Airports and airlines are continually striving to enhance and de-stress the passenger experience. As today’s travellers increasingly turn to their smartphones and wearable devices for immediate answers, it’s critical for travel brands to leverage mobile to addresses the key concerns of their target audience. Where the key challenge lies is timing. How can airports ensure the right message gets delivered at the right stage in the customer experience?
By tapping into the precise targeting capabilities of proximity marketing technology (iBeacon & Geo-Fencing), airports, in particular, can deliver a greater and more personalised user journey. Considering that airports are pretty well-connected when it comes to internet availability and 4G and LTE coverage, a proximity solution can be easily integrated within this environment.
Naturally, the line is thin between providing a mobile experience that travellers find beneficial and not one that annoys them with push notifications every few steps . Finding out the engagement sweet spot is a challenge marketers need to address in order to create experiences that don’t intrude unnecessarily and passengers ultimately find helpful.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how proximity can be leveraged intelligently within an airport setting in 6 different ways:
1. Pre-Flight Engagement
Brands can anticipate a consumer’s needs before they even realise it themselves. Prior to their arrival at the airport, a notification can be sent providing passengers with a real-time traffic update on their individual route and an exact estimate of their journey time using geo-location.
2. Welcome message
When a passenger enters the airport, they can receive an immediate update directly to their phone on the status of their flight and confirmation that they are in the correct terminal, triggered by the presence of an iBeacon at the entrance.
3. Check-in complete
A very useful and contextually relevant notification is a real-time update on the security wait time as the customer has checked in and passed a specific point within the airport. Another addition to this update could be an exact approximate of the time it will take for the passenger to walk from security to their boarding gate.
4. Drive Footfall
Beyond security, an airport can use this opportunity to target users with relevant offers on shopping and dining based on their unique user profile and proximity to points of interests. An example could be a user who has previously purchased beauty products of a particular brand on the online duty-free facility. The user can be advised of an exclusive offer on these products as they pass near the store.
5. Cross-promote & upsell services
Customers who have pre-booked their parking spot online can be advised of complementary services, such as full service inspection and car cleaning, as they enter the geo-fence surrounding the customer carpark.
6. Baggage Reclaim
Once the passenger has arrived at their destination, or returned home, the baggage carousel can be announced via push notification and geofencing could be utilised to determine whether or not to allow the passenger to pay for parking, pick up a rental car, or order an Uber or a taxi.
You can learn more about the work we’re doing with airports and travel brands here.