Brands have to do more than just show up online to connect with Aussies as they search for the perfect purchase. By establishing a framework to pull insights from existing data, marketers have an opportunity to fuel more relevant campaigns by serving the right message in key moments. Here, Lina Jimeno, solutions consultant at Datalicious — a certified Google Marketing Platform partner — shares how shifting away from a siloed approach to data helped one travel brand connect travellers with their ideal getaways.
Travellers today have countless options when it comes to just about everything on their itineraries. To stave off travellers’ remorse, Aussies are spending more time researching every aspect of their trips before buying a plane ticket. On average, Aussies take 12 full weeks to book a trip. And the farther the destination, the longer they tend to take.
One of our clients, Chimu Adventures, noticed people often took as long as a couple of months — or even a few years — to plan adventures to faraway destinations like Antarctica and South America. The brand boasts hundreds of unique itineraries that give travellers different ways to customise their adventures, so people typically spend more time than the average traveller researching their trips.
[Chimu Adventures’] siloed data prevented it from seeing how its digital campaigns impacted offline sales, which made it even more challenging to help and inspire travellers based on their needs.
While Chimu Adventures has a website and advertises heavily online, all of its bookings happen in person or on the phone. But the brand’s siloed data prevented it from seeing how its digital campaigns impacted offline sales, which made it even more challenging to help and inspire travellers based on their needs.
Our team at Datalicious worked with the brand to help it become truly customer-centric by unifying its data. Here’s what we learned while uncovering a clearer view of the full travel planning journey.
Connect your data to engage travellers across touchpoints
Aussies can find travel inspiration in many different ways, from checking out reviews and watching vlogs to reading online travel guides. There are a lot of places where Chimu Adventures could help and inspire potential travellers, but doing so effectively starts with understanding how travellers research and plan their trips — from their first feeling of wanderlust to the moment they’re ready to book.
Chimu Adventures knew that revamping its data strategy was key to connecting those dots and getting a full view of the journey. We kicked off Chimu Adventures’ data transformation by pulling its data from Analytics 360 and its own customer relationship management software into Google BigQuery. Once this unified dataset was connected to Google Data Studio, the brand was able to see travellers’ unique planning journeys from beginning to end for the first time.
With a better understanding of how its consumers’ online interest moved toward consideration and bookings, Chimu Adventures could focus on channels with the most impact on their decisions.
Gain insights from every interaction with a holistic data strategy
When marketers have a more comprehensive understanding of their data, each touchpoint provides new insights about what inspires consumers and encourages them to take action. Thanks to its newfound understanding of how Aussies research, plan, and book their trips, Chimu Adventures was able to curate more customised online experiences for future travellers.
The brand also noticed that while its display campaign generated the most leads, more conversions were being driven by search. This prompted the team to focus on understanding what types of travel information people were searching for, and from there they could publish new content more regularly and invest in more competitive, relevant keywords.
After six months of optimising its search strategy, Chimu Adventures saw a 49% return on investment (ROI) from its paid search campaigns and 7.7X more ROI from organic search.
Break down silos to better inspire and help your consumers
Even the most adventurous Aussies can be overwhelmed when faced with endless choices, and this anxiety isn’t limited to travel planning. After all, Aussies have a plethora of options at their fingertips for whatever experiences or products they desire.
By working with clients like Chimu Adventures, we’ve learned that brands that want to get better at helping people navigate a sea of decisions start by understanding who they’re trying to reach. Before you kick off your next campaign or invest in a new strategy, take a second look at your data to see where silos might be concealing some valuable insights.
