14 Best Practices for Airlines to maximize

their Digital Dollars in 2014

Digital Dollars=

Digital Delight + Digital Differentiation

Key Principle:How can airlines add value to its

customers before, during & after

the flight, through digital?

1.Be Accessible,

Visible & Searchable

Travel sites are expectedto receive 50% traffic from

mobile devices by 2014 & theindustry has one of the highestsmartphone conversion rate.

Is RBA accessible via mobile & mobile

ready?

Its criminal not to be present when someone is searching for you. Ensure that your airline’s web

properties are optimized for natural search!

Leverage on Google’s Rich Snippets. They deliver convenience to customers & great value to travel

brands!

Optimize your website for Google Flights!

On average, travel purchases see 5-6 media exposures before converting, hence reach & frequency matter in digital

Research indicates that while paid search alone drives 71% higher AOV, integrating it with natural search has higher ROI potential

Complement your search ads with Google Display Banner Ads – they drive higher conversion for the travel sector!

In 2014, get ready to roll out interactive video ads through YouTube & Facebook!

Manual media buying will give way to Programmatic buying for higher efficiencies SouthWest Airlines &

Airtram Airways are amongst the global Top

10 spenders on programmatic media

buys!

Be accessible via social channels & allow customers to buy through Facebook & Twitter

2.Reach out to your

customers often & with a purpose

Make the most of Google & Facebook Re-marketing ads to reinforce your brand & drive conversions

3. Get real ‘Likes’ –

convert your customers into fans

Can we have an initiative to convert at least 20% of our regular flyers into fans?

• Through in-flight Wi-Fi

• At your lounges

• While waiting for delayed flights

• Offering exclusive promos to Fb fans

4. Trigger emotions by

narrating you airline’s brand story through

real, transparent, humorous anecdotes

Create content that is real & shareworthy for it to potentially go viral – Your own Reality TV Show!

5.Capitalize on real-

time, contemporary events.

Create real-time content by associating your marketing plans with contemporary issues, events & memes

6.Create social

currency through exclusive,

personalized offers

Create offers that can only be availed via Facebook check-ins, tweets or #tags!

7. Provide social status through

social CRM based loyalty programs

Use social media gamification techniques to create a social CRM based loyalty programme.

8. Social Customer Service & Care

Build a social media command centre to listen, analyze & respond to customers real time

9.Collect, analyse,

optimize & monetize digital

data

Embrace yourself for Big Data Analytics tools like GA Premium & Hadoop to understand & monetize demand and purchase preferences• Optimize air ticket

prices

• Optimize online sales

• Cross & up-sellingopportunities

• Weather forecastingto optimize fuel loads

10.Innovate by

integrating digital into current

products & services

Can we save costs & generate awesome PR through digital boarding passes?

Can we engage our customers through a interactive, digital copy of our inflight magazine?

11.Encourage direct online bookings through new age digital payment

Can we pioneer a path to allow for direct online or mobile bookings through bitcoins or digital wallets?

12.Involve your customers by crowdsourcing

ideas & feedback

Utilize the “wisdom of the crowds” to gather & implement inspiring ideas and involve them in the process!

13.Do good through

participative digital CSR initiatives

Provide a digital platform that allows your fans to participate & contribute to a meaningful cause as part of your CSR

14. Digitally delight &

surprise your customers

Plan out integrated offline-online campaigns to surprise your customers in real time & create goodwill

Have a safe, fun, exciting & purposeful

digital journey:)