It’s a tough time for businesses across verticals, but arguably the travel industry has been hit the hardest. These are unprecedented times, with many businesses feeling the pressure or finding it difficult to navigate. At emerchantpay, we believe in positive thinking and are presenting this as a time for travel merchants to reflect and regroup. We understand that there may be some businesses who are too busy trying to survive the present, but for those who are already looking towards a post-COVID-19 future, this article may offer some valuable advice.
The current situation
Travel bans, lockdown and job loss are phrases currently circulating throughout the travel industry. Indeed, times are challenging, with many airlines grounding their operations for the foreseeable future in the UK and airports closing terminals and runways. The uncertainty surrounding timeframes is one of the more troubling things that travel businesses have to contend with as they remain unsure when operations will be able to start up again. Despite the situation, there are some proactive measures that your business can take to make the present and future as bright as possible.
Retaining loyalty (and customers)
The most important tip to remember when facing a crisis is that your customers will be feeling as uncertain as you are and will, therefore, need reassurance. Effective communication will be your lifeline for keeping loyal customers on side. It can be difficult to strike the right balance between inundating your customers with messaging and informing them regularly and promptly. However, it is necessary to find this middle ground to ensure that your customers feel updated and are clear about what the next steps are.
If you actively work to provide great customer service now, you will be remembered by travellers who are looking to book a holiday once this has all blown over, and likely be their first choice of provider.
Looking to the future
Now we’ve covered what travel merchants can do in the present, it’s time to turn our attention to the future. Below, we’ve detailed shifts that we are expecting to see in the industry and pointers for how your business can adapt to these changes.
Forecasting based on insights
To understand the shape the future will most likely take, it’s important to go back to your data. It could highlight areas for improvement that you could spend this time working on —optimise now to cater to your customers’ needs more precisely in the future. This could be in the form of analysing acceptance rates or shifting the focus on to payment methods that are the most popular with your customers.
Furthermore, data can reveal previously undetected patterns of behaviour and indicate the segments most willing to travel after the industry gets the all-clear, e.g. those who have engaged with your brand during this period, opened marketing communications or who have had a trip cancelled. From here, you can create a strategy based around targeting these particular groups. As a payment partner, emerchantpay offers comprehensive reporting designed to help your business make data-driven decisions. Our invaluable insights can inform targeting and help make analytical projections for the industry.
Communication rebuilds trust
As we touched upon above, communication is crucial for ensuring customer loyalty, but it is also essential in the journey to rebuild trust in the industry. Consumers will, understandably, be wary to splash out money on a trip, in case a resurgence of the virus were to happen. Travel merchants will have to work both individually and collaboratively to help restore trust in the industry, otherwise, collectively they will suffer. Regular updates that showcase how your company has overcome issues and any measures that have been implemented to safeguard customers against any potential risks would be beneficial to share with your customers.
Embracing new standards
Coronavirus will inevitably lead to a shift in universal standards. Processes surrounding hygiene, technology and payments will have to be adjusted to reflect the new hyper-risk-conscious consumer base. From a practical standpoint, everything from aeroplanes to hotel rooms and rental cars will be subjected to more rigorous sanitation procedures. Furthermore, increased hygiene precautions will result in more self-service technology, limiting the amount of face to face interactions that customers will have with businesses. Consumers will likely embrace cashless payment methods, like contactless and card not present transactions, which reduce the chance of infection. Of course, at this stage, it is still speculative, but it is worth starting the process of digitising relevant areas of your business.
How can emerchantpay help?
We’re highly attuned to fluctuations in the travel industry, particularly regarding payment trends and developments. We offer services to B2B and B2C merchants and customise payment options to suit your approach, providing a seamless experience for your customers.
Upgrade your payment solutions
Your payment flow is an important part of the customer experience and it needs to be carefully tailored to their needs. Upgrading this element of your business could give you a head start over your competitors once the industry has returned to its usual state of play. It’s worth using this time to revisit your payment offering and seeing how it can be optimised to achieve better results in the future.
Our payment gateway supports all major credit and debit card brands, eWallets and a wide range of local payment methods, allowing you to cater to consumer demand. If required by your business, our payment gateway can have Mail Order/ Telephone Order (MOTO) functionality built-in, meaning that customers who prefer to pay over the phone have their preferences catered for. PayByLink is another useful service that we offer travel merchants. This simple solution allows merchants to send a payment form link to their customers via email or SMS. PayByLink is particularly beneficial for merchants who don’t have a booking engine running on their website as they just need to be able to access their online portal to manage payments.
Let your business take off with emerchantpay
At emerchantpay, we understand the challenges the travel industry is currently facing, and we are on hand to offer support and guidance to all our merchants. Working collaboratively, this pause in operations can be used as a period of analysis and strategy revisiting, meaning you’ll be in a position of strength once this difficult period has come to an end.
If you’re working in travel and want to know more about how we can help your business, get in touch with a member of the team today.