Understand, reach and engage mobile travelers

2015 Leadmill All Rights Reserved

Mobile marketing insights
Understand, reach and engage mobile travelers
Introduction 1
Mobile Travel Audience 2
The Mobile Travel Journey 7
Reach and Engage Travelers 14
Conclusions 21


During travels a significant number of people turn
to their mobile devices to communicate with their
relatives, seek for entertainment and resolve
holiday – or business specific challenges.
This makes mobile an unique medium to reach
and engage holiday travelers and achieve
marketing specific goals.
But who are the mobile travelers and what are the
best tactics to reach and engage them?
introduction
Companies in all sizes and across different
industries can benefit from a properly crated
and executed mobile advertising strategy and
take advantage of its unique features.
To leverage your mobile marketing strategy the best way during the holidays, this white paper will
provide you with insights to:
ª  Who typically engages with travel relevant content
ª  How mobile is applied during the travel journey
ª  The best practices to reach and engage holiday travelers
1
With insights to the mobile travel audience and
best marketing tactics, this report is developed to
help marketers such as airlines, hotels and other
tourism-relevant companies to design their
mobile marketing strategies.


Who engages with travel relevant content?
Even though, the demographic of people who
travel stretches from young to old and the
adaption of mobile devices is close to be
independent of age and gender – some consumer
groups will always be more mobile travel content -
savvy than others.
The demographics of consumers, who frequently
engage with travel content and advertisements
on their mobile devices to research travel options,
hotels, attractions, locations or book a travel are
between 18-44 years old. 60% are male while 40%
are female. These mobile travel content-savvy
consumers also make over $75k a year and have a
high adoption of both smartphone and tablets
accounting for 92% and 51% respectively.1
The majority of
travellers are aged
18-44
60% are male
and 40% are
female
61% make at least
$75k annually
92% own a
smartphone while
51% own a tablet
2


Who engages with travel relevant content?
The demographic of consumers, who frequently
engage with travel content and advertisements on
their mobile devices leans towards a generally
mobile savvy group of consumers.
Compared to their predecessors (Baby Boomers),
Gen X’s are much more comfortable with
technology, diversity and global awareness. They
represent the ﬁrst generation that has grown up
with cd’s, remote controls and computers.
They have grown up with world wide travel, access
to world-wide events and relations with people
from other cultures.
They represent the famously known Gen X and Gen Y
(Millennial) - a consumer group that always is
connected and expects information and services that
simplify the planning as well as booking experience.
This gives them all the means necessary to
consider mobile devices as the most important
device to stay connected and up-to-date no matter
of time and place.
They are considered to be ultra-connected and
owners of multiple communication devices. For
brands, they therefore represent strong
purchasing power and an audience segment
worth getting to know.
Their attention spans however, are short. In
consequence this means that their demands for
personalization are high, and connecting with
them requires an integrated and well thought-out
customer experience strategy.
Millennial generation is considered to be the most
tech-savvy, well-networked and marketing
challenging generation.
3

Zooming in
Generation x
Gen X’es – are deﬁned as people born between 1965 and 1980 are highly connected
on the go. They account for the most time spent on mobile and use their devices
longer each session compared to Baby Boomers and Millennials.
They are considered to be avid consumers of online content and social networking.
What really wins their attention is digital video as 78,7% of Gen X’es download or
stream video online at least once per month.
Taking the goal of the last mobile session in to account, 45% of the Gen X were “just
browsing”, while 36% were looking to purchase and 29% were looking for a speciﬁc
location. 2
42% consider their mobile devices to
be the most important media source
and 41% have depended on mobile
only when taking a purchase decision
4

Zooming in
millennials
Millennials, deﬁned as people born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s are
considered to be the “ultra-connected” generation. They embrace digital channels,
social media and mobile communications much more than the
generations before them.
They expect content to be delivered across devices, channels and in the language
they prefer. With hyper-targeting, millennials expect content to be tailored to them
and their needs.
Compared to Baby Boomers and Gen X’es, price is a top factor for Millennials.2
Millennials consider mobile the most
important media for purchase decision
and are 12% more likely to leverage
mobile throughout their purchase
decision.
5


