Multi-Dimensional Audience Data Profiles Project Today’s Online Travel Consumer
Many businesses have changed their business models because of the Internet. Perhaps the most sweeping changes have been seen in the travel industry. The travel agent, who once reigned supreme, has been replaced by a focus on audience data profiles and segments. Empowered travelers do their own “deal shopping” and apply their own preferences to travel and vacation packages online.
There’s a reason why ETB Travel News has reported that 71% of travel research taking place on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices and that Internet travel booking revenue has grown more than 73% over the past 5 years.
The travel industry has learned that in order to secure business from informed consumers, they need to be actively anticipating the consumer’s preferences and delivering precise messaging that will meet their expectations. It’s no longer enough to post a flight schedule and wait for seats to fill up. Marketing and advertising needs to be exact to reach the right audience with the right message.
Big Data now allows for multiple dimensions of quantifiably better audience targeting criteria to be applied to any online campaign. A consumer casually researching a dream vacation who is then cookie’d and locked into a targeting pool for 90 to 180 days may not be a viable target tomorrow or next week. Data about Age, Lifestyle, household discretionary income, and net worth is a far better measurement of a prospect’s long term value as a potential customer.
Data, properly measured and applied, invariably leads to more accurate conclusions regarding travel package size and timing. Device and time of day preferences allow for further personalized ad experiences. Data allows you to reach a consumer when they want to be reached and, more importantly, when they are ready to engage. The right person in the right place at the right time on the right interface.
In today’s Big Data world, online targeting has moved far beyond the one-dimensional cookie.
For more information on how multi-dimensional targeting can cost-effectively be put into practice, read our Smart Zones Travel and Entertainment overview.
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