And may your....

Our trust in our culture and its traditions and norms is what makes us human. That trust has eroded in the key parts of our culture; Government, Law, Media etc. Perhaps nowhere more obvious has been in the decline in trust in formal religion. Most recently there has been a study published in USA on religion by PRRI who style themselves as "a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research and driving conversations at the intersection of religion, culture, and politics." As we approach the holy days of Easter beloved in most Christian faiths, it is a time to reflect on where we are as a people. I identify as a Roman Catholic but I am not a fond follower of organized religion. I encourage you to read the report and reflect on where you stand. To me and it would seem many others, organized religion does not meet our needs for spiritual health. The emergence of a right wing pro-Christian dogma dominated group of affiliates that are inserting themselves into so many nations' politics is unwelcome. 

So during this time of Easter, I would encourage you to watch one of the most erudite Irish Satirists - Dave Allen. Here he is on religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43bObLAQt8 

May you and your family have a happy and blessed Easter. And as he always signed off. May your god go with you.

Trust What Consumers Do - Not What They Say

If this theme sounds familiar - it is. I believe firmly that consumers lie when asked questions. Not deliberately but well its because people find it very hard to express what their behavior will be in certain circumstances. Indeed time and time again people when questioned give different answers from their actual behavior. This week Gerry McGovern tackled the subject head on in his weekly piece.

I have to say I agree with him. One of my friends is a professional focus person. He is paid on a regular basis money to participate in focus groups. Some times 4 times a week. He makes a nice bit of pocket money for a retired person.

Interestingly that Erick Schmidt of Google said "People want Google to tell them what to do" did he gather that information from behavior - possibly, did he gather it from surveys - absolutely.

In Gerry's view, the worst way to design a website is to have five smart people in a room drinking lattes. The longer you leave them in the room the worse the design becomes. The next worst way is to have 15 customers in a room drinking lattes. What people say they do and what they actually do are rarely the same thing.

Why? Mostly because they say one thing and behave differently as a result of trying to be good. People will verbalize the higher more proper result but still behave differently. Its a bit like saying you will go on a diet....

And that my friends is the truth, or at least what I am saying....

With thanks to gotsole for the image.

Where Do You Get Your Social Media Information?

Most of us are pretty harried and very busy people. We are drinking from a large number of fire hoses. Just staying current in our dedicated fields is challenging enough. But what happens when we get lots of new stuff coming down these pipes?

Well we rely on friends and those we respect to help us out. We read - a LOT. Authoritative publications and websites are what we are used to. Humans are creatures of habit and we actually don't really like change all that much.

But something has happened. Our traditional sources of trust for knowledge are slowly eroding. They are disappearing from the landscape. Newspapers are a prime example. But also trade journals have moved away from standard paper to more on-line medium. Great for the forests but not so good for our brain cells I believe.

So who do we trust and where do we go to get our information about social media. Surprisingly most of us eschew actually gaining the experience from well Social Media itself. The very people who used to be the determinators of our adoption of all media seem to find Social Media "Challenging". So says a study by the Creative Group. But actually it gets worse. They dont even go to these tools to learn about them. Regular readers know I am not a huge fan of Twitter. I am also not a FBA (Facebook Addict). I recognize the value of these tools but I am also realistic in my consumption and usage.

Advertising and marketing executives were asked, "How challenging is it for you to stay current on social media trends?" Their responses:
Very challenging 9%
Somewhat challenging 56%
Not challenging 35%

The same group of executives also were asked, "What do you consider the single best resource for staying current on social media trends?" Their top responses included:

Conferences or seminars 23%
Networking events or industry association meetings 18%
Webinars or online training 17%
Trade publications 15%
Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn posts 14%
Blogs 7%

So by just reading the Professor's rantings - you become members of an elite group.

In my day job - I have been asking people I work with and interact with where they get their information on. One group of bloggers are - not - surprisingly ALL OVER Social Media. But in the main most people (barstool research) have really little direct interaction with Social Media.

This is dangerous. Everyone needs to know what is exactly going on. Even if a lot of the material being pumped our can be absolute drivel.

And then of course their are the addicts... How did they end up that way?

Same way all the usual suspects did

Cheers

Trust Must Be Earned And Kept At Every Interaction

HSBC has been running ads in its Different Values campaign for many years. Those of us who spend time in international airports cannot help but see them - they appear in just about every jetway i have walked down for years. I keep wanting them to do an image based on Trust. But so far haven't seen one.

Trust is a fleeting thing. Just as Toyota and Palm.

Trust in Travel has never had a high level in my view. Much of it has been because there was little trust engendered by the PR hacks in their descriptions of products and services. In an industry that depends largely on obfuscation as core concept - Trust is a hard thing to deliver.

A great piece from eMarketer today reminds us about several characteristics. It covers a number of recent studies from Neilsen and others. its a quick read and is a good aide memoir.