Therefore, travel marketers should focus on supporting
this behavior with travel relevant information and
inspiration, which favorably could be communicated
through digital video promotions.
Focusing on the “ultra-connected” Millennials, marketers
need to advance beyond traditional marketing
campaign approaches, breaking through consumers’
personal junk ﬁlters with relevant, valuable and non-
promotional interactions.
Travel brands need to increase transparency in their
marketing efforts to create trust and ensure that their
strategies for engaging with consumers, especially with
Millennials, are Omni-channel in nature.
Due to their price sensitivity – communicating
personalized travel offers and deals is highly relevant for
Millennials, while family related travel offers a can appeal
to Generation X.
Key take aways: mobile travel audiences
With regard to their high usage of mobile
devices, their always on attitude and highest
interaction levels with travel content –
Generation X and Millennials (Gen Y) represent
consumer groups – travel brands cannot afford
to ignore on mobile.
Considering Generation X, travel marketers
should take in to account that a large part of
Generation X marketers, spend a lot of time
searching for information with their mobile
devices in hand.
6


The mobile travel journey
The proliferation of apps will become increasingly
prevalent in a mobile-driven world. As people
spend more time on their smartphones and tablets
– primarily via apps – travel related businesses
have vast opportunities to communicate with
prospects and existing customers during every
phase of the travel journey.
From becoming inspired, dreaming about where
to go because of an ad, a post or a picture,
to planning, booking, experiencing, reﬂecting
and sharing, digital and mobile technologies
enhance these experiences.
To be able to personalize mobile marketing to
travelers, it is crucial for marketers to understand
the four stages of travel journey and reﬂect up on,
what role the particular brand can play in each of
these four stages to create the most context
relevant experience.
research purchase travel review
7

The mobile travel journey: research
Even though mobile devices generally are applied
throughout the whole travel journey, there are
variations to be found when it comes to the type of
mobile device applied at what time.
The majority of the travel audience, research their
travel at home by using their tablets (70%), closely
followed by their smartphones (61%).
Searching for hotel information tends to be the first
activity travelers involve themselves with. 83%
research this information from smartphone whereas
74% look for hotel information from their tablets.
This is followed by research for flight information. In
this stage, mobile apps are heavily applied to
research flight information and schedules and find
the best itinerary for the trip.
Key Take Away:
To increase their marketing effectiveness, travel
offers and inspiration should focus on the
destination, before the transportation. Travel
marketers need to create an ideal picture of a travel
before bothering consumers with flight information
and schedules. Both Smartphones and Tablets are
relevant platform to target during the research
phase. 3
8



The mobile travel journey: Purchase
In a recent report, JiWire reports that 52% of travel bookings
made in the last quarter were on a mobile device accounting
for either smartphone or tablet.
This clearly illustrates the fact that mobile devices once again
have overtaken the desktop.
Mobile travel sales are furthermore according to eMarketer,
expected to jump to $64.69 billion by 2018.4
67% of mobile travel audiences use smartphone to
book a hotel, while 64% use tablet.
Also, nearly a half of travelers use their mobile
devices to make ﬂight reservations.
Travel sales conducted on smartphones, typically
involve smaller transactions for one-night hotel stays,
last-minute ﬂight tickets or rental-cars.
Using tablets on the other hand, typically involves
larger transactions and longer trips.
Key Take Away:
Complement the traveler booking patterns by
focusing last-minute offers on smartphones while
targeting larger trips towards tablet.
Create mobile discounts only, to drive mobile
engagement and last but not least – make sure to
optimize your mobile web for purchase transactions,
and keep your mobile app updated with the latest
and most exclusive offerings.
9


The mobile travel journey: Travel
During travels, consumers use their smartphones to
check that their travel plans are on schedule but not
least to research new travel prices.
55% of travelers check prices for hotels and flights
during their travel as well as check travel schedules.
46% use their smartphones for check in, check flight
status and get alerts.1
Smartphones are also heavily applied to other travel
related tasks such as: trip management, use phone as
boarding pass, track a checked bag and flight
cancellation.
When it comes to hotel activities, more than 83% of
travelers use their smartphones to check out hotel
related content.
57% compare prices and availability, 55% look up
address/ directions and 43% retrieve confirmation
number.
Key Take Away:
Almost all airports have their own free WiFi connections
these day, which mobile travelers use to access the
content. Make sure to target your mobile marketing to
these networks and places.
To support the travels, spend efforts on location-based
mobile targeting – you might be just the hotel or airline
the travelers will choose. 3
10


The mobile travel journey: review
Travelers rely heavily on recommendations for trip,
inspiration and planning.
A recent Trip Advisor travelers study showed, that
more than 88% of the respondents had written a
review for an accommodation after staying there,
and 41% noted that they also shared personal
recommendations via other online channels and
email messages.
More than 51% of travelers read hotel and airline
reviews on their smartphone before booking and
usually travelers also write reviews in real-time on
their smartphone during their trip.
Recommendations show to carry most weight when
researching accommodation and 57%of travelers said
they would be more likely to book a hotel whose
management responded to reviews. 5
Key Take Away:
Hotels and airlines that invest in innovative mobile
campaigns can increase consumer engagement. Tap
into the importance of reviews and feature summary
of reviews and rating in the mobile ad creative, and
link consumers to the brand’s social media or
TripAdvisor page.
Also, encourage consumers to review their last
interaction with your hotel or airline in the app and
make sure to respond to the reviews in return.4
11

