Airlines just don't get mobile

Norm Rose says that airlines just don't get mobile. This got me thinking about how full-service airlines have approached mobile and particularly about their mobile-web sites or portals.

Airline mobile sites make passengers work too hard

Most airline mobile web-sites offer similar functionality and are what I'd categorise as first generation mobile web-sites. I criticised first generation sites in the mobile strategy eBook we published last year (feel free to download it, the ideas are still valid today).

Although many first generation airline sites offer good content (e.g. mobile check-in, manage my booking, flight status) they are largely a rehash (sorry ... trans-coding) of existing web-sites onto mobile. I suspect most of these airline projects have been IT initiated, rather than forming part of any broader customer communication strategy. As a result, usability is poor. In short, first generation airline sites fail because they make their users work way too hard.

For example:

• I provide my details to check-in. Fair enough
• Now, I want to check my flight status, so I have to re-enter the flight number
• If I want to check the weather at my destination, I have to navigate through a hierarchy of continents, countries, states and cities to find my forecast
• And, if I want to check out the travel guide for my destination, I have to navigate yet another hierarchy

This may be OK for casual users ... but, for the typical passenger who is travelling and probably in a hurry, this is hopelessly frustrating. Surely, the goal of a mobile site should be to help users complete a task, or access information, as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Beyond first generation airline mobile sites

There is no shortage of mobile content ... it just needs to be presented in a more usable way. For airlines, the solution is to "filter" their content to create a better customer experience.

What is filtering?

At its most basic, filtering is personalisation. For example, airlines know the travel plans of their frequent flyers and direct bookers, so for these people, why not use this information to show their flight status, weather at their destination, etc? Personalisation makes the mobile experience much more compelling. A lot of independent mobile travel sites already use personalisation - they're at least one step ahead of the airlines.

A more advanced form of filtering uses context - using knowledge of the traveller's itinerary to further filter the presented information and available tasks to what's relevant to the traveller right now.

For example:

• Shortly before I travel, send me an SMS with a link my personal page on the airlines web-site. Whenever I re-visit this URL link, I get content that's relevant to the current stage of my journey ...
• Pre-travel let me check-in and show me my flight status
• When I'm travelling to the airport give me traffic reports and flight status
• When I'm at the airport give me flight status, let me view my mobile bar-coded boarding pass, give me directions to the lounge, etc
• When I'm at my destination recommend some places to eat and things to do, tell me about the weather, maybe let me book an excursion, etc.

Why go to all this trouble? Ancillary revenue!

The purpose of saving the customer time, by making the mobile dialogue much more relevant isn't entirely altruistic. Yes, it's about customer service .. but also about using the dialogue to generate ancillary revenue and this has to be done contextually to ensure that any offer is relevant and timely (e.g. offer tactical upgrades pre-check-in).

And, for any airline wanting to move quickly, our StreamThru platform offers a mobile content management server designed specifically for travel, that allows airlines to mix and match their existing mobile content (e.g. mobile check-in, mobile boarding passes) with our content to create a contextual dialogue that is timely and relevant and which adapts to the traveller's needs throughout their trip.