It’s always depressing to start the new year and see your status down to Zero again. This is what I was greeted with yesterday when I logged in to confirm if I still have a system-wide upgrade that I need to use before it expires. I never even made it down the page far enough to tell before this big ‘ol slap in the face came, and unmotivated me. Though at least after a while of mulling on it, it actually motivated me to blog about it.

They really need to make it a bit more cheerful. Maybe call out a bit more than I’m Executive Platinum (note: it IS off to the side), and the great benefits I already have… and want to keep. I’m not usually one for “gamification”, but I think in this case, I need a bit more of it.

 

An Alternative Strategy

American has missed a prime opportunity to capitalize on my disheartened’ness (yeah, I made it up), and WANT to see something there. They could capitalize on that emptiness to drive Engagement and even Cross/Up-sell. The primary next step is to get me to spend. So make it EASY for me.

First show me some Positive News

Sure you have it over on the left-hand side that I am Platinum Executive, but hammer that home in the main content area. “YOU ARE SPECIAL TO US” !!!! So special, that we want to remind you of all the rewards for your loyalty. You flew 141,000 miles. You kept loyal, when there might have been a cheaper/more-convenient option with another airline. You are now eligible for Priority Boarding, 2 Free Checked Bags, “Earn when you Burn”, a Free Drink … yada yada.

“Free Drink” you say? Well hell, I’ve got something to look forward to. What might those drink options be by the way? Whoa, you could show me the drink menu you already have digitized, and not have to do more work than to link off to a pop-up window? Hot Damn, now that’s easy. +1 Happiness for me, about 10 minutes of work for your web team.

Now lets push that simple drink concept a bit further. What if – and this is a craaaaaazy one here –, what if you ask me what my favorite drinks are, and I told you?   :: mind blown ::. That would give you data on me that can help personalize my experience and make it better on-plane. The stewardess who has her handy-dandy tablet can pull up my profile – and I know they CAN do this, because whenever I sit in Economy they look at my seat on the chart and see I’m Platinum Executive, and don’t charge me for my snack – and see that I’m a Vodka and Cranberry kind of guy (yes Internet, I like “girly drinks”), and I also like Dr. Pepper. If it’s a morning flight heading into business hours, and I’m wearing a dress shirt, it’s probably not the time to offer a Spirit, but you could make it more personal and say “Mr. Rosario, can I get you a Dr. Pepper”…. WHOA. No really, that simple sentence tells me that you listened to my input/data, remembered it, and then cared enough to make me all warm and fuzzy. Imagine if you expand that to more touch points.

Now “Show Me the Money”…

Ok, maybe its more accurate to say: “Now Show Me how to Show YOU the Money”. If you want me to take more trips, maybe make some recommendations on trips I CAN take. Here is where you can leverage the large set of data about the flights I HAVE taken. Are the some regularities? Do I fly to a certain location often, say San Diego or New York? Have I looked multiple times at trips to LA or Hawaii with Point Redemption? Do I frequently look for a trip before/after a trip I have booked, to a destination near by… perhaps a sign that I want to extend a work trip for vacation.

However can we make those insights real you say? Well, you just happen to own a component of the Tealium Universal Data Hub, and can get these done by utilizing the rest. And SOOOO many more cases. OK, enough of the Sales Engineer hat.

So now you take that data/insight, and you personalize some offers to entice me to book a trip. Guess what, if you are smart about the recommendations – or let’s be real, if you are even close you still plant the seed in my mind – then you greatly decrease the amount of time, thought, and effort I need to put into finding those trips, and therefore increase the chance of me converting. And if you take the Gamification aspect of “This will get you X EQD/EQM/EQS, and put you X way down the path to Platinum Executive…”, then you put in another calculation that I don’t need to think of myself, encouraging me and making my choice easier.

Now here’s a wild idea: We know you don’t REALLY want us to use our Miles/Rewards; We know you really bank on the fact that we let them lapse because we are too busy to use them… But the more that we ENJOY travel, the more we WANT to do it. Sure, it isn’t going to double our activity, but every uptick counts. I stay loyal because of Service and Rewards. I could easily fly Spirit/SouthWest/JetBlue/insert-any-other-‘value’-airline, and save lots of money. In fact, with as difficult as you make it to USE my rewards, it’s actually cheaper in the long run paying out of my own pocket with a value airline, and taking MORE vacations, than to stay loyal. It only takes one moment when I say “enough”, and then I’m gone… likely forever. Ask Hilton, they lost a good 5-6 years of Diamond status from me, and only in the last 2 years got my business again. Instead of trying to avoid showing me trips I can do with my miles/rewards, go ahead and proactively include these, either as options by themselves, or within the recommendation: “xxx Dollars  OR . xxx Points”. If you take away SOME of the EXCRUCIATING pain – no really, PLEASE believe me in this – of trying to find a vacation idea on points, I see that they are ACTUALLY worthwhile to continue to accumulate, and I’m motivated to do it more.

You can even turn these recommendations into Affiliate / Co-Selling opportunities for yourself, by bundling packages based on my Visitor Profile… ok, ok, one more plug for Tealium… BUY AUDIENCESTREAM.

 

If all else fails, BRIBE ME!!!

That may sound like a joke, but it’s real. Offer me some amount of Points/Discounts/Benefit, by taking interaction with the Brand. This could be filling out more of my profile, signing up for newsletters, sharing a discount code or promotion with friends, writing a review… SOOOO many things. Turn it into “Challenges”, where if I complete more of them that I can increase the gains even more. If in a few minutes I can get SOMETHING on the score board, and not see that depressing “YOU HAVE NOTHING” screen, then it totally changes my outlook right away. Then continue that path – but PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t inundate me with emails – with on-going touch points/challenges that are personalized to me.

 

Like what you read?

Buy me dinner, or least at least have coffee and geek out. If you are American Airlines and you implement some of this, maybe fly my family on vacation… probably a LOT cheaper to comp me Miles/Tickets than to actually pay me.

Want to connect? Send me a message:

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