Bravofly grows in-app searches and user base with mobile marketing
Objective
Leadmill was chosen to launch the Bravofly sub-brand app
Volagratis globally, increase the amount of app installs, improve
app store rankings and optimize in-app searches.
Solution
Promoted in lifestyle, news & weather, business & finance
relevant apps towards audiences and personas that have a
history of engaging with travel relevant marketing and involve
themselves with in-app search.
During the campaign period, the campaign was optimized
towards the best-performing geographical locations.
Campaign Spotlight
To download the full campaign summary visit:
http://www.leadmill.com/bravofly-grows-in-app-search-mobile-advertising
12

Mobile insights: travel industry
The aforementioned trends highlight that travelers are
highly mobile active and willing to engage with mobile
content in all phases during the travel journey.
Many airlines have taken advantage of the mobile
traveler behavior already with branded applications
that enable consumers to take travel relevant actions
such as: scanning a boarding pass, check in, change a
ﬂight etc. and it is worthwhile to ﬁgure out, how your
brand can support the customer needs during the
various stages and provide the traveler with the right
information at the right moment.
As travel journey key take aways make sure to:
Key Take Away 1:
Focus on marketing the destination before the
transportation.
Key Take Away 2:
Complement the traveler booking patterns by
focusing last-minute offers on smartphones while
targeting larger trips towards tablets.
Key Take Away 3:
To support the travels, spend offers on location-based
mobile marketing. You might be just the hotel or
airline the travelers will choose.
Key Take Away 4:
Tap into the importance of reviews and feature
summary reviews and ratings in the mobile ad
creative.

Key Takeaways
Consider, that travelers exhibit different
Behaviours across different devices. Make sure to
tailor the content to meet the specific needs and
requirements for each device.
13


Best tactics to reach and engage travelers
As the previous has shown, having a properly crated and
executed mobile advertising strategy, travel companies have
the ultimate chance to increase bookings and sales, simplify
travel planning and reservations, drive consumers to
participate in loyalty program and acquire new customers.
Reviewing a properly crafted mobile strategy from it’s basics
here is where to start:
Using mobile on the run – travelers are looking for quick and
convenient access to information.
At first, on their mobile optimized websites travel marketers
need to:
Optimize for mobile
²  Give easy access to phone numbers, maps,
contact info and directions
²  Use properly sized buttons that are easy to
tap
²  Include forms that are easy to fill in on
mobile devices
²  Simplify navigation that works and reflects
the mobile visitors needs
²  Have pages that are quick to load for
impatient and busy travelers
14


Determine the mobile advertising goal
Is your objective to drive trafﬁc to your website,
generate brand awareness or promote your new
service/product release?
If brand awareness is your main goal, take the chance
to use inspirational images of destinations or special
destination events in order to entice consumers to
visit a speciﬁc location.6
For 59% of travel
advertisers, driving web
traffic is the common goal
when developing a mobile
advertising campaign.
Having this objective for their campaign, advertisers
commonly feature an m-commerce action such as
hotel, ticket or rental car booking after clicking the ad.
Contrary, 29% of travel marketers use their
mobile advertising campaign to drive brand
awareness and thereby plant the idea of
taking a trip.
15


Determine the mobile advertising goal
Many travel brands have invested heavily in mobile
recent years and knowing that travelers are heavy users
of apps, driving app downloads is a common mobile
advertising objective among travel marketers.
Using m-commerce as the main mobile advertising
goal, travel advertisers branded an app or mobile
landing page where consumers could purchase and
book travel on the spot.6
For 38% of travel
marketers , generating app
downloads is the main
mobile advertising goal.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), have gained enormous success
with their app, that allows travelers to check-in, load
boarding passes, check EuroBonus and ﬂight status, book
travel and download free newspapers.
33% of travel advertisers, use
mobile advertising campaigns to
drive m-commerce
16


