Q- As an online portal how do you engage with consumers’ offline (on-ground) to gain customer loyalty?A- Despite being an online portal, I am aware of the fact that offline and online marketing resources have become more entangled. We also take some offline initiatives to engage our consumers, which includes participating in large scale events & trade shows and using print publications & advertising. EaseMyTrip also sends direct mailers to the costumers to make them aware about any latest offerings and deals of our company. Other strategies that we follow to gain the loyalty of our customers are cold calling that makes us reach potential and interested buyers and donating gift certificates or offering discounts on services that help us in building our business visibility.
Q- How important is experiential marketing for an online travel agency?A- Experiential marketing is an important activity for any travel agency. Many travel companies use experiential marketing to connect people together and offer memorable experiences to them that will stay long with them even if the occasion has gone by. Experiential marketing works beyond increasing awareness. It elevates the reputation and brand recognition of a travel company and delivers its messages in an innovative way in order to make the consumers caring for making their holidays more beautiful. It doesn’t matter that we are online or offline, experiential marketing always works and lures the customers.
Q- Any experiential campaigns in line for EasyMyTrip.com?A- We are soon planning to do some experiential campaigns where we will be choosing some beautiful destinations and taking the users to discover those places through virtual reality. We are planning to set up canopies of EMT in top shopping malls of metro cities and catch the attention of people about famous travel destinations.
Q- Online Travel Agencies is a growing market in India. What are your views on the same?A- It is quite true that online travel market in India is outperforming. The high degree of convenience, growing e-Commerce penetration, swiftly increasing Internet and mobile penetration and a mounting population of middle-class are some of the factors that boosted online travel agency market in India. The travel industry in India has generated great opportunities for jobs and employment. From last few years, India has become a popular place for traveling. Today’s youth are very much fascinated with the idea of vacationing as they find it the perfect way to release their stress and recreate oneself. With growing popularity of online market space, the modern traveler is able to search and compare the most appropriate thing for him. They don’t want to compromise on their holiday planning and look for someone experienced to plan it nicely. Instead of being conned by any local agent, they love to check things online.
Q- What were the major challenges that you faced initially and how have things changed now?A- After establishing our company, the biggest challenge that we faced was our age. I was 17 years old and Nishant Pitti (CEO & co-founder of EaseMyTrip) was of 19 years. So, agents were not taking us seriously as it was actually not easy for them to do business with teenagers and inexperienced lads of Delhi. Next big challenge was the growing competition in the travel and tourism industry of India. The basic idea of running each travel agency is same and to stand apart, we not only needed to work hard but also required to win the loyalty of the customers. So, we made flight tickets and holiday packages more affordable for customers and started offering them personalized services. These things have been left much behind. Now we are experienced travel professionals with millions of loyal customers.
Q- As per your experience, what are the upcoming trends and developments in this space?A- Trends in travel industry always keep changing as it is a technology driven sector that brings new opportunities for the travelers. It is not easy to predict the future travel trends and developments; therefore we are attentive in using the latest travel research and analysis to understand what can be trendy next in travel space. Discovering untouched and unique places have become a trend now with crossing the boundaries of the comfort zone. In coming years, we are sure that there will be significant growth in international business travel. One of the latest trends that travel industry is witnessing is today’s young travelers are desperately looking for adventure and unique experiences on their vacations.
Q- What are the special packages and deals that you offer to empower your customers?A- EaseMyTrip.com keeps coming up with best promotional deals and special tour packages that can help the customers in reducing their travel cost and facing lesser risks related to their traveling. We are closely associated with all major domestic and international airlines and top and not so famous hotels to ensure that our customers get the deals on their vacations and journeys.
Q- How is Social media helping in branding and marketing of travel agencies? If you can share some examples of digital media campaigns that worked for you?A- Using social media networks, travel agencies have become more reachable for new customers and their identification for their existing customers gets a consistency. For instance, a social media user comes to know more about a travel agency with more frequent posts appearing on their wall. Even an uninterested customer also starts taking an interest in a travel agency after witnessing its presence on multiple networks. A travel agent knows that if consumers have good experiences of traveling with him, then it is easy to influence them. Through various social media tools, many travel conversations are conducted to know about the customer experience for a particular destination, agent or hotel. More than 2/3rd social media users definitely post their comments about their experiences and this way, travel agencies easily connect with their target audience and earn brand recognition. An open social media platform performs on Magic Bullet Theory and proves to be an influential marketing tool for the regular travelers. There were many campaigns that have seen good responses. However, I remember a campaign that we started for 1st April and campaign was involving to offer holiday trip to Mars. Though, it was just a trick to have fun on April fool. It was well responded by the users as we offered really good deals on hotels and flights with this offer.
Q- What are your major takeaways from this business?A- Travel business is really challenging and one of the biggest takeaways from the day for me is that you need time to think about this business rather than just conducting it. It involves innovation and technology along with a strategy and calculated plan for the new generation. Consumers are in search of the best travel experiences and look for the best value. Using smart marketing skills like promotion or branding, a travel agent can differentiate himself in the crowd. One needs to remember that your brand content and promotional activities should serve on all screens (PCs, Laptops, Tablets and Smartphone) across all the channels. Today’s users are more engaged in mobile phones and social media. So, marketers have to learn more about targeting prospects (not audiences) on social media platforms and how to increase engagement and conversion through following various strategies.
Q- If not EasyMyTrip.com, which online travel agency would you choose for booking your travel?A- If it is not EaseMyTrip.com, then I would go for the travel agency that can help me in getting the best deals. As there are numerous travel companies and they come with different offers to lure the customers. Whichever company would be offering the best travel discounts to me, I would choose that. No one bothers about any travel agency but only thinks about getting a better package at lesser rates.
Q- What does the future of Indian online travel agency look like? A- Future of online travel agency in India is bright as the population of the middle class is increasing here. Earlier, air travel used to be just in the reach of a particular segment but now it has extended to a great extent. There is a large segment of people who are traveling now with air and living in luxurious star class hotels. This is the reason; this industry has also generated great job and employment opportunities. Through campaigns like Incredible India, India has also emerged as a great place for tourism and it is inviting a huge number of travelers from all over the world. Along with inbound tourism, travel agencies are also witnessing a rise in outbound travel markets of India. Most of the aware Indians are very much fascinated with the idea of vacationing and even the fluctuation in Indian rupees don’t affect the growing number of Indians traveling overseas and splurging on various things. For planning their holidays, they always look for the online travel agencies and prepare for memorable vacations. Along with vacations, business trips have become the need of every corporate and from booking their holiday packages, flight tickets, hotels to renting cars, they depend on their travel agents. There are many other grounds that suggest India has a bright future in the online travel business.
