partnered with Buy.at to allow users to create their own recommendation lists or wish lists to recommend both travel and other products to their friends which also allows them to make a cut of the revenues if the user makes a purchase via one of their lists. There is also a section of our site called the WAYN Club, which provides our users with a collection of benefits for them to take advantage of, among other things such as a VIP membership upgrade service, so that no matter where they are, there are travel tools and benefits for them to take advantage of. There is clearly a lot more that we can do however and we are keen to partner with those travel companies that are interested in providing our users with useful travel and lifestyle benefits.

Ritesh Gupta: How can customer and programme analytics help you better understand your customers and execute your marketing campaigns accordingly?

Peter Ward: Customer analytics is essential if you are to truly understand your users' behaviour on your site and on the site of your competitors. We do a combination of using external data analytics companies such as Nielsen Netratings, who offer a number of really insightful services, and internal stats which we have developed and automated in-house. We are constantly A&B testing the site looking for how we can improve the user experience and improve the performance of campaigns for advertisers and partners. It is also important to ask your users what they think when it comes to launching new products and services and / or making changes to existing offerings. We also use focus groups and believe usability studies to be of use also.

The better you can understand your customer, the better you can adapt your offering to meet their needs, and that, in the end of the day, is the most important thing of all when it comes to growing a successful business – putting your customers at the centre. Social networks take that to the next level in that they allow the wisdom of the crowds and the viral nature of sharing to make a positive impact on the user experience of others, whilst providing the users with full control of what information they wish to consume. It's an exciting place to be…