Ai Editorial: Embracing “Judo Strategy” in today’s information age
First Published, 14th April 2016
Ai Editorial: In an era where CX, data privacy and personalisation are vital to any organisation’s success, airlines need to capitalize on the strength of the likes of Facebook, Google, PayPal etc. Ai's Ritesh Gupta assesses how
Programmatic buying, deep linking, new payments options, progressive web apps, robots, mobile wallets…airlines need to make judicious use of all of this and lot more to attain the nirvana of a superlative customer experience.
Think of what’s all happening today in the world of ad tech, analytics, e-commerce, mobile technology, IoT etc. Organizations have to learn about new technology, test it and optimize the expenditure.
Of course, airlines have to rely on 3rd party sites and platforms in such quest. Here we explore the significance of the likes of Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, Amazon, Twitter and others that have bigger grasp over the traffic and transactions (be it for facilitating them or letting users transact on their platforms).
One example
We all dread the idea of creating a new username and passwords, filling registration forms etc. to access a site or an app. I find it laborious, boring at least when I am eager to test out something new or trying to avail a deal or offer. From user experience perspective, travel companies, too, are wary of the “password fatigue”.
So, even for a seemingly simple functionality like accessing a site or an app, travel brands can’t afford to slip up.
Now here social login can step up the CX, be it for a site/ app entry or completing a transaction. So it all boils down to completing something in one-click. Such integration also helps travel e-commerce brands to acquire more data points.
“Google, Facebook etc. are going to continue to provide more information to their users. They’re the backbone of the information age. Also, we’re seeing more and more airlines delivering information to their travellers through these channels (for instance, the recent initiative featuring KLM and Facebook Messenger),” says Michael Roche, VP - Consumer Authentication, CardinalCommerce. “Go with the flow. It’s the Judo strategy (implies that airlines use 3rd party sites strength to its own advantage rather than opposing them) of the information age. Use their momentum to carry your business.”
Plenty to gain
So talking of the Judo strategy and continuing with the example of social log-in, airlines need to evaluate and seek enterprise as well as customer-oriented benefits:
· Improving CX: With social log-in, one can offer an alternative to email registration. In Q4, 2015, Facebook’s market share of social authentications was 62% of the overall social login market, shared Gigya. For its part, Google’s share was 24% in Q4. Google’s major progress has been the unification of its services (Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, Google+, etc.) under one unique ID per user.
So rather than losing out owing to a cumbersome registration process, companies can come across as a user-friendly platform. “It all comes down to delivering something convenient, familiar and secure to a consumer. The reason you would offer this is because you don’t have that 1-to-1 relationship with that shopper that the social networks have and by providing this option you’re delivering them something beyond transactional data,” said Roche.
KLM’s Meet & Seat app chose social login to offer a new functionality to its travellers around social profile information and seating arrangement.
Referring to outsourcing of the inbound account authentication of a shopper, Roche mentioned the chosen network responds back with all the relevant data needed to create the account and maintain a 1-to-1 relationship. “The benefit you get is that you’re now leveraging billion dollar infrastructure that has a deep connection with that person’s behavior. Airline’s move people across the world, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and PayPal specialize in maintaining that type of relationship they always have had with them,” he said.
· Revenue generation: The same case can be made for the platform payment networks like PayPal and Amazon. It delivers the same convenience, familiarity, and security that the social networks do, but it's combined with a payment option. We’re also seeing the social networks delivering payment options as well.
· Optimisation of spend: Benefits are there from both marketing and IT perspective, too. Travel companies are using unified social API to cut down on integrated related-costs. This means one can avail automatic API updates for social network privacy and policy changes as well. Also, with better profiling and authentic data, message targeting is sharper, too.
· Strengthening data strategy: Another major benefit is related to centralization of profile data. There is a provision to gain access to social profile data from the user’s social account after authentication. So by using permission-based identity data, one lays a foundation for personalized experiences. This is complemented by initiatives related to blending behavioral data — structured and unstructured – to consolidate unified user view.
· Gearing up for the future: User identity has a big role to play in the time to come. According to Gartner, managing identities and access is critical to the success of the IoT. In a release in February this year, it stated: the Identity of Things (IDoT) is a new extension to identity management that “encompasses all entity identities, whatever form those entities take”. These identities explain ties between entities — “between a device and a human, a device and another device, a device and an application/service, or a human and an application/ service.” So identity management would be vital when it comes to managing the data that flows between these identities.
Any threat?
What about Facebook, Google, Amazon, PayPal etc. becoming stronger than ever? As we use our existing social media/ other existing accounts for online registration, is there any perceived threat?
Not really, says Roche, “because they already have a relationship with that consumer on a whole different level that goes above and beyond a log in at a travel site. There will always be scepticism on what they’re doing with the information, but when you look at the policy agreements, they’re binding themselves to strict requirements.” Also, test it out, recommended Roche. “Most people at an airline probably have an account with any of these networks, they should be encouraged to test it, and use it. As a consumer, you’ll know quickly if they’re using the data in ways you don’t like. At the end of the day, you as a consumer will be the first one to see anything that would make your business uncomfortable and then you can remove the option. You’ll still retain all the relevant contact data to keep the account available and in touch with them.”
These networks (established brands) will never become airlines, and airlines shouldn’t try and build their competency. “It’s easy for you to connect the dots when you’re outsourcing the dot creation. Use what these networks have done as a stepping stone to delivering a great travel experience to a traveller,” stated Roche.
Also, realize these networks need you more than you need them. Making it easy for one of their users to travel is nirvana for them. Use this to your advantage, work with them, summed up Roche.
Hear from senior industry executives about how craft a superlative customer experience at the 10th Ancillary Merchandising Conference (to be held in Barcelona, 21- 22 April 2016)
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