Data is important; it’s probably the lifeline of many companies. In the past data was used to gain insight into characteristics of users to optimise business. Nowadays, systems are so sophisticated they are even able to predict when certain individuals will make their sale. From a marketing perspective this is amazing, but from a consumer perspective, I’d rather find it scary, or annoying when the data fobs me off.
Comparing the comparers
One party that loves the use of data is Skyscanner. This Scottish Meta-searcher has evolved into a major player in Europe and sees millions of users every month that use it to compare their flights.
Actually, Skyscanner does two things;
- It compares the routes and the airlines flying it.
- It compares which OTA offers the best price for the user.
A meta-searcher compares the comparers. That sounds strange but it’s not. The battle for the consumer often goes down on a few cents and many Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) have separate companies to compete in the metasearch business and often consumers have no idea at what company they book. It might be a Greek, Cypriot, Finnish or heck, even an Indian OTA. All good when things run smooth but good luck trying to get ahold of that OTA when you’re in trouble. Yes; no answer. Enjoy your cancelled flight.
Basic things work, but what if data needs take over?
Answering the most basic questions is easy for Skyscanner. “I want to go from A to B on date 1 and back on date 2. How much does it cost me?”. Skyscanner will start working and get you some results, often correct.
It gets more confusing if you start using the calendar function. Suddenly you are told when you can fly from A to B for the lowest shown price. Until you click through. suddenly no airline flies for that price anymore and prices increase with hundreds of euro’s. A user won’t like this; neither will a governmental organisation that focusses on customer protection.
Why?
Because that attractive price you just saw on that calendar is an answer provided based on data collection. Skyscanner remembers the answers it has given to its users of the past 15 days. This means that if someone did a price request from Amsterdam to Halifax with departure on the 10th and return on the 15th, Skyscanner probably gave the correct answer at the time. But for me? 10 days later this info is outdated while its still shown. That gives me a very negative experience as a user, and after how many failures by Skyscanner will I give up? 1? 2? 5? And what will I tell to my friends when I hear them talk about Skyscanner? One can know for sure I won’t become a brand ambassador, that’s an easy one!
Data mountain
So, bad publicity and non-converting customers are the results of an unmanageable pile of data; the data mountain… And for now, no-one knows the solution.
Well, I do and more on that in the future!