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SAN DIEGO – Host agency Avoya Travel introduced a new concept, Avoya Infinity, at its 2017 conference at the Rancho Bernardo Inn here.
Avoya Infinity details the journey a consumer takes from researching a vacation to booking to enjoying that vacation and sharing it on social media.
Appropriately shaped like its eponymous infinity loop, the concept in image form details seven key points — dream, discover, engage, connect, book, excite and enjoy, in that order — that a consumer reaches when planning and taking a vacation, and Avoya’s involvement in each.
“Infinity is taking a new look at the consumer journey and looking at a very non-linear approach,” said Abbey Ramge, senior director of brand marketing at Avoya. “We understand that consumers have a lot more at their fingertips when it comes to technology. We can’t expect them to move through the funnel through the same way, so we’re adapting our mindset — we’re adapting our planning to make sure that we’re evolving with the consumer and evolving with technology. So that’s where the Avoya Infinity was born from, and that’s what we’re pushing forward in our marketing plan moving forward.”
Or, as Sam McCully, senior vice president of marketing, said, “What we’ve done is really streamlined and made the map clearer, more fluid,” placing the vacation planner in the center of the map between prospecting and loyalty endeavors.
According to McCully, the left side of the infinity loop is the “prospecting” loop, detailing the steps “dream,” “discover” and “engage.” It represents Avoya using technology to prospect for new leads.
The center of the infinity loop represents the “connect” portion, or when an Avoya independent agent is introduced to the consumer when they are categorized as a qualified lead looking for vacation-planning help.
The right side is the “loyalty” loop, consisting of “book,” “excite” and “enjoy,” representing the time in which an agent gets a customer ready for their trip through to the actual trip, when the consumer will enjoy the vacation and share things like photos and videos on social media, hopefully highlighting both the agent and Avoya.
Ramge detailed some of the steps Avoya is taking in furthering the prospecting portion of infinity loop. For instance, content created by Avoya detailing the role an agent plays in the vacation-planning process will be targeted to websites frequented by Avoya’s ideal affluent clients, like Travel & Leisure.
Avoya will also employ native advertising, in which content it creates will appear like editorial content on websites, ultimately driving to a landing page on its website. Additionally, Avoya has partnered with influencers, or travel bloggers, that will post about the value of using a travel agent.
Then, Avoya will attempt to engage consumers on its website. For instance, McCully said, AvoyaTravel.com includes a favoriting tool that enables consumers to “shop” for vacations and save their favorites by marking them as a favorite.
Utilizing those consumers’ email addresses, Avoya will then create personalized touch points to further engage those consumers. McCully said the content will be personalized, including things like anniversaries or birthdays.
Avoya will also employ cross-channel remarketing, Ramge said, following users that have visited AvoyaTravel.com via advertising on other websites that drives them back to Avoya.
Ultimately, Avoya will send a qualified lead to one of its agents using its patented lead-distribution system, matching the prospect with an adviser who specializes in the kind of travel the consumer wants.
From there, Avoya will move on to the loyalty loop, exciting the traveler about their booked vacation by automatically sending trip details and other marketing materials.
Then, the hope is the traveler will share information about their trip on social media while in destination, including both their agent and Avoya Travel via hashtags. The ultimate goal is to create loyalty and referrals.
According to McCully, Avoya Infinity’s ultimate goal is to create the industry’s best customer experience.
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
