Mobile and travel were made for each other, so isn't it time to consider where mobile fits within your strategy? Because, mobile is big, and it's getting bigger. To see just how big, consider the latest mobile phone statistics from Q3, 2009 ...
We've known for sometime that SMS (text messaging) is used by far more people than email. SMS now has over 3 billion active users (76% of all mobile phone users), compared to around 800 million email users. SMS is more immediate: the average SMS is read within 15 minutes, whereas with email it's around 24 hours. And, less than 10% of SMS messages are spam, compared to over 65% of emails.
So, SMS is big ... and, the mobile Internet is becoming big too ... Yankee Group says 31% of mobile phone subscribers use the mobile Internet - that works out at 1.2 billion users, worldwide. And, Strategy Analytics says that 20% of US and Western European mobile users access the Internet from their mobile phone at least once a week.
Smartphones, a category still dominated by Nokia, but that also includes the rapidly growing Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry models, accounted for 14% (source: Canalys, Strategy Analytics) of all handset sales in Q3, 2009. Over 45% of Smartphones sold in the period featured a touchscreen. And, the best known of the touchscreen phones, the iPhone, now accounts for almost 1% of all mobile phones (although usage is heavily US biased. 33% of all iPhones sold were in the US).
So, it seems that more people are using their mobile phones more often to do more things. And, when it comes to data access, there's no doubt that people use their mobile phones differently to their PC's ... but the fact remains, there is a ready and significant audience of mobile users willing to engage with you when they're out and about.
Where should travel companies start with mobile?
The key is to ensure your mobile projects are customer rather than technology driven.
So, tempting as it may be to commission or build an iPhone app, this isn't necessarily the best starting point. If your business objectives are to use mobile to help enhance service levels, boost revenues, or reduce customer service costs, then you should be looking to reach the largest audience possible and SMS and mobile Internet currently tick this box better than applications. Applications certainly have a place, but I'd recommend getting the basics right first.
Within the travel industry, this is an approach that seems to have been adopted by Orbitz:
Orbitz.com spokesman Brian Hoyt said that his company still hasn't joined in the iPhone application craze, but instead relies on its mobile phone tools it launched in 2006. Hoyt said that the company may release its application in 2010. "Just because you don't have an app on the iPhone doesn't mean you missed out on the market," he said. "We're still trying to find that killer app that gains higher adoption."
Where is this "killer app" for mobile in travel?
Let's not forget that for travellers, whilst researching when and where to travel, choosing who to travel with, and booking their travel are all important ... the main event is the travel experience itself. Yet, incredibly, most travellers have zero contact with their travel company when they're travelling. Putting aside search and book (where many have focused, but which I still think is at best a niche opportunity in the short to medium term), mobile now offers a real chance for you to connect with customers, post-booking, in the immediate build up to and during their trip.
Today, everyone carries their mobile with them when they travel - it's their personal device for personalised interactions. So, why not make use of mobile to provide your customers with timely, relevant, contextual information that they will value and will want to return to time and again during their trip? Implemented correctly, this type of mobile experience will help you to enhance customer service, extend existing ancillary sales windows, and create new ancillary sales opportunities.
Isn't this something you should be offering to your customers?
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