Digital Trends for Air Travelers: Think with Google Report | July 2016

Continuing with their analysis of micro moments for the travel and hospitality industry, Google has released the latest Think with Google Report for July 2016 focusing on Digital Trends for Air travelers.

The top queries on Google (ordered by search volume) include:

I-want-to-get-away moments

• Where is Hilton Head Beach?
• How to get a cheap Flight?
• How to backpack Europe?
• What island is Kona on?
• When is the cheapest time to book a flight?

Time-to-make-a-plan moments

• When is the best time to book a flight?
• What are the cheapest days to fly?
• How much is a private jet?
• What is the cheapest day to fly?
• How to fly standby?

What is interesting about these queries is that people (increasingly younger, female skewed) seems to be seeking actual travel-hacking information rather than standard planning queries! More such insights can be gathered from the complete report. You can download that here.

Targeting the travel audience | Some new thinking

In a previous post we looked at how Google viewed Travel and its stages in the year 2012. As Google says in their latest thinking on this topic:

"Travel micro-moments start when people begin dreaming of a trip, and they continue all the way through the long-awaited trip itself. These moments tend to fall into one of four categories, which map closely to the stages of the travel decision-making process: dreaming, planning, booking, and experiencing.

Travel moments that matter

I-want-to-get-away moments: a.k.a. “dreaming moments” that happen when people are exploring destination options and ideas with no firm plans. At this stage, people are looking for inspiration.

Time-to-make-a-plan moments: a.k.a. “planning moments” that happen when people have chosen a destination. They’re looking for the right dates, the right flight, the right place to stay, and all the things they’ll do while they’re there.

Let’s-book-it-moments: a.k.a. “booking moments” that happen when the research is done, and people are ready to book their tickets and reserve their rooms.

Can’t-wait-to-explore moments: a.k.a. “experiencing moments” that happen when the trip is underway. Travelers are ready to live the trip they’ve been dreaming about—and share it with others."

But what I like the best is how they propose brands and marketers make the most of these moments. The advice is simple but damn effective. It includes:

• Be there and
• Be useful

The consumer of today is technology (and mostly cash) rich but time poor. If you are not able to provide them with what they need in a predictive manner, they will quickly switch to another app. You need to earn their trust and keep re-earning it constantly. Being there and being useful is probably the most succinct advice that will help you do that!

Targeting the travel audience | The Old way

Way back in 2012, Google came up with a model that revolutionized how brands targeted audiences in the travel industry. Until then, the conventional wisdom was that there were two primary actions that travelers did

• Research Travel options
• Book travel

So when Google came up with a five-stage model that actually made sense, people actually sat up and took notice. These stages included:

• Dreaming
• Planning
• Booking
• Experiencing and
• Sharing

Without much more by way of explanation, allow me to present a set of slides that explain what these stages entailed. 

Dreaming

Planning

Booking

Experiencing

Sharing

In another post we will take a look at how this very same thinking has been refined over time!