influence interactive wrecking ball - united airlines

Wrecking Ball: United Airlines

[email protected] | Office: 267-532-1295 www.influence-interactive.com

Wrecking Ball Assessment Released – January 2014


Who is Influence Interactive…

We are a full service interactive solutions consulting firm that delivers big agency results without the baggage. No silos or big overhead, just smart people and experienced management. Our approach to business, marketing, and creative strategy is data informed. We believe in the power of measuring before building. This allows us to solve business problems with digital solutions, with ideas translated to the web, mobile, tablet, customer experience, and campaigns.

We Solve Business Problems with Digital Solutions

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[email protected] | Office: 267-532-1295 www.influence-interactive.com


Wrecking Ball?

•  What is it? –  A heuris.c quan.ta.ve and qualita.ve assessment of a real-‐world brand

experience by an Influence Interac.ve team member. A view into the digital and analog elements of a brand experience through the eyes of real customers with deep marke.ng backgrounds.

•  Why? –  To praise brands that get customer-‐centric experiences right and give free expert

consul.ng to brands that create digital wrecks. We’re expressing our sen.ment in a construc.ve manner on the digital world we live in today, that everyone can learn from.

•  How does it work? –  We conduct an external assessment of a digital brand experience and rate it

based on level of brand love. We look at 5 primary dimensions in conduc.ng the assessment and give a ra.ng of the overall experience.

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Guidelines for Rating the Brand Experience

The primary factors we use when reviewing a brand experience:

Findability User Experience Content Connectedness Behind the Scenes Paid Search Experience Flow Relevancy Connec.on Points Technology in Place

SEO Site Func.onality Level of Detail Back Links Analy.cs Local Search Cross Device & Channel Authority Social Reach Business Prac.ces

Social History with the Brand Freshness Brand Response CRM & Marke.ng Automa.on Direct Value Exchange Accuracy Experience Funnel

Word of Mouth Communica.on Market Posi.on

1.   Findability –  Where did the brand experience start and what are the pathways available for engagement

2.   User Experience –  How does the experience flow from start to finish across digital and offline channels and pathways

and what has the historical experience been with the brand both on and offline

3.   Content –  How does the brand, media, and/or user generated content guide and effect the overall experience

4.   Connectedness –  How cohesive and responsive is the experience across the brand ecosystem

5.   Behind the Scenes –  A non-‐intrusive look at the detectable technology, funnel pathway, analy.cs, and architecture that

make up the inner workings of the experience

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Wrecking Ball Assessment Buying a Ticket to Boarding the Plane


Introduction – United Airlines

I have created and led teams of agency professionals in crea.ve, user experience, analy.cs, and CRM, mostly on a global scale. My career has been centered around developing strategies for clients that help them best connect with their customers. During this .me, I have had to fly a lot, over 300,000 miles over the last 3 years alone. Ease of booking, checking in, boarding passes, and rewards programs are important to me. I have flown quite a few airlines during this .me, but there is one that stands out for providing an excep.onal experience from .cket purchase through boarding: United Airlines. Now they don’t always provide the best experience on the plane and they s.ll lack Wi-‐Fi on many of their flights, but everything prior to the flight is excellent, and that is what we are here to evaluate. It is not enough anymore for an airline to provide travelers the ability to purchase .ckets online, they need to service the online age through .cke.ng, flight delays, paperless boarding passes, and rewards programs that are easy to access and understand, and most importantly are centered around the traveler.

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Start with Google

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Organic Search Results #10 Virgin America (press releases) #16 Fron.er Airlines #36 Hawaiian Airlines #39 Air France (for PDX -‐> Paris) #41 United Airlines The rest of the results are dominated by aggregators for cheap flights and travel. Organic search is a missed opportunity for all of the airlines.

Started searching with origin & des.na.on in query.

United is the only airline in the paid search results on the first page. Use of the des.na.on in the .tle & descrip.on is good reinforcement for the searcher.


Paid Search Landing Page

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Reinforcement of my search query-‐good user experience.

Immediately shows me the lowest price fare without having to search, and I can quickly enter my dates.

Calendar with fares allows me to quickly evaluate prices in case my travel dates are flexible.

Second Click

Third Click

Indicator of where I am in the purchase process and what steps I s.ll need to complete-‐ good user experience.


Select Departing Flight

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Again, reinforcement of search query-‐ good user experience.

I can quickly scan the best fare for my trip before scrolling through the list to select my flight.

Empty space is a missed opportunity for a beier page layout, or upsell offers.


Select Departing Flight

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Good use of space in layout-‐ I can quickly see the fare (and know if it is the lowest or not), each leg of the journey, layover .me, total travel .me, aircral type, and whether or not snacks are available for purchase, all of which are easy to quickly scan for details about my flight.


Select Returning Flight

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Clear .tle of where I am and what I need to do-‐ good user guidance.

Informa.on on des.na.ons and .ming for my trip, posi.ve reinforcement for the user.


Select Returning Flight

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Layout and experience are the same as selec.ng a depar.ng flight so I don’t need to learn something new.


Review Trip Itinerary

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Poor layout-‐ this is prime real estate.

Both upsell op.ons are non-‐intrusive to the experience and are clear and easy to understand.



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Layout and informa.on for my flights is the same as when I chose them, therefore not making me learn something new and keeping the overall experience consistent.



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Op.ons: I like having the op.on to either purchase or lock in my fare for a nominal fee.

I can enter my rewards program informa.on here. This seems a liile out of place, but if I fill it in, it will auto populate the traveler informa.on for me on the next screen.

Clearly states where I am going to next and what to expect, or provides me the op.on to go “Back” at a point where I may want to change my op.ons.


