By Josh Gunn, head of UK marketing, Travel and Transport Statesman [sponsored]
Whoever invented email was an idealist. Everyone gets an email address and everyone can contact everybody.
Great, until you introduce newsletters, meeting requests, sales pitches, status updates, and the hundred other types of email we all receive on an hourly basis. So how do you communicate urgent messages at scale, 24/7? Push notifications.
Push notifications, sent directly to a traveller's smartphone, are great for sending urgent information that they might have missed if it had been sent in an email, like flight delays or gate changes. If I know when my takeaway pizza is out for delivery, I certainly should be able to receive updates from my TMC when my flight is cancelled.
Email is the Swiss Army knife of communications, but there's times when you need a specialist tool for specific messages. For urgent, time-sensitive information, push notifications have the advantage of delivering the right information to travellers, exactly when and where they need it the most.
Our travellers receive Dash Mobile alerts for various reasons, such as flight updates, check-in prompts and policy-friendly reminders, for example asking to book a hotel if they're travelling overnight if one has not already been reserved. We believe the best way to keep our travellers happy with push notifications is to give them control. Giving them the choice to switch every type of notification on or off within the app.
We're expanding push notifications so Travel Managers have more options over the type of messages sent out. A client wanted targeted notifications for travellers arriving in particular airports and cities so we developed a system that creates automated notifications for alerting travellers to unique events that impact travel.
A great example of this is when events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair or New York Fashion Week drive hotel prices, taxi fares and even restaurant bookings skyward. Notifying your travellers early of these and other large events that impact demand on their trips can help them save money, be better prepared, and make more of business travel.
If it's urgent, ditch the noise of email - it's time to push it.
- Interested in advancing travel technology within your organisation? Check out the Business Travel Summit, where Josh Gunn will be hosting a session on travel technology roadmaps. See the full programme.