What: The internet offers seemingly infinite ways for consumers to research products and services before making a purchase. Aeromexico and Palace Resorts explain how they leverage digital content to start a conversation and turn consumers digital research into online and offline sales.
Why it matters: No matter how much technology brands throw at marketing, excellent content, and the human factor count for a lot, especially when consumers are purchasing an experience and not just on price.
Palace Resorts is not just any resort. Its 10 oceanfront properties spread across Jamaica and Mexico on the Caribbean and the Pacific offer an all-inclusive vacation of a lifetime. Thats why consumers looking for an exceptional experience do a lot of research online before making their purchases.
“Were not a commodity you buy on a budget. So we talk a lot about our destinations,” Gerardo Garcia, Palace Resorts Vice President of Sales and Marketing in the USA, told Portada during a sit-down interview at Portada Miami. “We try to bring the customer into a conversation.”
Our core business is to run successful hotels, so we have to find the right people on the technology side.
Potential guests often visit 20 websites before booking. So, Palace Resorts has to be sure it has excellent content at each of those touch points so as to engage consumers and promote the brand. “People dedicate a lot time to their process of buying a vacations, and their research process creates that inspirational moment,” Garcia told Portada.
Balancing the Human Factor With Technology
Palace Resorts loves it when customers buy online, but a large percentage of its guests have lots of questions before booking, so having a call center and live chat are key tools in the purchasing process.
Garcias marketing team includes 15 people dedicated solely to responding 24/7 to customers questions posted on social media or at Trip Advisor. “The more I learn about technology, the more I value the human factor,” Garcia said.
Gerardo Garcia (left) at Portada's Travel Marketing Board's Portada Miami Meeting
Working with third-party vendors is a critical part of Palace Resorts marketing strategy. Allowing vendors to manage technology “allows us to focus on our marketing strategies and find the right channel to launch that campaign. Our core business is to run successful hotels, so we have to find the right people on the technology side, otherwise it becomes overwhelming,” Garcia explained.
Automated behavioral email is also one of the most important channels for communicating with existing customers and in addition to its CRM software tool Clever, Palace Resorts uses HubSpot to send emails based upon customers preferences.
A First for Aeromexico
Aeromexico is the first brand in Latin America to create a chatbot to respond to customers questions on WhatsApp, according to the airlines Paola Camacho Stern, senior specialist co-brand partnerships. Other brands are taking notice, Stern pointed out.
If customers dont get the answers they need, the chatbot transfers them to Aeromexicos call center, where personnel have actually been reduced thanks to the assistance of the chatbot.
In spite of the technology, the human factor remains a critical component for ticket sales since Aeromexico prides itself on the superior experience it provides travelers both in the air and on the ground.
We are using both traditional and online channels. Whenever I do a campaign, I try to do both of them.
“We have a lot of people that want to talk to a human being. What we are looking for is a balance. I dont think the call center is going to disappear, but our digital will grow more until it finds a balance,” Stern said.
Communicating the Experience with Content
Aeromexico relies heavily on social media to communicate its brand and the airlines experience. “We have very strong social media channels, a lot of followers, and we are focusing our social media campaigns on making people feel like the airline is not just an airline but the best company to take you from one place to another,” Stern explained, nothing the airline uses Twitter, but Instagram less.
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