3 min read
Skyscanner Boosts Engagement By Highlighting Valuable Features With a Personalized Approach
With travel regulations shifting constantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Skyscanner, a global travel marketplace and metasearch engine, wanted to keep travelers informed about restrictions and aware of breaking deals to their destinations.
Skyscanner built two information-rich email customer journeys, with one campaign focused on travel restrictions and the other identifying can’t-miss deals for those who could travel, based on their massive trove of global supply data.
The email drove 3-4X higher open and click-through rates than average.
INDUSTRY
PRODUCTS USED
BY THE METRICS
3-4X
Higher click-throughs
Loved by over 100 million people in over 30 languages, UK-based Skyscanner has carved out a reputation for leveraging consumer data into irresistible deals in the online travel industry. Founded by a trio of friends in 2003, the company was acquired by international travel giant Trip.com Group in 2016 for $1.75 billion. They continue to innovate new ways to reach consumers by not only highlighting the best travel deals but hyper relevant travel guidance and content. When they launched an initiative to explain COVID-19 travel restrictions, they brought that essential information to their customers with two Braze-powered campaigns.
Crossing Borders
As with many travel businesses, COVID-19 upended Skyscanner’s operations. With world governments closing borders and restricting movement, potential travelers were uncertain about what their options were. A Skyscanner survey found that over half of Americans didn’t feel confident that they understood the rules for travel abroad. In January of 2021, the company launched an initiative to raise awareness and build traveler confidence.
Skyscanner identified two key questions their consumers were wrestling with: “Can I go?” and “Should I go?” With those in mind, they created an interactive map to illustrate that information and linked it with their robust data infrastructure.
Using our Braze Canvas customer journey management feature, a daily email would be sent to consumers when a change on that map happened that was relevant to their travel interests, including border restrictions and flight and hotel offers. An API trigger would automatically dispatch emails to relevant consumers when there was a change in quarantine or border restrictions. A second campaign used Canvas to deliver route-targeted travel deals to users based on their own preferences. The company also ventured into adding push messaging alongside their scheduled mailings. Braze allowed Skyscanner to provide personalized, up-to-the-minute reporting in messages to customers, and that approach immediately paid dividends.
Skyscanner Results: Happy Consumers, Higher Conversions
Open rates for these emails were 3–4 times their average, and feedback from users was wildly positive. People were ready to get back in the air, and having firm, up-to-date information on their personalized destinations was just the ticket.
The need for clear, engaging, correct information for travellers has never been more pertinent than in the last year. We have carried out extensive research throughout the pandemic to stay abreast of traveler sentiment across all of our markets and invested in innovations on our own platforms to surface the most important information in a natural, intuitive way. Examples of this include our searchable flexible filters and safety ratings as well as our interactive map. Our work with Braze allowed us to bake that empathetic innovation into our customer communications, and connect travelers to our platforms in a way that fits with our traveler-first DNA.
Key Takeaways
When the landscape of your industry shifts because of global events, being able to pivot to a new way to serve your customer base is essential. Skyscanner was able to leverage their data assets through Braze to make their consumers feel safe and informed as they returned to traveling.
To learn more about how the travel industry is bouncing back post-COVID, check out the 2021 Travel Industry Trends, Insights, and Strategies data report.
