Travel pioneer taking off with personalization - Thomas Cook Airlines making customer centricity a top priority - cloudfront.net

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Travel pioneer
taking off with
personalization
Thomas Cook Airlines making
customer centricity a top priority

The digital world has given consumers
much greater transparency and choice.
Too many offers and options can
become overwhelming for our web
visitors. Therefore, we need to create
online experiences that surprise and
delight, as well as being as relevant as
possible. We’re grounded in validation
through a testing approach that Qubit
has delivered in the last number of
years, now is the time to build on that
and take our personalization strategies
to the next level.
Darran Brindley
Head of Digital Product

Introduction

Customer expectations in the digital world have disrupted
every industry. For Thomas Cook Airlines this is no different.
With 93% of their travellers either searching for content online,
or expressing a preference for booking online, the digital
transformation the business has undergone over the past
10 years has been dramatic.

A Qubit customer since 2014, the company is now making
persuasive personalization a key strategy for creating
compelling online customer experiences, and ensuring
visitors keep returning to their site to book flights.

As is the case for most airlines, ancillaries are a core focus
for Thomas Cook Airlines. Placing this objective at the heart
of their digital strategy has enabled Thomas Cook Airlines to
lead the charge in developing a personalized and relevant
approach to ancillary sales.

The low-down

          6.7m passengers per year                       60 destinations

                                                         Top airline - Customer Service
          Approx. 2,500 employees
                                                         of the Year Awards 2016

+1.6% in
 purchases

Ancillary Social
Proof by route

Undirected, blanket experiences aimed     An example of this is social proof
at boosting ancillary sales of products   messaging based on route a particular
like insurance, extra baggage, and        customer was taking. For example, it
on-board meals, were elements of the      could be that customers booking flights
booking journey Thomas Cook Airlines      for ski destinations are buying insurance,
wanted to make more intelligent. Using    whereas customers on longer-haul flights
Qubit’s social proof enabled Thomas       buy meals for the plane. Using social
Cook Airlines to increase urgency,        proof, and the automation provided by
and as a result conversions, throughout   Qubit’s machine learning capabilities,
the booking process by surfacing          Thomas Cook Airlines are able to be
experiences showcasing either             more persuasive and display what other
popularity and/or scarcity.               customers on that route are purchasing.

Targeted seat inventory
based on geography

Thomas Cook Airlines’ trading teams            as means to increase conversion rate.
wanted to increase the scope of the            Hooking up to their API meant Qubit was
routes they could promote by moving            able to identify flights departing soon,
away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to    that still had seat availability, and that were
merchandising. Leveraging Thomas Cook          close to the visitors geographical location.
Airlines live pricing API, Qubit enabled       A deal experience was then targeted to
the trading teams to promote at-risk           visitors from that location giving them the
inventory from specific airports tailored to   option to purchase flights on that route.
the visitor’s closest airport. Without this
geo-targeting, the company had to surface      This targeted route promotion has
generic offers to all website visitors.        given the trading team more flexibility,
                                               automated a manual task, and
For this experience, Thomas Cook Airlines      consequently driven an uplift of 1.8%
wanted to surface persuasive messaging         in Revenue Per Converter (RPC).

                                                                             +1.8%
                                                                            Uplift in
                                                                             RPC

Functional vs. visual extras page

Using the Qubit Platform combined with          image-focussed and therefore could
the strategic expertise of the Qubit team,      be mistaken for advertisements. Using
Thomas Cook Airlines identified that            collected data and observed trends, the
focusing ancillary pages on function, rather    team could strike the balance between
than imagery, would have a positive impact      design and function, ultimately boosting
on sales. Meanwhile, their existing ancillary   ancillary sales - producing a 2.0% uplift in
promotions used banners that were               revenue per converter.

    +2%
   Uplift in
    RPC

Leading the way with Live Tap

Unlocking customer and visitor data             breaking down the results by destination,
with Qubit Live Tap has enabled the             ancillary and haul-type purchased. Being
Thomas Cook Airlines analytics team to          able to make data-driven business
become more effective than ever thanks          decisions has led to changes in strategy
to improved access to information. Live         and experience creation. The company
Tap enables Thomas Cook Airlines                can access data on-demand, and move
to understand the profitability of              quickly when it comes to iterating existing
personalizations they run in granular detail,   personalizations or building new ones.

Looking ahead

The partnership with Qubit is always         between booking and flying by taking
aligned around Thomas Cook Airlines          ancillaries out of the original booking
objectives, combining industry best-         process and transforming them into small
practice and the latest personalizations     added extras.
that are going to have the biggest impact.
                                             These, and other new experiences are
Planned future experiences include           grounded in a deep understanding of
highlighting a cut-off time to add           the customer thanks to Live Tap. This
further ancillaries to your booking after    enables Thomas Cook Airlines to identify
purchasing a flight. Urgency messaging,      opportunities, influence customer
targeted at specific customer segments       journeys, and ultimately increase loyalty
will have an impact throughout the time      and bottom line.

About Qubit

Qubit is the leader in delivering highly     revenue, build loyalty and significantly
persuasive personalization at scale.         improve their marketing efficiency.
                                             Every week Qubit is used to personalize
Award-winning brands in ecommerce,
                                             approximately $600 million in online sales.
travel and gaming work with Qubit to
transform the way they understand and        Headquartered in London, the company
influence their customers. Companies like    has offices across Europe and the US.
Ubisoft, CafePress, Topshop, Shiseido,
                                             For more information, visit: qubit.com
Ladbrokes and Emirates are using the
Qubit personalization platform to increase

info@qubit.com                                                                  qubit.com