Research produced by our German team scoring airlines across five key metrics that form the Connected Brand Index: Visibility, Usefulness, Usability, Desirability and Engagement. Given the industry’s fiercely competitive climate, iCrossing believes airlines must go beyond simply providing services to delivering positively memorable experiences across the customer journey. A connected brand connects with a targeted audience by being visible across relevant digital channels at the right time; by offering useful products and services at all lifecycle stages; by making sure website content is easy to find and usable; by building a desirable brand through consistent emotional brand values; and by being engaged in dialogue with customers across key social media.
Original Title
iCrossing 2014 Connected Brand Index for airlines EMEA
Research produced by our German team scoring airlines across five key metrics that form the Connected Brand Index: Visibility, Usefulness, Usability, Desirability and Engagement. Given the industry’s fiercely competitive climate, iCrossing believes airlines must go beyond simply providing services to delivering positively memorable experiences across the customer journey. A connected brand connects with a targeted audience by being visible across relevant digital channels at the right time; by offering useful products and services at all lifecycle stages; by making sure website content is easy to find and usable; by building a desirable brand through consistent emotional brand values; and by being engaged in dialogue with customers across key social media.
Research produced by our German team scoring airlines across five key metrics that form the Connected Brand Index: Visibility, Usefulness, Usability, Desirability and Engagement. Given the industry’s fiercely competitive climate, iCrossing believes airlines must go beyond simply providing services to delivering positively memorable experiences across the customer journey. A connected brand connects with a targeted audience by being visible across relevant digital channels at the right time; by offering useful products and services at all lifecycle stages; by making sure website content is easy to find and usable; by building a desirable brand through consistent emotional brand values; and by being engaged in dialogue with customers across key social media.
2 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry
The air transport services industry is well established and caters to
millions of customers worldwide each day. Guided by international organisations like IATA, member airlines across the globe follow stringent quality guidelines, and technological advances have made flying safer than ever. Yet despite its rich history, the industry continues to be heavily impacted by advances in internet technologies. In the early 2000s, airlines and online travel agencies (OTAs) were forced to provide customers with unprecedented price transparency. Then, in late 2000, the growth and prominence of social media platforms, combined with advances in mobile technology (smartphones, tablets), increa- sed the need for customers to converse and engage in new and challenging ways. With competitors a click away, airlines must constantly seek new opportunities to differentiate themselves. When it comes to digital marketing, important strategic partners, such as OTAs, may become competitors in search engines, on blogs and in travel forums. At the same time, digital consumers have become savvier and expect fast, personalized support whether to book a flight, check in, check luggage restrictions or plan a holiday. Given the industrys fiercely competitive climate, iCrossing believes airlines must go beyond simply providing services to delivering positively memorable experiences across the customer journey. A connected brand connects with a targeted audience by being visible across relevant digital channels such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Advertising (SEA) at the right time; by offering useful products and services at all lifecycle stages; by making sure website content is easy to find and usable; by building a desirable brand through consistent emotional brand values; and by being engaged in dialogue with customers across key social media. To this end, iCrossing scores airlines across five key metrics that form the Connected Brand Index (CBI): Visibility, Usefulness, Usability, Desirability and Engagement. This research is an analysis of the connectedness of some of the most established airlines in Europe and the Middle East. We identified best practices, but also found potential for airlines to fully embrace the power of connectedness. The framework used in this analysis was developed and established by iCrossing. To analyse the performance of the airlines in the Middle East region, iCrossing partnered with Sekari, headquartered in Dubai. Sekari is a leading provider of search optimised content marketing in the Middle East. FOREWORD 3 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FRAMEWORK METHODOLOGY DETAILED ANALYSIS OVERALL RESULTS VISIBILITY USEFULNESS USABILITY DESIRABILITY ENGAGEMENT CONCLUSIONS IMPRINT 4 6 7