Traveler Information

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If you are a member of their frequent flyer program, and you have logged in, this informa.on auto-‐populates for you.


Traveler Information

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Clearly states where I am going next and what to expect, or provides me the op.on to go “Back” at a point where I may want to change my op.ons.

Many websites offer a chat feature these days, but I like that I haven’t been bombarded with it and I am just seeing it now. I paused on this page for several minutes before this op.on was offered to me.


Seat Map

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I can quickly tab between the different seat classes and compare features.

Easy to understand legend for the color coding and indicators, also the loca.on is within close proximity to my seat choices so I don’t have to look for it.

This tabbed layout indicates to me that I will be able to choose seats for each leg of my trip, and as I go through each segment, the experience remains consistent.


Payment Information – Flight Review

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One more opportunity to review my flights before purchasing, in the same format and informa.on I have seen before, so it’s a good consistent experience.


Payment Information – The Upsell

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The upsell again, why weren’t these op.ons offered to me earlier when I was reviewing my fare? I think this is poor .ming for these as I have reviewed my fares and I am ready to purchase, but now I need to figure out these offers.


Payment Information

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Clearly states what the traveler can do and doesn’t complicate maiers.

Terms and condi.ons: everyone has to have them, but United keeps them short and easy to scan and understand, also providing links for more informa.on on each of them.

Click 16 -‐ Pu

rchased Tick

et


Email Communications

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Receipt & I.nerary Check-‐in Reminder Boarding Pass

Flight Delay No.fica.on

Once I have purchased my .cket, I am provided an i.nerary and receipt almost immediately.

24 hours prior to my flight, I receive a reminder that I can check-‐in for the flight, “Check in Now” call to ac.on.

Once I check-‐in, I have the choice of having my boarding pass emailed to me for prin.ng.

Now I am ready to go, except there is a flight delay. An email from United makes me aware of this, in this case, hours before the flight.


Mobile Experience

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Once logged in, easy to find what is important to me about my account.

My Reserva.ons Flight Status

Travel informa.on, seat assignment, weather, etc.

Mobile Boarding Pass

Quickly find what is important to a busy traveler.

The experience with United does not end with the website, they also offer one of the best mobile apps I have ever used. Information is clearly available and the pieces of information that are important to me are readily available on the opening screen. I have several airline apps on my phone, but United has listened to their travelers and provide me with the information I need easily.


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Wrecking Ball Assessment The Results and Ra.ng


United – Customer-Centric

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United has embraced a novel idea-‐ design your processes to fit how your customers think, integrate your channels, and deliver needed informa.on when the customer needs it. Because their digital channels work so well together, the informa.on is synced across all channels, and the experience up to boarding is pleasurable. Now, it is unfortunate that the same experience doesn’t carry over to the flight itself, there United could learn a thing (or two or three) from Virgin America.

Wrecking Ball: United Airlines United Airlines – Experience In Summary A Customer-‐

United Plane Ticket Purchase Process By The Numbers 41st – Natural search result, the Siberia of search results. 2nd – Posi.on in the paid search ads which led to my click. 1 – The only airline present in the search results on the first page to buy a plane .cket. 16 – Number of clicks it took to purchase a round-‐trip plane .cket, no extraneous clicks. 1 – Number of taps it takes me to find the informa.on I am looking for on the United mobile app. 2 – Number of .mes United tried to upsell me. 350,000+ -‐ Number of miles I have flown with United in my life.me. 100s – The number of people I have told they should fly United and book on their website or through their app. 0 – The number of .mes I wasn’t sure what to do next in the purchase process. Immeasurable – The amount of revenue I drive through my being a brand advocate.

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Wrecking Ball: United Airlines Brand Experience Rating

Poor – organic, lots of opportunity

-  Good job supplementing poor organic results with paid search

Excellent overall – user centered -  Purchase process is simple

and easy to use -  Post purchase ticket

communication is very good -  Mobile experience is very good

Very Good – appropriate content at the appropriate time -  Supplemental content is

available and not intrusive -  Consistent information across

platforms

Very Good – connected systems

- Web experience is tied into email communications with a logical flow of information

- Mobile experience is very good, consistent with web experience

Wrecking Ball Rating – Love United

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Based on all of my flying experience, from booking to entering the plane, I will con.nue to use United as my preferred airline, and recommend them to friends and colleagues. United has definitely invested .me into their experience of bringing customers onboard as exhibited by a flyer-‐centric experience on the web and mobile. They make it easy for the novice, and provide all the tools a frequent flyer relies on for a great experience.

The United Brand Rating:

Love

Wrecking Ball Rating System:

Leaving Lost Love Like

User Experience Findability Content Post Purchase


Closing Thoughts – Future of Air Travel

•  What should United do next? –  United needs to apply their customer-‐centric thinking to their in-‐airport and

plane experiences. If they can do this, they cannot lose. If they don’t, they will be passed by other airlines such as Virgin America who have focused on the in-‐airport and plane experience, and geqng the digital channels inline is easier.

–  United needs to address its organic search deficiencies-‐ travel is a crowded and compe..ve industry for organic search, but they need to be found in order to increase sales.

•  What is the future of air travel? –  Airlines are going to have to be able to .e together all of their touch points

into a single user-‐centric experience. Performing well in just one aspect of the flying experience is not going to be enough, the pre-‐flight and in-‐flight experiences will need to be .ghtly aligned and centered around the traveler.

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APPENDIX

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Purchase/Booking by device

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Air Travel: 9%

Air Travel: 11%


References

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Travel Sales and Mobile Booking

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Most Used Brands

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Research to Booking



Poor Mobile Experience



Online Ad Spend

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