Want to know every step of the travel customer journey? Then you’re in the right place! Travel agencies and tour operators need the travel consumer journey map to learn more about their consumers and provide an unforgettable experience for them. In addition, it’s a tool that can provide valuable insights into your future strategy.
But first, let’s see what a customer journey map is:
What is a customer journey map?
The customer journey map represents your consumer’s experience of not knowing you to become a lifelong loyal customer. Each stage has different needs. Mastering each one of these stages is essential if you want to make a sale. With the travel customer journey map, you can improve the customer’s experience.
Importance of the customer journey
The travel customer journey map can help you understand how consumers go through the sales funnel. As a result, it is easier to identify which actions would improve their overall experience.
Nowadays, we live in the era of personalization. What does that mean? It means that your customers demand special attention and care, so if you want to increase your bookings, you need to learn how to provide this experience. For example, if a user is in the early stages of their journey, ask them to sign up for a newsletter. Please don’t force them to buy your product! Rushing through the process will probably make them leave. Creating the map and walking in the shoes of your customer will make everything easier.
How and why to research the travel customer journey
Now, let’s see how you can create a customer journey map. Entering inside the mind of the modern human is no easy task. That’s why you need a plan.
However, there is no such thing as one size fits all. Why? Because different companies are targeting other groups of people. As a result, you have to understand who your potential customers are, how they behave, and where they are primarily present. After that, you can communicate your message efficiently.
Step by step customer journey
It’s time to gather some data with analytics about your website. A word of caution: the results are not always telling the truth, so don’t assume that many clicks or long dwell times are a good sign! They could indicate that a customer is frustrated.
Dreaming
In the beginning, a potential customer starts dreaming about the destination or experiencing your tours and activities. The individual in this phase is a stranger: not knowing anything about your service, they probably don’t even know it exists. Your goal is to generate human-level connection and interest to the essence of your service (values, mission, purpose, people).
What you should do: get them to notice you as they look for inspiration! Your marketing approach: content Marketing through blogs and other forms of content promoted in your social media channels. All you want at this point is to grab their attention. If you don’t grab their attention, someone else’s campaign will.
Researching
At this stage, the customer becomes aware of your company while researching tours and activities in your destination. In addition, they are comparing your offers with others from the most popular sites like Booking.com and TripAdvisor. Your marketing approach: You want to lead them further into the sales cycle. An excellent way to achieve that is by using the surprise & delight formula: give them something they don’t expect and ask for their email in exchange for the content. So here are some content ideas: “How-to” guides for their trip, previous experiences of happy customers, inspiring photos, local tips, videos of your tours and activities, etc.
Booking
The customer preferred your company. Well done! You successfully managed to convert a prospective customer. But the journey is not over yet!
Pre-Travel
You have to make them feel like joining a tribe. Keep customers engaged with emails and other documents that help them enjoy their vacations with peace. Email confirmation is essential after booking. Let them know that they are safe with your customer support.
Post-Travel (Sharing)
You provided excellent customer service before, during, and after your tour or activity that exceeded your customer’s expectations. Because of this, they might well upgrade to beloved loyal customers. Plus, when they are happy about the experience, it is almost sure they will tell the world about it, share photos on social media, and tag your brand. You won a brand ambassador that works for free by producing value with word-of-mouth marketing.
Travel Customer Journey Templates
You will always find different templates related to the customer journey with various steps and critical points. However, all of them are following roughly the same pattern. So check out our favorite ones!
By breaking down your customer journey to different stages and learning how to communicate efficiently at every one of them, you can successfully provide an experience that feels personalized, and that will make your company stand out from the rest.
Six more insights travel customers expect from your business:
- To know them: People today expect you to understand what they have in their minds.
Inspire them: Tell them about the endless possibilities of travel and technology. Light this fire inside them that wants to explore the world and lead the way. - Connect them: Travelers are always looking for relevant and quality content. You must provide this opportunity for them.
- “Human Talk”: They want someone to talk to them throughout their journey and guide their experience continuously. But, you won’t see better results if you sound like a robot. Make it human!
- Entertain them: Can you bring the magic that they miss in their everyday lives? This “wow” moment can make them smile! And, if you can make them smile, you can make them buy.
- Care for them: Keep the travelers safe and secure. Support them throughout the trip. A warm sense of protection is essential for a traveler.
The customer journey map is just a map
After the map, you must take action. Make yourself visible! How else will people book your tours? The customer’s experience today is walking hand in hand with technology. People can’t wait anymore for a page to load or for businesses that are not well adapted to the technological changes. Your consumer experience should include actions like the transition from a laptop to mobile and everything in between. Moreover, it is pretty hard to stay in the game without promoting your brand on social media with inspiring photographs and SEO-optimized content. You should dedicate energy and money for optimizing:
- Website appearance and speed
- Email gathering
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing
Avoid mistakes such as not displaying prices next to your tours and activities or lacking visible buttons. Thankfully, with the existing tools and solutions like Kleesto for your company, it is easy to upgrade your marketing efforts without having to spend all your money on a well-functioning website. Instead, upgrade and automate your travel business so you can reach your full potential.
Evaluate your actions
Meg Elzea, Global Travel Industry Manager at Google, when asked about the journey of the travel customer, revealed three questions they ask themselves to evaluate their efforts:
Am I offering an incredible experience?
Is my Marketing relevant?
Do I measure the right things?
Remember what you eventually want to increase. For example, do you want to increase the speed of lead conversion? The probability of lead conversion? The perception of value in your offers?
Conclusion
Did you find this article informative? Do you have any questions about the customer’s journey? We are here to help you become the tour operator of your dreams. Sign up for our 21-day FREE trial!