................. ................................. ........................... ................................ ........................... ......................... ..................... ................................. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry IMPROVE VISIBILITY THROUGH MORE LOCALIZED MARKETING CONTENT European airlines have an excellent opportunity to engage with Arabic customers by speaking to them in their own language. During our analysis, we discovered that many European airlines have yet to embrace this opportunity. Lufthansa, for example, flies to 10 Arabic-speaking destinations including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but only provides website content in English for these countries. A localised approach must address the issue of website content and other content across the digital ecosystem. This also includes search engine marketing efforts. Generally, Middle East-based airlines offer more content in European languages than vice versa. iCrossing believes it is important to offer Arabic language content as there is a shift in the attitude of the regions travelers to new booking channels. The Middle East has seen online bookings grow by almost a third in 2012 to reach just under US$10.4 billion, up 31% on 2011 figures. Recent research on the Middle East travel market, conducted in association with global travel market research company PhoCusWright, shows an upward trend and is predicted to continue with online bookings and is expected to account for 22% of all travel bookings made in the region within the next two years, with a total value of US$15.8 billion. In the past, where perhaps Arabic content was not deemed necessary, it is now one of the fastest growth sectors and markets globally. ENGAGE USERS WITH MORE-CONSISTENT BRAND VALUES ACROSS CHANNELS The airlines we analysed are not consistent enough in how they present their brand across the digital ecosystem. The Emirates former #AllTimeGreats campaign featuring two world football stars one former and one current player is still highly visible on some social media channels. Since the ad campaign is now over, having it still available and being pushed and seemingly promoted on some social media platforms over others makes for a jagged brand experience, which is confusing to the consumer. While this is just one example of inconsistent brand experi- ences with differing logos and visual styles old, irrelevant content are evident among all airlines and their assets. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Aggressive competition across digital channels along with competing OTA partners has increased the need for a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. iCrossing has identified multiple ways for airlines to better connect with their audience in the European and Middle Eastern markets. 5 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry IMPROVE WEBSITE USABILITY AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT Few airline brands other than KLM offer free, instant customer support, something iCrossing considers best practice for global ecommerce sites. In most cases, customer support numbers are difficult to locate and not available for all countries at all times. In addition, most airlines display too many distractions (call-to-actions) and should focus efforts on reducing the number of steps to complete a booking. KLM, considered by iCrossing to be the most engaged airline company, uses Twitter to answer questions or requests and informs users how long it will take to receive a reply from one of its customer support agents. iCrossing continues to see great potential for innovation in this area thereby creating a greater user experience. 6 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry ONE GOAL The goal of this research is to evaluate how well certain brands perform according to iCrossings Connected Brand Index (CBI). And the methodology of our research comprises of analysing the brand experience. TEN BRANDS The selection of brands is based on the user-generated results of the 2013 Skytrax World Airline Awards*. Using Skytrax as a benchmark, iCrossing selected the top-10 rated internatio- nal airlines (according to customer satisfaction) within Europe and the Middle East. These airlines are: Lufthansa, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, KLM, Air France, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways. TEN COUNTRIES We selected 10 key markets where the above airlines operate: Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, Netherlands, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. >180 PLATFORMS We analysed the activity and impact of each brand across Paid, Owned and Earned media, including websites and the largest social networks in Europe and the Middle East: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. >700 DATA POINTS IN FIVE CATEGORIES The Connected Brand Index consists of five characteristics of a connected brand that help in evaluating the airlines from the digital users perspective: Visibility, Usefulness, Usability, Desirability and Engagement. *Source: