People nowadays need no reason to hangout with family and friends. No more holidays or occasions and no early plans are needed to have a nostalgic trip with dear and near ones. People love randomness and make quick plans. The days are gone when people had to run to the travel agency to book the tickets or to stand in the queue in a hotel to book a room. With a Mobile App in a hand, customers are easily heading towards the app stores in order to find applications to make their travel comfortable, leisurely and more enjoyable. Customer love and loyalty for travel apps runs deep and they rarely detach from their trusted apps. This kind of loyalty is earned through direct communication, increased convenience and ease of use. These main propositions make travel apps actually enjoyable; reduce travelling stress and increases brand loyalty.
Now, what makes a Travel App stand out from the competition? Highlighted examples have been stated from best business portals:
Ease of use
Travelling as it comes like a complicated affair for most people, which clearly indicate why travel apps need to be simplified to suit feasibility for the users. If the application isn’t responsive, users might spend out more time in figuring out how to use it while being overloaded with information.
A striking example of ease of access is Air-BNB application that is specifically designed to provide users with a one-step experience for bookings. The app makes it extremely feasible to find whatever you might be looking for, whether it’s a place to stay, details about your planned trip or account information. Air BNB is known to dispense all the vital information and that too with utmost feasibility. Once you click on the property you’re interested in, everything you might want to understand is already displayed by the app.
Travel apps with lucid navigation and prominently shown features tend to be the most feasible to use; especially for a traveller who is using the app on the go and needs to find something quickly. In this case, less is more.
Convenience
For the app to be useful, it needs to make travelling options much easier to load and less time investing. It becomes vital to the application that it offers comparisons, check-ins and other information required on the go. Delta Airlines is one example that strikes to mind which considers the pressure points of its customers from their arrival to departure. Delta might not tell you where to park but provides you with information to easily remember and access your parking. This way, you would always return to the app. On top of that, you can access airport maps, track your bags, and check your flight status. Try giving your customers an unforgettable experience and it is always more likely that they would travel with you again.
Communication
Communication within the app is a crucial puzzle piece of customer experience. Without app personalization, customers are left thinking that they are unwanted. If there are issues that a user faces on your app and doesn’t have proper access to the required authorities, the user might get turned off forever and never return.
On the other hand, if you do communicate with them, check-in on them, ask questions, answer questions, probably wish them a Happy Birthday, it might create a more inter-personal relationship. This way, they will also never be left with assumptions and will enjoy way more with the brand.
One such instance is Choice Hotels, an example of great communication from the very beginning and a complete guidance trip to its users through on-boarding, purchase, reaching out as well as valuable customer insights.
All in all, most of the travellers aren’t exactly globetrotters; which in turn makes it even more difficult for the app developers to provide applications that are worthwhile of consuming space on our phones. These apps would thus require being easy to use, convenient and personalized for communication. Once you hit this bull’s eye, most of your job is already done!