Understanding consumers is key to better planning

One of the most common and effective ways to think about travel marketing is through the lens of the marketing funnel. The idea that travellers go through a distinct process when deciding to make a travel purchase, passing from inspiration, to planning and purchase is a useful model to apply when developing campaigns and measuring their performance.

Here’s Facebook’s broad framework of the travel buyer’s journey

However, the path to purchase is not that straightforward. Across the various stages, people are switching between multiple devices, platforms and channels. A 2015 study found that on average people visit some 56 digital touchpoints in 116 minutes over 43 days before making up their minds. 1

Newspaper/ Magazine Out-of-home/ Billboard

Television Laptop

Radio Mobile

What’s more, while travel marketers may spend a majority of their budgets in the inspiration, planning and purchase stages – consumer spend may extend beyond purchase. This means there’s opportunities to guide customers beyond the purchase stage – both while traveling and upon return.

For marketers these behaviors have significant implications, making it harder to decide where to allocate advertising dollars. To overcome this, brands may wish to take a people-based approach to measurement, rather than a siloed view split by channel. Getting visibility into consumer behavior, and how ads on different channels and devices can drive conversions — the true path to conversion — helps marketers make informed decisions about which campaign strategies require more attention and investments.