Walking The Personalization Tightrope
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Walking The Personalization Tightrope
Presented by Sabre Labs Keynote Speakers: Kerry Bodine, Mark McSpadden and Jon Sandruck
Published: November 18, 2016
Kelly Happ, Travel Daily Media USA
Among the most interesting workshops at this year’s Phocuswright Conference, was the presentation by Sabre Labs about personalization. It turns out business is personal – at least when you’re talking about customer service and targeted marketing. But, as the experts note, it’s all about execution.
The Opportunity (Kerry Bodine, Customer Experience Coach) Based on a recent study by Convergys, 63% of customer satisfaction (CSAT) was higher with personalization. Technology has finally caught up with customer’s expectations. The opportunity to impact the bottom line is significant. Whether it’s cutting customer effort (and frustration), empowering employees to problem solve, or creating seamless interactions and experiences for the customer, the right use of personalization can decrease costs and increase revenue.
The Rules (Jon Sandruck, Sabre) Personalization is a human centered design issue. This is a problem solving discipline that focuses on how a customer uses technology, how it makes them feel and how it effectively integrates into their life. Psychology and culture are important. Guidelines include everything from “don’t be creepy”, “don’t be rude” and “don’t be too human”! The bottom line is that execution matters – as does context and conversational content. Its more about how our brains work and less about the data science.
The Enabling Technologies (Mark McSpadden, Sabre) Two key technologies that are enabling these personalization opportunities are Connected Intelligence and Conversational Interfaces. Connected Intelligence is the idea that the things we know are becoming more widespread and more connected. The evolution of data has gone from data silos (no interaction), to data warehousing (limited interaction), to now, data lakes (fluid interaction). Additionally, Conversational Interfaces (chat bots, personal assistants, etc.), use natural language to interact with systems and machines. This interface system starts to learn behavior and evolves to be more relevantly personal and seamless as it interacts with its user. Understanding when and how deep to use the bot and when human hand-off is required is critical in optimizing this technology. These technologies are specifically relevant for the travel industry as it pertains to shopping, service and support and merchandising.
In summary there is enormous opportunity in using personalization technology for the travel industry but it is a matter of careful balance and thoughtful execution. Because personalization is about people!
For more information on these exciting technologies and trends, download The Emerging Technologies & Travel Report, released this week by Sabre Labs. This report delves deeper in to the megatrends of connected intelligence, conversational interfaces and digital realities and their overall impact on the travel industry.