While the COVID-19 pandemic was a wake-up call for many businesses to step up how they build and maintain customer relationships it has also sped up the adoption of digital technologies by several years. In line with this, we’ve seen a rapid increase in the uptake of CRM software and in particular, those assisted by AI technology.
A study by Research and Markets shows the global explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) market was valued at $3.50 billion in 2020 and will reach $21.03 billion by 2030.
Integrating your CRM with AI will send your airport into the stratosphere in terms of tracking, understanding and communicating with your passengers.
Join us to uncover why your airport needs CRM software as it evolves and looks ahead to the future.
What is CRM software?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s start with the basics. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is designed to support companies in tracking, understanding and communicating with their customers. Essentially, it is a hub of customer knowledge that airports can use to track and manage all interactions and touchpoints with prospects and customers. It can also flag up opportunities that might require additional nurturing and support to convert.
Airports can benefit from using CRM software to break down the customer journey and gain complete visibility at all stages, ensuring they target the right customers, with the right product or service, at the right time.
More than just managing customer data
CRM tools have long been used to improve customer interactions, with everyone from contact centres, marketing teams, and sales professionals benefiting. However, following the pandemic and digital transformation, CRMs are set to play an even more critical role in the customer journey.
Today, airports can integrate CRM solutions with a host of other platforms and tools, such as social media, chatbots and SMS campaigns to collect information and offer an omnichannel experience. When integrated with tools, such as Rezcomm’s Centralised Manage My Booking and Data Subject Request management modules, they also give customers greater control over their bookings and how their data is stored and used.
Additionally, Rezcomm’s AI CRM solutions offer automation opportunities for airports. CRMs now need far less input from employees to work effectively. This is a real game-changer when airport teams are under increased pressure to offer customers reassurance and exceptional support while also driving sales.
Automation reduces administration and overheads to create efficient processes across an entire business and is something all departments, from sales and marketing to finance and HR, can benefit from. When integrated with tools like Rezcomm’s AI and Business modules, including Analytics, Business Intelligence and Reporting and Forecasting, airports also gain a complete 360 view of their entire operations, fueling more informed and better business decisions.
Benefits of CRM for Airports
CRM software has a wide range of functions but let’s take a closer look at how your airport can benefit:
1. Maintain a centralised database across your airport
CRMs enable your airport to keep all prospect and customer information in a central location. This allows for easy cross-team access and the ability to manage all data in a single place. A solution like Rezcomm’s Customer Relationship Management module will save your employees time, preventing them from accessing spreadsheets and digging through customer communication records to find the information they need.
2. Manage all customer communications with ease
Use your CRM to manage all communications (email, phone, chatbot, social media) and bridge the gap between your airport and customers. Not only will Rezcomm’s powerful CRM module will save you time (no more manually logging data) and maximise every opportunity to engage with and sell to your customers, you can also set up an AI Chatbot which learns and adapts continuously, constantly and consistently providing your users with the latest and best information they request.
3. No missed opportunities
A CRM solution will track all of your prospect and customer activity and highlight when a follow-up is required. With follow-up reminders, you increase the chances of converting prospects into loyal customers and increasing the overall value of existing customers.
What’s great about CRM software is that you can keep track of every customer and their related data, no matter where they are in the customer journey. So, for example, you can see whether they’ve already visited your airport website, made any bookings, or spoke with someone from your team. This knowledge improves and streamlines further communications and helps identify opportunities for upsells and cross-sells.
4. Improve analytics and forecasting
When integrated with Rezcomm’s Analytics and Reporting and Forecasting modules, CRM can support your airport in boosting sales with smart data. Gain a clear insight into how your airport performs with in-depth reporting and plan ahead with accurate financial forecasting. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Our intuitive Business Intelligence module uses visual and easy-to-use dashboards and reporting to give you a 360-degree view of your entire airport business.
5. Enjoy a fully scalable solution across your entire business
The beauty of CRM solutions is that they’ll grow with your airport business and can be used across all departments for various purposes. For example, your marketing team may access your CRM to create personalised content for a particular customer or tailor CTAs on landing pages. At the same time, your customer support team may access your CRM to follow up on a customer complaint. Essentially, it has the potential to streamline customer data management and communications across your entire business, creating a more efficient and profitable way of working.
How CRM can improve the customer journey
Let’s now turn our attention to the customers. In particular, the customer journey with your airport. Here CRM has the potential to influence and optimise every stage of the booking journey, ensuring the appropriate communications and support are delivered.
1. Active Evaluation
According to Olapic, the path to travel (purchase and the experience) has become nonlinear. Consumers no longer research and book with a specific destination in mind; they instead turn to friends, influencers and colleagues through social media to find travel and holiday inspiration and deals.
A CRM system enables your airport to see a prospective customer’s browsing history and interests. By sending personalised, timely messages and offers to that person’s inbox or connecting with them on social media, you’re more likely to win them over at the active evaluation stage, ensuring you capture the booking.
2. Moment of Purchase
The moment of purchase is when a prospect decides to make a purchase based on their research. You can smooth the customer’s journey by providing information such as reviews, customer case studies and ratings that confirms their decision. This increases your airport’s credibility and builds trust and engagement.
CRM makes it possible to simplify the purchase process. For example, the customer data in your CRM system can be used to correspond, inform, and pre-populate forms such as checkout.
3. Flight Countdown
Once the customer has booked a flight, their main concern will be that the service lives up to expectations. Here the CRM system is vitally important to provide relevant customer communications so that the right contacts have the right information at the right time. This will help build a strong customer relationship as trust grows.
Airports can also use CRM software to generate customer surveys to ask customers about their experience and draw attention to and resolve any problems. Surveys from multiple customers are also helpful in that you can analyse them to highlight any areas of poor performance that your airport needs to address.
Any replies you receive from any of these methods can be fed back into the CRM system to enable you to tailor communications to the exact interests of your customers. This reduces the potential of spamming, is in line with GDPR guidelines and will result in a more engaged customer.
4. At the Airport
You can use information collected about the customer in the CRM to offer on-site discounts and special offers relevant to the customer, leading them to explore your airport’s retail concessions. Other communications might include details about the destination, such as real-time weather reports or flight information like gate and departure times.
5. Return Home
Catch the customer on their return from a trip with a ‘welcome home’ message. Use this message to ask for feedback or reviews, which will go back into the CRM system. Positive reviews and feedback can feature in future marketing campaigns, and you can quickly rectify negative by taking the appropriate action.
6. Loyalty Loop
The data stored in your CRM system makes it possible to continue the customer relationship with personalised communications long after the trip. The familiar statistic that it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one stands for airports. Use your CRM system to encourage repeat bookings, improve customer retention and achieve the highest possible ROI.
We explore this in more depth in our article Airport Customer Lifecycle Marketing: Find new opportunities
Discover more benefits of CRM solutions with Rezcomm
Every business that deals with customer data and communications can benefit from a CRM solution. And while there is a wide range of CRM software out there, we’d argue that we’re best placed for serving your airport. That’s because we have built our plug-and-play marketplace with airports in mind and curated a team of travel experts to provide the support you need.
For more information about our next-generation CRM solutions and plug-and-play Business, AI and Customer modules, get in touch to request the brochure, watch our video or contact our experts today.
Orchestrating digital strategy, Victoria Wallace is Rezcomm’s Chief Digital Officer. With specialisations ranging from digital marketing and CRM to UX design and ecommerce, she is an expert in integrating innovation and technology to deliver outstanding results in sectors like travel, parking, and airports.
