Product
Are You “All In”?
Travel distribution is a complex business, and one that increases in complexity each year as suppliers refine their strategies to address an increasingly sophisticated customer base. Suppliers and service providers are leveraging new web tools and simple connections to new channels that broaden their distribution. But it takes more than a travel 1.0 web site to attract customers and build loyalty. Are you ready to compete with the heavyweights in your category?
According to PhoCusWright, 34% of travel bookings were made online in 2007, with the figure exceeding 40% by the end of 2008. Customers will be researching their travel online, but in very different ways from the way they did it just a few years ago. The impact of social media on the travel selection and booking process over the next few years will be profound.
Having a product or service that delights a customer when they use it is not a guarantee of future business; it is just one of several requirements for success. The customer experience begins long before that, and the research phase is as much a part of the experience as the execution of the service itself. Savvy suppliers understand that how customers experience the process of finding and booking your hotel or flight or tour is an essential part of the overall travel experience.
Source: PhoCusWright
Consumers, also increasing in sophistication, respond with higher expectations for their favorite brands and a willingness to try other options when their favorites disappoint. Fierce online competition for customers should be keeping you up at night if you’re not already in the game.
Restoring Customer Intimacy
Building a superior portfolio of travel distribution products requires that firms become intimately familiar with their customers… not in the “annual survey” way, but rather in a “spent many hours face to face with hundreds of customers” sort of way.
Frankly, even the largest and most sophisticated suppliers rely on mass data gathering techniques like surveys and focus groups that often fail to uncover true customer needs. Even those who do use more capable direct methods may be uncertain how to structure the interviews or compile the results into meaningful product plans.
How do we know this?
We’ve seen it happen in companies large and small, online and offline, and we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. We’ve successfully operated global travel enterprises.
We have extensive experience in gathering customer needs through methods that have proven themselves in the field over decades of practical application. We know how to talk to customers and identify what they want and what they will pay for, and inject those results into product plans that are practical to execute. The results of that knowledge must be fed into a simple product development process that prioritizes based on customer need and company ROI.
Executing the Plan
Once the revised (or new) product has been defined we can provide hands-on program management services during the execution phase that will breathe life into your product and ensure a positive outcome.
The result of a sound product planning process results in:
- New products to create markets and refinements to stimulate existing lines
- Streamlined development processes to shorten cycle time and produce winning products
- Product plans that optimize growing products while quickly culling underperformers
Contact Us
To learn how our product services can help you develop and sell winning products, please contact us.