http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/AirlineA-Z.htm 2. FRAMEWORK 7 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry 3. METHODOLOGY Local languages covered Domain popularity Quantity of back links Google Page Rank SEO, SEA and social visibility Loading speed of the website Important information available at a glance with instructions to fill in forms / search fields Flight search box returning instant search results such as available airports Existence of an instant and free hotline / online chat / social media customer support Offering travel tips for a variety of destinations, such as must-sees, local information, etc. Short and simple booking process with breadcrumbs to orient the user User-friendly design with well-structured navigation menus Main categories and subcategories being differentiated Links and buttons prominently displayed Consistent look of the links, different from the rest of the content Locations, shapes and colours in use, helping orient the user Form fields and interactive elements logically placed Official Facebook accounts (Global & Local) Official Twitter accounts (Global & Local) Official YouTube accounts (Global & Local) Official Google+ accounts (Global & Local) VISIBILITY USEFULNESS USABILITY Consistent brand positioning, language, images, layout and general design of the website and across all channels and platforms Facilitating and inviting dialogue between the brand and the user / customer Home and product pages integrating social media links to increase sharing Facebook: fans, fans growth, followers, own posts, user posts, comments, shares, likes, talking about, engagement rate Twitter: tweets, follower growth, following, retweets, engagement rate YouTube: channel views, uploaded video views, subscribers Google Plus: followers, in their circles, have them in circles, follower growth, own posts, comments, shares, likes, engagement rate DESIRABILITY ENGAGEMENT The CBI comprises over 80 key performance indicators (KPIs) across each of the five metrics below. iCrossing uses a standardised scorecard that compiles the KPIs to produce an overall score between one and 10 for each metric. Each metric carries the same weight that produces an overall score of between one and 10. All of the data was compiled between April and June 2014. 8 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry The best performing brands overall are Lufthansa, British Airways and KLM with 6.9 points followed by the top contender in the Middle East, Emirates (6.6). There was little to choose among the top five airlines, with all performing solidly across most categories, with a few exceptions. The overall average of the analysis is 6.1. For this analysis, Middle Eastern brands include Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Oman Airlines. Overall, brands obtai- ned the highest scores in Usefulness (7.4) and generally are weakest in Visibility (4.0) and Usability (6.2). In total, five brands scored below average and five airlines scored above average. The analysis shows a strong variance in performances - not only among the individual brands, but also among the pre-defined characteristics. No airline brand is yet fully connected with their target audience. Improvements, especially in terms of engagement, would lead to more satisfied customers. OVERALL RESULTS Lufthansa British Airways KLM Emirates Turkish Airlines Qatar Airways Swiss Int. Airlines Oman Air Etihad Air France 6.5 5.5 4.7 4.3 4.3 3.0 2.9 3.7 2.4 3.0 7.7 7.8 7.5 7.7 7.6 7.4 7.2 6.6 6.9 7.2 7.0 7.1 6.6 6.3 6.6 6.2 6.6 6.9 6.9 5.1 7.3 6.7 6.8 7.0 6.9 6.3 6.9 6.4 6.9 6.2 6.0 7.5 9.0 7.5 7.1 6.5 5.3 5.6 6.0 5.6 6.9 6.9 6.9 6.6 6.5 5.9 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.4 Ranking Airline AVERAGE Visibility Usefulness Usability Desirability Engagement Overall 4.0 7.4 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure 1: Overall classification (1 to 10, with 10 the highest) Figure 2: Overall scores (1 to 10, with 10 the highest) 4. DETAILED ANALYSIS 9 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Lufthansa obtained the highest score in this category (6.5), mainly due to good rankings in natural search results on a broad international scale. The top-5 above average airlines are: British Airways, KLM, Turkish and the Emirates. Overall, most airlines struggle in this category, indicating a need for both on-page and off-page site optimisation. Generally, airline routes, target markets (and, thus, business strategy) and geographical presence have an impact on Visibility. While the focus of this analysis is Europe and the Middle East, some airlines have a stronger US presence than others. Backlink strength gained in non-EU and ME markets likely impacts SEO profiles and as a result the Visibility score in EU and ME. Of the airlines examined, key European and Middle Eastern traffic sources include: UK, Germany and France along with the local markets of the airlines themselves. The US was a frequent key traffic source for many airlines after the local market. British Airways, interestingly, gains over half of its traffic from the UK in comparison to Lufthansa where Germany only makes up roughly a