Key elements of successful TR customer journeys

So what can we learn from the wave of experimentation that over the past two years in Hainan? From pre-trip engagement to conversion and loyalty, there are a number of key elements that need to be carefully thought through to build integrated customer journeys and deliver those all-important deeper emotional connections between customers and brands. Touchpoint strategy The big, disruptive idea for your next campaign, often the only object of a brief, is only the start of the journey. Putting yourself in your customers’ shoes along the entire journey is equally important to deliver an engaging experience. All too frequently, brands include a multitude of touchpoints along the journey, all trying to engage customers in different ways without an overarching strategy. Like so much in life, less is more. What are you trying to achieve with your consumer journey? Is it awareness or conversion based? Good touchpoints should serve an aligned set of strategic objectives and be complementary to each other but be capable of completing their segment of the customer journey as independently as possible (see the above point about autonomy). Low friction Friction refers to anything that causes your customers to hesitate as they move through their journey. This is a well understood phenomenon in digital experiences (think registration forms that take too much time to complete) but it holds equally true for physical engagement. High friction customer journeys have high drop-off rates. That sounds obvious but is often not considered properly. If you want a consumer to spend more than a few minutes engaging with any step of their journey, they need to be rewarded accordingly – in terms of the richness and density of the experience and the short- and long-term benefits they have access to. In travel retail, in-store touchpoints need to be low-friction and easy to understand and complete – dwell-times are short. The digital extensions of the journey are where your customers can be engaged repeatedly and persistently, leveraging the ‘non location specific’ nature of the engagement to offer more time-consuming touchpoints. Visual consistency & balance The principles of consistent visual cues, design motifs and messaging are well understood by marketers: the whole journey, from pre-trip media, O+O, POS, packaging and loyalty, needs to be unified and integrated. However, an equal emphasis needs to be placed on the efficiency of customer journeys. How much time are we asking customers to play this game? What is the conversion rate for the game objective? Is it intuitive and easy to understand for an international audience? All of these and more are questions that should be considered from the perspective of the entire journey to ensure a seamless and effective customer experience.