Executive Summary
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Travelers' expectations of digital experiences have dramatically shifted.
Brands that understand their consumer are the ones most likely to get this experience right - and ultimately grow and thrive.
There are some notable differences between Canadian and American views on travel. Looking back, Canadians were active day and international travelers. And, while not ready just yet, Canadians will be eager to take international trips again. On the other hand, Americans are more likely to be ready now to cross borders.
A user design and experience expert, Anton believes that groundbreaking human-centric journeys are borne from the intersection of creativity and strategy.
Groundbreaking results require holistic new ways of working. After more than 15 years of leading multi-faceted, cross-functional digital teams to deliver large scale, customer-centric projects for clients including BBC, Nissan, Pfizer and Visit California, Anton believes that siloes needed to be broken down to free our thinking. A passionate customer advocate, he aims to show clients and partners that an intelligent and purposeful mix of design thinking and business strategy makes people feel deep emotional connections that drive them to action.
Anton Morrison
VP, Experience Design, Americas
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Now is the time to reimagine the digital experience for the traveler. Whether they’re planning, booking or experiencing a vacation, travelers are more cautious. That means there’s likely more research and more digital interactions happening before they’re ready to make a decision. It’s never been more important to invest in a digital experience that serves the relevant information they need alongside the inspiration they want.
Anton Morrison
VP, Experience Design, Americas
The majority of travelers are ready to travel locally now. Comfort levels to travel further from home get higher as travelers look to the future, six to twelve months from now.
One in ten reported that they won’t ever feel truly comfortable while traveling again. A third of travelers said they would feel comfortable traveling once COVID-19 is gone or nearly gone.
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To get CX right, you must first understand what the customer values.
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Only 16% of travelers rate the current digital experience offered by destination organizations as ‘Excellent’. Travelers rate the digital experience of booking platforms slightly higher, saying that 19% of the experiences offered are ‘Excellent’. However, this indicates that there’s room for improvement.
Appnovation’s research measured Canadian and American consumers’ sentiment around travel amidst the pandemic and their expectations of Travel & Tourism brands, specifically in relation to their digital experiences when planning and booking travel.
Current Traveler Sentiment
The Digital Customer Experience
There’s room for improvement. Company, booking, and destination websites are the most popular sources of information for travelers when planning their trips. But, travelers indicate there is room to improve the digital experience.
Cater to the younger traveler. Supported by more day travel, domestic destination sites need to be an excellent digital experience as well as cater to the younger traveler, as Gen Z uses these sites most often.
Travelers rank easy navigation and up-to-date information as the most important factors for a great digital experience. A user friendly design ranked second, meaning the user is able to accomplish what they want to easily and intuitively.
What can travel brands do?
Focus on the customer.
Different generations value different things when it comes to the online experience. It’s important to understand what the customer wants and how they’re behaving at every step of the journey in order to deliver a best-in-class experience.
Provide personalized, data-driven experiences.
By collecting and analyzing data, travel brands can create data-driven experiences that are personalized to the individual customer. When this happens consistently, customer loyalty and trust follow.
Implement scalable, flexible technology to achieve this flexible and agile CX.
Technology that allows for personalization, scalability and the addition of new channels as customers’ expectations evolve is essential.
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