WINNING PERSONALIZATION
IDEAS FOR
THE AIRLINE
INDUSTRY
The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 opened
up the transportation system to become a
highly competitive market. It served as a
baseline to measure the quality, variety and
price of airline services. For decades to come,
the act left all airlines in a state of crisis, as the
exposure to competition led to heavy losses
and conflicts with labor unions for a number
of carriers. Between 1978 and the mid-2000s,
nine major carriers,including Eastern, Midway,
Braniff, Pan Am,Continental, America West
Airlines,Northwest Airlines, Varig, and TWA
along with a hundred other smaller airlines
went bankrupt or ended up liquidated. Dozens
of new airlines, founded in the aftermath of
the deregulation period, were also affected.
In an attempt to avoid the worst, most
companies begun to focus on examining the
behaviour of their present customers and set
a minimum ticket price that was applied to all
their customers.
The only airline to survive the crisis was
American Airlines, and how they managed
to do so was quite straight-forward yet
innovative: they examined the past behaviour
of their customers to predict their income
levels, creating relevant targeting strategies.
According to each customer’s income,
American Airlines applied a predicted price
for each and every individual. This led to a
conversion boost, which, in turn, helped the
company survive the crisis.
What we learn from this little history
anecdote is that the airline industry is
the vertical that adopted personalization
strategies quite early compared to other
verticals. Airlines Reporting Corporation data
shows that, as of March 2015, the e-ticket
percentage of overall purchases was 99.98%.
Despite the offline presence of agencies
and airline offices in many airports, where
customers can often upgrade their tickets,
for example, the travel industry is a heavily
digital one. Websites, apps and other digital
media have proved to be vital for airline
companies to(heavily) invest in. Moreover,
today’s multichannel browsing culture adds
more flavour to this challenging yet exciting
scenario. That’s because customers
have become more fluent in different
online touch points,and can now
purchase tickets from a number
of devices. This demands further
strategies for airline companies
worldwide. The 21st century traveller
doesn’t simply crave for unique travel
experiences, s/he also wants those
experiences to be delivered in a
personalized way,seamlessly blending
into her/his daily life. With that in
mind, we’ve gathered the top 5 best
practices that have proven to increase
customer loyalty and conversion rates
for airline companies flying travel bugs
around the globe.
USEINSIDER E-BOOK SERIES 2
1 LEVERAGE
GEOFENCE How we do it

TECHNOLOGY A great way to leverage the geofence technology is by targeting travellers on their
way to the airport, reminding them to purchase travel insurance before it’s too late,

TO IMPROVE
for example. Setting up a geofence area close to major airports can change the
game for your add-on services.

ANCILLARY
REVENUE

Engaging users with messages personalized to their current location

when they are on-the-go is a great way to connect online and offline
spaces. With geofence, airlines can target core areas for the industry,
such as touristic districts,airports and train and bus stations, to deliver
relevant add-on purchases such as insurance, additional baggage and
extra leg room.

USEINSIDER E-BOOK SERIES 4

2 USE
SOCIAL How we do it

PROOF TO Insider’s account managers noticed that social proof yields the most prolific results
in the travel industry. Revealing the number of people who are checking out the

SPEED UP
same flight, creates a sense of urgency and a FOMO (“fear of missing out”) that are
hard to miss. This encourages customers to complete their bookings at a faster pace.

BOOKINGS

Despite craving for unique experiences, travellers of all sorts, from

backpackers to family groups, never miss out on having some quality
feedback before making their final decisions. With social proof, you can
show visitors how many people are checking out the same hotel or
flight deal. This energizes customers to make faster decisions, while
also boosting credibility.

USEINSIDER E-BOOK SERIES 6

3 BOOST MOBILE
CONVERSIONS How we do it

WITH AI-BACKED Carousel Push Notifications is an AI-backed,visually appealing and highly interactive
push alternative that helps you leverage new ways of delivering meaningful customer

CAROUSEL PUSH
experiences. By targeting the right segments,you can get 2x to 4x higher open rates
compared to other push alternatives. You can also track the TTR of each product

NOTIFICATIONS
and offer delivered in your push notification, while sharing multiple products or
recommendations in the same message.

Insider’s AI-backed algorithms help you segment your visitors and

predict where they will travel next. With that valuable information
in hands, you can now schedule a mobile carousel push notification
with personalized updates,deals and discounts to encourage repeat
purchases. This way, you can always reach out to travel bugs on the go.

USEINSIDER E-BOOK SERIES 8

 +91 99019 12600

www.useinsider.com

London • Barcelona • Helsinki • Singapore • Tokyo • Hong Kong • Seoul • Sydney

Dubai • Moscow • Warsaw • Kuala Lumpur • Jakarta • Istanbul • Kiev • Ho Chi Minh City • Bangkok • Taipei