quarter of all traffic. Airlines that score lower in Visibility tend to be those with smaller home or target markets. However, iCrossing feels that brands with an international presence in larger markets have an opportunity to improve their Visibility profile with the right digital strategy. VISIBILITY Visibility reflects how competitive a brand is on the web. The iCrossing Visibility metric focuses primarily on a brands competitiveness in Google and across social media plat- forms. One key factor in determining Visibility is how well each brand performs in SEO. Our ranking takes into account several metrics that impact organic rankings (and Google Page Rank), such as the overall back-link profile of each site. In addition, iCrossing looks at each sites on-page SEO, paid search campaigns and social media presence. Figure 3: Visibility scores. Average score is 5.8 TOTAL AVERAGE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France 4.3 3.0 2.4 4.3 6.5 2.9 4.7 3.7 5.5 3.0 7.7 7.4 6.9 7.6 7.7 7.2 7.5 6.6 7.8 7.2 7.5 6.5 6.0 7.1 6.0 5.3 9.0 5.6 7.5 5.6 7.0 6.3 6.9 6.9 7.3 6.9 6.8 6.4 6.7 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.6 6.6 6.9 7.1 5.1 10 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 4: Sample flight SERP (Source: google.ca, 22 May 2014) Google continues to innovate with its search algorithms. The blue arrow in Figure 4 below shows a recent innovation from Google results that shows flight schedules for a London to Dubai flight. Search engine result pages (SERPs) give good examples of the strong competition within the travel industry. Many airlines are not visible on the first page for frequently searched keywords or phrases. iCrossing has noticed that several airlines are paying for more-prominent positions for important flight-route search terms where previously only OTAs were visible (see red arrow in Figure 4 above). Nevertheless, OTAs are proving to be airlines strongest competitors and occupy top positions both in paid and organic search for many destinations. 11 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 5: Sample flight SERP (Source: google.co.uk, 8 May 2014) Figure 5 shows another example of a destination, paid ads, organic search and how Google is innovating its algorithms by showing flight schedules. 12 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 6: Sample flight SERP (Source: google.com.sa, 4 June 2014) Figure 7: Sample flight SERP (Source: google.ae, 4 June 2014) Query: Trip to London Query: Trip to Paris Figure 6 shows an example of a destination entered in Google Saudi Arabia for the search terms Riyadh to London and using Arabic. Figure 7 shows an example of a destination entered in Google AE using Arabic. 13 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry The test-user scenarios used for evaluating each airline included common user website goals. Lufthansa, British Airways and the Emirates lead the pack, but on the whole, airlines obtain their highest scores in this category, indicating that great efforts are being made to create sites that answer users needs. Given the high price for paid media campaigns, it is easy to understand why this is the case. USEFULNESS This category evaluates how well a brand caters to users website needs at different stages of the customer lifecycle or journey. A user who wants to book a flight requires different information than someone who is looking to complete an online check-in. Airlines should be able to attend to every users needs to build stronger relationships with their audiences. Figure 8: Usefulness scores TOTAL AVERAGE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France 4.3 3.0 2.4 4.3 6.5 2.9 4.7 3.7 5.5 3.0 7.7 7.4 6.9 7.6 7.7 7.2 7.5 6.6 7.8 7.2 7.5 6.5 6.0 7.1 6.0 5.3 9.0 5.6 7.5 5.6 7.0 6.3 6.9 6.9 7.3 6.9 6.8 6.4 6.7 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.6 6.6 6.9 7.1 5.1 iCrossing has identified two critical points that warrant attention for most of the brands: the complexity and length of the booking process and the lack of seamless on-site customer support. While the former borders on website usability (see Usability), iCrossing graded the booking process and steps involved as a feature element in order to grade its Usefulness. Airlines need to provide a fast, easy process where users can enter and select destinations, dates, seats and payment details. At the same time, airlines must generate cross- and upselling oppor- tunities, such as premium-class offers, hotel and car rental services and holiday ideas during the booking process. iCrossing believes there is space to innovate and optimize in the booking process. Generally, airlines must look to decrease click steps but also not overload pages and create long lists that could frustrate users. 