Low-cost airline lands 10 million visitors in one day

As part of an ambitious growth plan which aims to increase passenger numbers to 15 million between 2022 and 2025, the airline has undergone a brand refresh and has acquired 50 additional aircraft to serve 15 new international routes.

With 90% of revenue coming from the domestic market, competition with six other local carriers covering a population of 50 million is strong. The airline is entirely reliant on its website to engage with existing and new customers; it has no physical points of sale. But the website was underperforming. Changes and updates took too long and cost too much because they were outsourced to a third party.

With multiple airlines vying for every customer, the ability to quickly post fare changes and new offers is critical to winning new business. The low-cost carrier needed to use its website to target audience segments effectively to help attract more customers, increase customer spend – including on higher-margin ancillary services, and reduce churn.

Within only four months, the airline's customers were experiencing a feature-rich, engaging website. The digital transformation was achieved thanks to a solution that combined Sitecore CDP and Sitecore Personalize. In the first phase, the airline integrated CDP and Personalize with the new website to develop strong audience segments. Based on data about bookings, how visitors use the website, flights they chose, and when and with whom they travel, audience segments enable the business to target content more effectively. Fifty-five unique audiences are synced to Facebook and Google AdWords displaying relevant offers and recommendations. All new website experiences are now delivered using Personalize.

In the second phase of development, the airline used Sitecore CDP and Personalize to improve customer communication. For example, it uses WhatsApp to send messages to customers and trigger more complex, targeted experiences based on data such as length of trip, size of party, and when tickets were purchased. Improved experiences include deals on baggage or discounts for preferred day of travel, for instance.

Integrated with the airline’s email application, Personalize is used to target post-sale emails to customers offering additional products and services to help increase customer spend. Implementation was carried out quickly as Sitecore easily integrates and augments existing applications like email, CRM, and web development tools. 

Fast and simple-to-use A/B testing features in Personalize help the airline validate everything on its website, compare impact, and make business cases for changing features on the website — for example, changing from yellow to black for Black Friday events. The airline also uses Personalize and A/B testing for urgent messages to increase cross- and upsell opportunities, like an instant website pop-up showing the time until the deal ends, or the number of limited-item products still available.

Sitecore CDP and Personalize have transformed the airline's mobile app, creating a unified customer relationship and experiences system that enables a single customer profile for a consistent experience across all channels. The website, mobile app, email marketing, and social media use the profile to understand customer needs accurately and offer relevant, targeted experiences based on a customer’s preferences, such as spend value, frequency, or ancillary service choices.

As well as generating many positive comments from customers on social media, the new site received accolades from the team lead's mother, who had never used the old website to book a flight, and now can do so in just a few clicks.

Crucially, for a high traffic airline, the new site can support large volumes of visitors. Recently it supported 10 million visitors at the same time, generating $400,000 in one day, while maintaining high performance throughout. The Sitecore solution has also positively impacted sales of ancillary products and services.

It is now much easier and faster to change and update the website with urgency messaging such as "only 3 discounted seats left." The airline estimates that these types of campaigns help drive conversion-to-purchase by 50%. In addition, click-through rates have increased by 158%, while the bounce rate has been cut by 58%.

With Personalize audience generation, the airline has increased the relevance of its digital ad campaigns and cut costs by making post-click activity more effective.