I’m pleased to see that our Amadeus presentation at the PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit has kicked off a very healthy debate about whether travellers want curatedflight recommendations or desire comprehensiveness and thus more choice. We welcome debate — stimulating discussion in the industry is a good way to open doors to innovation with the objective of providing consumers with smarter user experiences online.
Here at Amadeus, we believe that consumers need different sets of results depending on where they are in the purchase decision funnel.
In the INSPIRE and PLAN phase, they will appreciate having access to a broad set of results.
- Map view of inspiration
- Country landing pages
- Calendar views
They need the ability to browse for content without constraints on specific destination or dates.
But, at this stage, they do not want to be overwhelmed by long lists of alternative flights for each destination.
In the SHOP and BOOK phase, the customer needs help to decide which product/flight to purchase.
In this case, they do need detailed flight information. However, as per the Paradox of Choice*, too many alternatives will create confusion and frustration that has a negativeimpacton the decision process.
Applying proven retailing techniques, we know that the online travel agency who will be able to curate the results will have a better conversion rate.
In this scenario, there is never a need to provide a huge set of flight alternatives for a broad set of dates or destinations.
We have seen this with our customers, and these points have also been confirmed thanks to a global PhoCusWright study we commissioned earlier this year which identified that during the shopping process, 47% of U.S. travellers doexperience frustration online, going up to 78% in Russia.
This is due to information overload and the lack of confidence that they are getting a good deal.
The great advantage that ourAmadeus Flight Search portfolio brings is that it includes functionality to enable the end-to-end conversion funnel:
- Extreme Search for open inspirational search (and traffic acquisition)
- Master Pricer for flight alternatives on a specific destination and date
- Featured Results™ for curated results that facilitate the decision process
Due to these innovativetechnology options, online travel agencies are able to create innovative travel sites that will inspire consumers and help them purchase the product they are looking for both on online and via mobile channels.
At the end of the day, successful retailers are the ones able to present the right product to the consumer at the right time.
* The Paradox of Choice is an established theory by American psychologist Barry Schwartz, that demonstrates that limiting consumer choices greatly reduces anxiety for shoppers and facilitates the purchase decision process.
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