14 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 9: British Airways - Website (Source: britishairways.com, May 2014) Generally, iCrossing believes airlines can do more to provide easy-to-find, free and instant support online. While some airlines provide better support than others, most airlines give the impression of being difficult to reach via phone. And depending on the topic and location of the user, there is often too much information to get through to find the right contact number except for KLM. However, Emirates does include a Help Centre menu item within the navigation, which iCrossing considers best practice. British Airways offers similar information under Information and Customer Service within the navigation. iCrossing found British Airways Cancellations, delays and baggage problems page particularly useful. Here, users can find answers to common topics such as What to do if your flight is de- layed or cancelled. While slightly less prominently displayed, Lufthansas reservation and flight booking hotline is available 24/7 for some countries, including Germany and the UK. Calls are charged at local rates. The BA site (Figure 9) scored highly in Usefulness due to its clear layout and the short steps needed to complete tasks. 15 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 10: KLM Contact Section - Considered Best Practice (Source: klm.com, May 2014) iCrossing considers KLMs approach to customer support the best among all airlines (see below screen capture). It offers a dedicated contact button that once clicked routes you to a dedicated page with steps showing how you can contact customer service representatives and how long it will take. 16 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 11: Qatar stopover section on qatarairways.com (Source: website, July 2014) Other than telephone, email and Facebook support, many airlines have FAQ or content sections that provide answers to common topics. Qatar Airways, for example, has an informative section about what to do in Qatar during a stopover. 17 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry USABILITY Figure 12: Usability scores TOTAL AVERAGE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France 4.3 3.0 2.4 4.3 6.5 2.9 4.7 3.7 5.5 3.0 7.7 7.4 6.9 7.6 7.7 7.2 7.5 6.6 7.8 7.2 7.5 6.5 6.0 7.1 6.0 5.3 9.0 5.6 7.5 5.6 7.0 6.3 6.9 6.9 7.3 6.9 6.8 6.4 6.7 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.6 6.6 6.9 7.1 5.1 The flight search box is one of the most important site features. This should be placed prominently. iCrossing considers the top left- or right-hand side of the home page to be best practice. We were surprised that Emirates a top performer in most categories has opted as a default to hide the flight search box. Users must first click on the right-hand navigation button to open the box. In addition, the Emirates home page includes many side elements that we feel are distractions or interactive elements that do not behave as expected. The top navigation categories also do not describe the sub-elements within them as concisely as some other brand page menus did. For example, terms such as The Emirates Experience, Destinations and Plan & Book are either inaccurate or leave too much to the imagination. For example, users can manage bookings under Plan & Book. Lufthansas navigation, by comparison, includes both Plan & Book and Manage My Booking. We feel BAs Flights and holidays, Manage My Booking and Information categories are more concise and accurately describe the sub-categories contained within them. BA and Lufthansa again lead the pack in this category with 7.1 and 7.0 points respectively, thanks to their clear design and navigation terms. Many brands share similar approaches: large background images, videos and dynamic content with a varying multitude of call-to-actions that may distract the user from some of their primary targets, like booking a flight or checking in. Usability focuses more on how user-friendly a site is. To use a travel analogy, if Usefulness is a review of the best attractions (features) at a destination (the website), Usability is a review of how easy it is to get to those attractions. For this, iCrossing reviewed the layout, navigation and design along with terms used to help users navigate around. 18 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 13: Emirates home page (Source: website, July 2014) A second navigation menu to the right on the Emirates page in red also blends too much into the large home visual, which is static, making it almost invisible. This includes terms that are more concise, such as Book a Flight and Find Hotels and Cars. However, the button colours and space usage do not give them a prominent enough position. Combined with other red site elements, the home page feels cluttered. iCrossing considers a less is more approach to website design more beneficial to facilitating goal completion. Brands must strike a blance between delivering good content and using space sparingly to avoid overloading the page with distractions. Brands must be clear about the main goal of each web page and strive to facilitate and structure it accordingly. Generally, brands that score between six and seven, while not poor in terms of usability, must be more goal oriented and selective about what content really is deserving of prime website real estate. Air France just misses out on a score of six or higher, but we like the visuals and navigational ele- ments. Nevertheless, we feel the call-to-action could be clearer and space usage better managed. 