Two E's That Have People Talking

They are NOT Economy and Embargo, so no worries, no politics here folks!

The words are not new in the industry, but the focus on them has certainly ratcheted up recently.  Experience and Engagement are on the lips of many in the industry today.

Experience - We are all trying to find ways to improve the experience of everything.  We want people to have the ideal experience in booking, at check in (air or hotel), using the product (airplane seat, hotel room, rental car, driver) and in the extras that come with each of the above.  The challenge, that I will come right out and talk about, how do you accurately measure experience?  You can give my colleague and me the exact same experience and we will measure it differently in that moment.

I have to come determine that I cannot make everyone's experience ideal all of the time, but my goal can be to make their next experience better than the one before.  Experience measurement isn't about one instance, it has to be measured overtime and as long as the trend line for experience is improving, I see that as a win!

Engagement - Getting engagement right is a tough.  People don't like to take surveys, or do they?  People don't care about offers, or do they?  People don't want to talk to anyone, or do they?  People don't like getting more emails, or do they?

We are tackling engagement in a few different ways.  We are bringing travel suppliers to the people in travel fairs and office visits.  We are sending targeted messages to get people information that is specific to them, their travel or their needs.  We are working on response times to traveler questions and issues.  Suppliers are working to understand travelers more and that is happening through engagement and data analytics.

No matter how you are tackling the E's noted above, I am excited that as an industry we are talking about them.  It's a game changer for corporate travel and a much welcomed one by the employees in our companies.  Let's remember, our job is to keep them going.  

Social Experiment, North Dakota Style

I have been travelling the last few weeks and thought I would try a social experiment to see how people react to what I am wearing in airports and cities around the US. 

Trip one, I wore a University of North Dakota sweatshirt.  The comments I received were geared toward their hockey program and the Fighting Sioux nickname controversy as well as one about the aviation program (from a pilot).  I had 4 comments total, which I thought was a good baseline. 

Trip two, I wore a University of Mary sweatshirt.  While in Marauder Blue and Orange, I received comments about the integrity of the school, how someone’s son went there and it was the most amazing choice for him and that is changed his life, and I also had a few people question where it was and was I instructor there.  I also had someone talk to me about the school’s leadership!  I had 6 comments total, which I found odd for a small Catholic college in ND, but it proves that school is making a name for itself and Monsignor James Shea is a rockstar! 

Trip three, I wore a North Dakota State University sweatshirt.  I was met with passing “horns up” signs in the airport (no words spoken.)  I had people talk about the football team and how they had been to a game in Fargo and how nice the fan base was.  I received comments about the “strength of the herd” and their travelling fan base.  I stopped counting at 9, but if I had to guess, it was probably close to a dozen people who commented on that choice of clothing. 

We have great schools here in the state that people are talking about outside our borders.  We have schools that offer world class programs in aviation, medicine, law, ethics, engineering, technology and agriculture to name a few.  We have a lot of be proud of in this state and it’s not about football or hockey, it’s about offering education options that make a difference.  I intend on wearing Lake Region State College on my next trip because as always, I keep going!