In a sector beset with change, how do CMO's use data to navigate forwards and achieve revenue gains?

John F Kennedy once said that “Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future” This is so true when we consider the changes we've experienced in the travel and leisure sector and in particular how we should be using our data for future success. 

So much of our past and present data and insight norms in our sector have been turned upside down. The backbones of our trading meetings have been ripped out and our data charts now look as if a spider on steroids has wildly recorded the sporadic highs and lows of trading over the pandemic.

From broken and disrupted trading patterns to changed market conditions, the data analysis you used to inform your decisions, is no longer valid. Forget relying on yoy performance or propensity or predictive analysis against forecast or budget, because consumer and market change, has cut through those patterns deeply.

Consider how we consume products and services during lockdowns and how we work and spend our leisure time and you'd be challenged to think of stone unturned.

In our sector, change has exploited every facet of trading, with numerous openings and closings, business being turned on and off, pace of innovation and gigantic leaps in customer service along with how customers consume our products and services. It's futile to depend upon historic trading and customer behaviours for success in 2021.

Savvy CMO’s will need to be brave to lead the way with the reset to offer calm guidance and expertise, to enable the business to better organise data teams focus and tasks, to reflect these changes which seemed to have permutated across customer norms. 

With the data pot tipped upside down, a cool head and fresh spreadsheet are required. Welcome to the great data reset!

So, here's my views on some data imperatives for CMO’s which I believe will help navigate a path forwards, leading to commercial success and positive customer experience.

1.    If you’ve shortened or improved customer experience or tapped into new audiences through digital innovation over lockdown, it's wise to ensure customer journey planning is updated to reflect changes, otherwise you risk losing any commercial gains.

An example of this is in new payment options that you may have introduced, such as low deposit, refunds, credit notes or new insurances. Your communications will need to reflect these new initiatives to make sure your data signals who is doing what, to enable you to talk to the right customers, about behaviours specific to them.

2.    I can’t remember a time when we’ve needed to reset back to zero and retrain our algorithms and reset trend analysis to emulate changed customer behaviour and to track performance of a brands response to massive change.

3.    Make sure you’re closer to your data than ever before – teams have likely been reduced, so you’ll need to be the voice of the customer in the business and leading the call for customer-centricity.

And you’ll need to stand your ground against Board colleagues who will be clamouring for revenues from any source possible. Don’t screw it up now, stand up for your marketing strategy and don’t, for goodness sake, discount. 

4.    Carve out time in your week to interrogate and listen to your data. Whether that’s understanding which segments have appetite for risk or which groups will be more confident because they’ve had the vaccine, or those who have ‘carried over’ credits who are bursting for a break and could be more accommodating of cross-sell and upgrades. 

5.    As more and more of us now browse and purchase exclusively online, it’s easier to track customer behaviour, which presents opportunities for CMO’s to redefine the online customer experience and refine propensity models based on the increase in online data available.

6.    Continue your passion for moving away from fragmented data silo’s and accelerate your efforts to get as close to a single view of customer as you can.

7.    Interrogate your data so you can better understand why your customers are leaving you and why they're staying, so you can improve retention rates. If you don't have this in place currently, include the appropriate questions in your surveys and start capturing this valuable data.

8.    I’ve spoken previously about pent up demand in our sector and we’re already seeing UK holiday properties sell out in popular hot spots such as Cornwall. Understand how your data can offer alternatives to lock customers into your website and grab the conversion. 

9.    Manage your stakeholders buy into your data strategy so the whole organisation understands and supports your management of data. This links back to point 3, there will be more challenges, but winners will come from those thriving from the great data reset.

10. And because all good things come in nice bundles of 10, my last imperative is to strengthen your post-campaign evaluation sessions. Documenting a single truth of your learnings is a powerful weapon in your armoury. 

Good luck!

If you’ve enjoyed this article, please follow me on LinkedIn for marketing articles and posts. I’m available for opportunities and always welcome discussions about new ventures. 

Susan

I'm Susan Binda and I help CMO's at B2C travel and leisure companies achieve revenue increases of circa ï¿¡25m through the creation of solid marketing strategy and tactical campaign execution.

I specialise in loyalty and CRM and have extensive experience of the travel and leisure sector. I am available for new roles.

If you'd like to get in touch, please message me on LinkedIn.

Thank you