Set your targeting
The great thing about mobile advertising is that it opens
up for a whole new world of targeting possibilities – to
make your campaigns as relevant and adapted as
possible for your core audiences.
Precise targeting is also necessary, considering that Gen
X and to even a higher extend Millennials expect
adapted marketing messages based on their context
and preferences.
There are many targeting options available when
targeting travel audiences including: technogaphic,
geographic, demographic and behavioral.
Apply technographic targeting to reach consumers
based on their type of device and connection and
consider that travelers often use smartphones to book
last-minute travels while tablets are applied for larger
and more expensive trips.
Leverage inspirational content for travelers using a WiFi
connection from for example a hotel or airport and feed
4G connected travelers with content that is quick to
consume on the run.
17


Set your targeting
so the consumers have the option to know more about the
area and research how to get there.
Geographic targeting – or otherwise known as location based
targeting holds thousands of unique opportunities for you to
target the traveler in the right place and context. Only your
imagination sets the limit.
Use geographic targeting to ensure that the right
messages get to mobile users at the right place and
time.
Target travelers within a 50 km radius of your destination
by showing inspiring images of the location and include
a learn more call to action,
18
Get the travelers attention right when they arrive at
the airport. Advertise for your ground transportation
solutions – that can help them to get to their hotel, or
make aware of your own accommodation with a last-
minute offer.


Set your targeting
Leadmill’s behavioral targeting aligns brand messaging
with topics that the target audience is interested in and
interacts with on their mobile devices.
It is reliable to assume that a travel audience, besides
spending time in travel apps, engages with apps from a
variety a categories. This can for example be; music &
entertainment, communications, weather, games,
shopping & retail and news.
A lot of travelers shop new items for their next trip, check
weather forecasts for their destinations and play games,
while waiting for their connection ﬂight.
Combine behavioral targeting with location-based
targeting and reach your audience, just when they need
your attention the most.
Besides targeting travelers based on their location
and technographic data, Leadmill mobile advertising
also holds extensive Behavioral targeting
opportunities. Those enable you to target the mobile
audiences based on their mobile content
consumption preferences, ad interaction, app usage,
interest etc.
19
For travel marketers, it is highly relevant to target the
travelers across these app categories to complement their
interests and behavior.


Set your targeting
Based on our intelligent tracking engine supported
with 3rd party integrations, we use the mobile
footprints left by travelers to craft unique audiences
and personas.
With this targeting method, you can target Outdoor
Enthusiast that have interest in nature activities and
content and look for travel content that give them
inspiration for new places to explore.
Or what about targeting Golf Fans by promoting your
new Golf resort and Parents to rise attention about
your Amusement park?
With Leadmill mobile audience personas, you can
craft your own persona that fits your specific needs
and objectives.
To reach and engage the right audiences at the right
time and make mobile advertising even more ROI-
effective – Leadmill works with mobile persona
targeting.
This targeting method combines behavioral,
contextual, technographic, demographic and
geographic targeting in one single unit, to make your
advertising even more specific.
20


conclusion
21
Whether traveling for business or pleasure travelers
use their mobile devices heavily throughout the
whole travel journey.
Considering that the consumers who primarily
engage with and consume travel related content are
Generation X’es and Millennials, sets certain
requirements to travel related brands.
These consumers expect mobile-friendly and highly
context relevant experiences. Seamless integration
across devices that helps travelers effortlessly to stay
connected during the whole travel journey is a must
for mobile marketing success.


Opportunities for travel brands
22
As outlined in this report, mobile holds plenty of
opportunities for travel brands that are ready to
enhance all the capabilities available.
To complement the mobilized travel behavior, it is a
necessity for travel brands to invest in mobile sites
and apps. Thereby brands can provide travelers with
easy access to information while on the go and
increase their means for brand engagement.
As the attention spans of the mobile travel audience
are short, travel brands need to leverage innovative
mobile advertising through effective campaign
targeting and engaging creative to help deliver
personalized, relevant messages in the right context.
Last but not least, brands need to reﬂect up on, what
role they can play in each of the four travel journey
stages to create the most context relevant
experience.

Mobile insights: travel industry

1.  comScore
Custom
Mobile
Travel
Advisor
Survey,
September
2013

2.  xAd
&
telMetrics,
Understanding
Mobile’s
role
in
the
consumer
path
to
purchase
2014,
Mobile
Consumer
Proﬁle:
Age
&
Gender

3.  eMarketer,
Traveler
Reviews:
Online
CommuniMes
Reshape
MarkeMng
Strategies
2014

4.  eMarketer,
US
mobile
travel
sales
to
increase
60%
in
2014

5.  TripAdvisor
Study
Reveals:
Responding
on
Reviews
Online
Drives
Booking
Inquiries
2014

6.  Mobile
Intel
Series:
Travel,
Millennial
Media
2014

References

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