Understanding Customer Behavior Through Demand-Based Analytics — Photo by EyeforTravel

Virtually every consumer-facing travel brand is capturing critical data constantly from their site visitors but many are struggling to maximise its value says EyeforTravel and Datumize's new Understanding Customer Behaviour Through Demand-Based Analytics white paper. This is because of the reams of information that are being constantly created across multiple channels and the need to be always on and live. These factors often prevent travel companies from getting down to the key metrics that matter and being able to fully extract and study them.

"Travel companies normally only have access to converted sales and aren't able to track all the requests that customers are making though channels," explains Datumize's head of marketing Carlota Feliu.

"Some of them they can do tracking , for example, through their own website. But the vast majority they are not capable of tracking this data with the technologies they are using. Everything that you want to do in demand forecasting starts with good data and good knowledge of your customers - without this, you won't be able to understand demand, predict it, or increase it," says Feliu.

She points to several key areas where brands can start to interrogate their data:

Inventory: Do you have the right offer at the right price in each area?

Availability: Do you have the stock available to action all requests, and in the right price range?

Experience: Are all software links in the chain performing as they should for a quick, smooth booking?

Vueling Airlines, a Spanish, low-cost provider, has around five million search queries a day, 50% of which come directly from customers and 50% from online travel agencies and other tour operators. But since its business goal is to answer all enquiries for a flight in a second or less, it was struggling to store and make use of all this demand data.

Jonathan Guerrero Corcho, innovation manager, explains that a Datumize solution - which monitors everything without adding any code to the main process or slowing anything down - means that the business can now understand more which kinds of routes and dates are most in-demand, with negligible noticeable effects to end users.

"We can see if a route is being asked for more times than we are operating on for those days and we can not only adjust the current schedule but we can adjust the next schedule," he says. "We can say 'this route is better to operate on Tuesday than Monday, as the numbers are saying that this route is more requested on Tuesday.'"

This kind of learning is particularly important for a business that does not operate the same flights each day, but a limited number of times a week.

For more case studies of brands that have driven performance gains from better utilisation of data, download the free white paper now.

Demand-based analytics promise a step-change in travel brands' capabilities, unlocking huge insights that will allow brands to better target consumers, build superior products and adjust faster to changing patterns. To understand how to unlock the value contained in demand-based data, download the Understanding Customer Behavior Through Demand-Based Analytics white paper now! It includes:

  • Real-world examples and case studies
  • Industry survey data
  • Data-based techniques and areas of focus that can improve business performance immediately
  • Expert insight.

This white paper features insights from:

  • Europcar
  • IHG
  • The Travel Corporation
  • Thomas Cook Hotels & Resorts
  • Vueling

Click here to download your copy of the white paper for free!

About Reuters Events

Reuters Events is a community where the world’s top online travel brands – from hotels to airlines, online travel agents, cruise, car hire firms and more – come to meet to drive forward growth and innovation in the industry.

We know that working in the turbulent online travel industry is as exciting as it is challenging. In this constantly evolving market place, we appreciate that keeping up with the pace of change can be tough, not to mention time consuming. You need the right information, contacts and strategic insight to succeed.

Established in 1997, by Tim Gunstone, we offer a diverse product portfolio including industry analysis, insights, research, webinars, reports and conferences to suit the needs of our clients.

Our clients read as a who’s who of online travel. From major hotel brands to new startups, we help our 80,000 strong customer base make better decisions, build better brands, close the most lucrative deals and ultimately sell more of their product. After all, increasing travel brand profit margins in the cutthroat travel industry is the name of the game!

No other online travel intelligence provider has been charting the growth of online travel as long as we have. We were here at the inception of online travel and we know the industry inside out. What’s more, we’re a small, friendly team. Forget impersonal hierarchies, we like to get to know our customers and work towards their exact needs.

Alex Hadwick
Head of Research

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