Perhaps the two characteristics that I feel are critical are:

1. Trust has to be earned and kept at all times.
2. Trust does not come from interaction. It is an additional element.

The assumption that frequent interaction results in Trust is a mistake that is made worldwide. You need only to consider that there are some things you have to do (like reading this blog everyday) but you don't have to trust it or even like it to use it.

Travel Marketers - just DON'T forget that.

"Who Do You Love?" Or Trust...

That old Bo Diddly song was stuck in my head the other day. Actually the Geoerge Thorogood version. And I have been thinking more and more about the essence of Trust. It just amazes me in Travel how much consumers are expected to trust and are constantly let down.

And then I read two stories from emarketer. Both related to Trust. The first one related to consumers perspectives with regard to trusting Facebook. Interestingly they were more concerned with the commercialization than the abuse of their personal data.

The second item from the same day by emarketer was on the acceptance of mobile marketing messages. Today we are bombarded with the "year of the mobile" messages from interested parties. Yet the first truly mobile commerce generate - the Millenials are none to happy about being marketed/spammed via their mobile devices.

This doesn't bode well for people expecting to make squillions of dollars by sending messages (unsolicited) to mobiles - smart or dumb.

So dear friends - think very carefully about what you are doing before you go down that path...

Cheers

It Really Is All About Trust

Brands are about Trust but Trust is not all about Brands.

People Trust Friends - some of the time - but not all of the time.

The assumption that friends trust other friends all the time and therefore by extension their "relationships" on social networks result in the cachet of Trust being bestowed on the circle/network is patently false. However there seems to be a lot of people who both believe in this notion and are now relying on it.

The difficulty is debunking this theory. Finding a way to understand Trust and its Impact should be something everyone takes care in - not just the frontline people.

If there is someone out there with empirical (and repeatable) technology or process who can prove me wrong ... please do. I really do want to believe. I just find it goes against my grain.

Cheers

Think your site is good? Think again...

There is one thing that has bugged me for ages about online travel and it is the booking and purchasing experience. There are others who are far better at describing the customer acquisition process and additional processes that put the consumer into the booking and buying path(s). But the same basic processes still exist that have been there since day one. And I think its time for a change.

Despite the wide adoption of so-called Web 2.0 applications most if not all of them do not improve the basic experience of a travel purchase. The booking process remains perhaps one of the weakest links in the chain of the online experience for travel in my humble opinion. It is somewhat our industry's dirty little secret that after 14 years of online travel we still haven't improved the basic process and no one seems willing to get out there and do something about it.

RightNow who power Travelocity's CRM did a study in the UK I believe and found some interesting but perhaps not so surprising results. It was done online so you have to factor in that these people are online savvy and therefore more likely to be able to get through some of the inadequacies of the booking process.

Here are some highlights:

Many find booking online frustrating, with not being easily able to find information on hidden costs (53%), not finding specific information about holidays (47%), not being able to ask questions about holidays (45%) and finding the actual buying process too complicated (35%) the most common complaints.

A lack of clarity is the main reason customers end up having to call or email the company, with 51% citing unclear pricing and details about costs and 50% unclear descriptions about holidays and flights.

When asked what could be improved, 60% said they would like more transparency on travel costs, 44% wanted better provision of destination and flight details, 43% wanted easier website search capabilities to find information, while the same percentage wanted easier and clearer booking processes.

In addition, the survey found that the impact of a negative experience may not just be contained to just one individual, as 72% of consumers have told others about a past negative online booking experience.

By contrast, just 54% of consumers have told others about a good online booking experience.

I would suspect that a more generic poll amongst all user types would magnify the last good vs bad result. If you were to ask the question such as is this experience better or worse than a human agent - that would be an interesting question.

But this doesn't help improve the process. So I am trying to look at better experiences for the online purchasing process. In previous posts I have discussed the better versions of Airline Websites such as AC vs WN and F9's new site. I think that the merchandising part has become too much of a seller's drug to make it valuable to the consumer. However we all recognize the importance of merchandising to the consumer. The problem is that the inherent conflict of holding out your hand for money at every touchpoint eventually causes the user to become inured to your wiles.

One thing is for certain - simplifying does improve the response rate from the users.

Transparency improves trust. Trust actually appears to be the biggest factor that is missing from all the online sites. I have asked countless users and non-users alike about Travel purchasing experience online. Admittedly this is a bar stool research but I believe it is a good proxy for the rest of the world. Frictionless purchasing experience should be the goal. The all say the same when asked - do you really trust this site... answer not as much as someone I know.

Why not combine those factors? I have always thought that the usual consumer trust propositions work as well online as they do offline. However they have to be adapted to an audience with a much shorter attention span and ease of walking away. And they must be kept fresh.

So from now on - I am going to be the advocate for what I am going to call the Crystal Engine. the Crystal Engine is the one that delivers the 4 basic propositions

Natural
Transparent
Frictionless
Trusted

Transactions..... oh yes and it has to work too.

What do you think?