19 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 15: Air France home page (Source: website, May 2014) Figure 14: Lufthansa home page with slider, search box as standard and well categorized sections (Source: website, May 2014) 20 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry DESIRABILITY Desirability looks at how well brands portray consistent imagery and messaging across their websites and digital channels. Figure 16: Desirability scores TOTAL AVERAGE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France 4.3 3.0 2.4 4.3 6.5 2.9 4.7 3.7 5.5 3.0 7.7 7.4 6.9 7.6 7.7 7.2 7.5 6.6 7.8 7.2 7.5 6.5 6.0 7.1 6.0 5.3 9.0 5.6 7.5 5.6 7.0 6.3 6.9 6.9 7.3 6.9 6.8 6.4 6.7 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.6 6.6 6.9 7.1 5.1 Emirates could score higher if they give their former #AllTimeGreats advertising campaign less real estate on its home page as this is creating a broken rather than seamless experience for its customer journey. iCrossing believes that since the campaign is over, it should no longer feature prominently on any of its assets. When a customer interacts with a brand, it is important for them to have a consistent image of the brand during their interaction with a brands assets whether their interaction is through a website, microsite, App, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or traditional offline advertising and marketing efforts. When it comes to desirability, Lufthansa scores highest (7.3) followed by the Emirates (7.0). Air France achieves the lowest score in this category (6.2) due to inconsistencies between key visuals across all its platforms and its website. Turkish Airways and Etihad (both 6.9) just miss out on a score of seven due to minor inconsistencies in the presentation of their claim / slogan. This is due to a key message, visual or slogan featuring prominently on one or more channels, but not on all. Alternatively, font, size and colour variations also contribute to markdowns. Figure 17: Emirates AllTimeGreats campaign on social media was not visible on the home page (Source: Facebook and Google+ Fan Pages, May 2014 | As of July 2014, the campaign has been removed) 21 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 18: Air France lacks consistency across digital platforms (Source: Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest, May 2014) 22 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry Figure 19: Positive emotional visual featuring Turkish Airlines slogan and logo (Source: Facebook May 2014) Air France scored below average and shows lack of consistency with visuals and branding across all of its platforms, but the airline did score well in terms of desirability by being interactive and participatory between the user and the brand (6.2). Swiss International Air Lines misses out on a score of seven (6.9) due to some English language issues in key visuals on the website that we believe diluted the brands overall Desirability. Turkish Airlines also misses out on a seven score due to the rigid and slightly functional feel of the site. This detracted from good emotional messaging, visuals and content found on Facebook (below). 23 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry With an average score of 6.6, this category is the second highest-performing metric. Its a good indi- cator of how most airlines are utilizing some opportunities to connect with their audience. KLM is the best-engaged airline (9.0) followed by Emirates and British Airways, both scoring well (7.5) followed by Turkish Airlines (7.1). Lufthansa performs solidly in this category, but does not stand out on any one platform. Other airlines were less successful in building dialogue with fans or customers. While some airlines point to their market share as a reason why they have fewer fans, likes and followers, the oppor- tunity to create buzz over social media should not be governed by the size of a companys revenues. ENGAGEMENT Social media networks are powerful instruments for engaging with audiences beyond a brands own website and third-party travel portals. Most of the scores for this metric are quantitative, with fans, likes, followers, content (visual, text, video) ratio and engagement rates playing an important role. Figure 20: Engaged scores TOTAL AVERAGE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France Emirates Qatar Airways Etihad Airways Turkish Airlines Lufthansa Swiss KLM Oman Air British Airways Air France 4.3 3.0 2.4 4.3 6.5 2.9 4.7 3.7 5.5 3.0 7.7 7.4 6.9 7.6 7.7 7.2 7.5 6.6 7.8 7.2 7.5 6.5 6.0 7.1 6.0 5.3 9.0 5.6 7.5 5.6 7.0 6.3 6.9 6.9 7.3 6.9 6.8 6.4 6.7 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.6 6.6 6.9 7.1 5.1 Airlines that scored poorly in this category generally do not appear to have a social media strategy in place, instead treating each platform independently and on an ad-hoc basis instead of having a consistent image of the brand through the entire customer journey (a 360 experience). Irregular posts lead to a lack of audience participation, and this has a direct impact on engagement rate, a KPI that indicates how many people like or respond to a post on Facebook. With constant changes to the way