It seems there may be some gaps in what travel consumers want from digital channels and the perception from marketers of what they want.
Or so Mind the Digital Gap research from the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by Lyris, would have us believe.
Starting with personalisation, just because you can use someone's name doesn't mean you should.
As per the chart below, it seems consumers are suffering from name overuse and only 23% agree personalisation benefits them while 69% view many personalised message as annoying because they're superficial.
In addition, 57% say they receive so many personalised messages that it makes no difference to them.
This segues nicely into privacy concerns and almost a third are 'very concerned' with the preferences shared on websites (43%), data collected from mobile phone use (42%), purchase decisions (39%) and social media activity (39%).
When it came to questioning the marketing execs however, responses were somewhat different with only 26% saying consumers are 'very concerned', 55% say consumers expect them to gather personal information only through 'opt-in' means and 32% say consumers expect them to share their personal information with third party sites.
Questioned on the pros and cons of digital marketing channels, the privacy and personalisation issues come up again with 60% of consumers saying they receive too many unwanted emails and 26% saying email messages don't reflect their personal needs.
Among the pros are that 66% believe the channels help find them the best deal and 48% say they help them differentiate between competing products.
The channels that most influence consumers in the travel purchase cycle are, suprisingly, still traditional communication modes with email listed as preferred for both pre and post-purchase (35%) and printed material (15%). When it comes to the final decision, personal referrals are the preferred channel.
The influence of brochures is also interesting because marketers continue to invest a significant amount of their budget in print - 22% say they invest 51% or more in printed catalogs.
The study also reveals figures on the preferred digital marketing channels for consumers looking to engage with travel brands and what they're looking for.
- company websites are sought out by 55% of consumers while email is the preferred channel for 19% and third party websites come in at 12%
- 3% say social media is their preferred channel, 9% say they do not engage with brands via social media and only 17% say they always or often share information about a company with others
- pricing and promotions is what they're seeking from branded sites and other company-generated media while independent channels are the preferred source for reviews, supplier reliability and reputation
To conclude, a few facts and figures on who participated in the study:
- 63% of consumers made two to five travel purchases in the past 12 months and 17% made six or more purchases
- 22% of consumers describe themselves as power users of social media, consumer websites and online search
- 25% of marketers involved are senior executives and 28% are management level
- 55% of companies have annual revenues of up to $500m and 15% have annual revenues of $10bn or more
The surveys were conducted in the spring of this year in the UK and US and involved 409 consumers and 257 marketing professionals.