feeds are shown on Facebook, it is more important than ever to engage users regularly with exciting content. iCrossing considers photos to be the best type of shared content, but a Connected Brand also uses text and videos and links across social media platforms for maximum cross-channel impact. A few brands posted in local languages within their global accounts. On some occasions, fans asked the brand to post in English. iCrossing recommends that brands post frequently in English in order to ensure fans can relate to the content and ensure a constantly high engagement rate. 24 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry 3. CONCLUSION The Connected Brand Index shows there are great opportunities for the airline industry to improve their digital performance, especially within Engagement and Visibility. A Connected Brand is able to connect the dots between each of the digital channels and platforms they inhabit to create a unified digital ecosystem and connect to the audience. iCrossing believes British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Emirates and Turkish Airlines perform solidly overall, but with a more-focused digital strategy can increase the value of their brand. Generally, iCrossing considers these airlines do a good job presenting their brand on each individual platform; however, there is room for improving cohesion between all of their platforms. A unified, 360 strategy that targets both offline and online audiences through content and SEO strategies and across all channels will help these brands achieve a Connected Brand status. The bottom five brands generally had larger issues in two or more categories. iCrossing believes these brands must create a unified brand strategy, but also focus on individual channels in the short-term. Some brands were either inactive across social media or not consistent enough in how they presented themselves. Brands that score poorly in Usefulness and Usability must look at their Owned Media. Due to the fiercely competitive nature of the industry and high costs of running paid ad campaigns in search engines, it is imperative these brands create sites that are goal-oriented and easy to use. At the same time, a content strategy is crucial to increasing visitor length of visits that are not directly linked to flight bookings or checking in. These brands must make their sites knowledge bases for key travel phrases, so that visitors come back frequently for other topics. Overall, Visibility proved to be the sore point of the industry due to the competitive positioning of OTAs in both organic and paid search. Airlines can take a page from the top OTAs and focus their efforts on top search terms that generate traffic and sales. iCrossing sees great potential for airlines to create greater localised content for target markets, like Arabic-speaking countries. By adopting an approach that focuses more on audience interaction across the POE spectrum brands will position themselves to win greater market share. 25 Copyright 2014 , iCrossing GmbH July 2014 Connected Brands Index: Airline industry IMPRINT Sekari UAE Office 2804, BB1 Tower Mazaya Business Avenue Jumeirah Lakes Towers Dubai, UAE T: +971 4 434 2816 F: +971 4 434 2801 Email: info@sekari.com www.sekari.com iCrossing GmbH Tal 11 Rgb. Eingang Hochbrckenstr. 5 D - 80331 Mnchen T: +49 / (0) 89 / 24 20 53 - 133 F: +49 / (0) 89 / 24 20 53 - 311 Email: kontakt@icrossing.com www.icrossing.com iCrossing, recently named a Leader in Gartners Magic Quadrant for global digital marketing agencies, builds connected brands for some of the worlds most recognized companies including Beam Inc., The Coca-Cola Company and LG Electronics. We believe informed creative makes lasting and quantifiable impressions. That attention is no longer just bought; its also earned. And you have to provide valuable content precisely when and where consumers want it. So rather than shouting at customers, we engage in conversations. We facilitate meaningful and lasting connections. And we create interactive experiences that are visible, useful, usable, desirable and engaged. iCrossing, a unit of Hearst Corpo- ration, is headquartered in New York and has 900 employees in 17 offices globally. For more information, visit icrossing.com or its social spaces. Sekari is the leading provider of Search Optimised Content Marketing in the Middle East. We are famous for combining sound strategic thinking and crea- tive innovation with highly-tuned optimisation technology to con- sistently produce outrageously good results. Sekari strongly be- lieve in delivering local solutions provided by native Content and SEO experts within each country, emulating human behaviour in each country.
As strategic partners of iCrossing and with our head quarters in Du- bai, The United Arab Emirates, we are best placed to provide an inter- national team of partners around the world and deliver local native Search Optimised Content in over 43 Countries in 30 languages. iCrossing GmbH Tal 11 Rgb. | Eingang Hochbrckenstr. 5 | D-80331 Mnchen T: +49 / (0) 89 / 24 20 53 - 133 | F: +49 / (0) 89 / 24 20 53 - 311 Email: kontakt@icrossing.com | www.icrossing.de