Travel means something unique to each of us.
It’s whatever floats your boat, flies your plane, runs your car.. you get the drift!
For travel apps, this is an opportunity to understand the diverse motivations that drive each user and craft distinctive ads for them. But in a world packed with choices, how can your travel app truly shine and serve each user exactly what they’re after?
Programmatic advertising and dynamic personalization are two pillars that can transform how you connect and converse with your users.
In this blog, we will introduce you to dynamic personalization, DCO Ads, and the endless possibilities they hold for your travel app.
Dynamic Personalization as a Differentiator: To Each Their Own
The travel apps vertical is fiercely competitive! And amid this hustle and bustle, differentiation is no easy feat. There’s not much difference between your airline app’s offerings and that of your competitors.
From a user’s perspective, it’s often a pick-and-choose game where loyalty and prices matter most. Unless you can do one thing better than anyone else: read minds.. with a little help from in-app data.
What if you could be that travel companion who anticipates needs even before they’re expressed? What if your ads showed each user exactly what they need to see? Of course, the real catch lies in driving this kind of personalization at scale, which sounds daunting at first.
That’s where dynamic personalization comes in. It’s what enables your app to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time, at scale, with ease.
DCO Ads: Your Door to Effortless Personalization
Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) goes way beyond standard ad campaigns. It taps into vast amounts of user data and feeds data to smartly recommend the right message and offers to each user.
Here’s how it works: Demand-side Platforms (DSPs) or Creative Management Platforms (CMPs) create customizable templates with various moving parts, offering a framework for hyper-personalized ads.
These templates adapt automatically, ensuring users see the most relevant content.
What DCO Ads Can Do for Your Travel App
Seasonal Promotions:
Travel apps operate in a highly seasonal industry, and each season brings its unique set of user preferences and expectations. The challenge lies in seamlessly personalizing the ad experience to align with these diverse seasons.
This is what a typical personalization process would look like
User segments: 5 distinct user segments. (say, budget-conscious travelers, high-frequency users, business travelers, almost-churning users, and last-minute travelers)
Ad variations: 3 variations for each of the 5 user segments = 15 unique ad sets.
Seasons: 3 different seasons. (Holidays, Summer, Monsoon)
Locations: Customize each of the 15 ad sets for 3 locations = 45 unique ad sets.
Offers: Furthermore variations with 3 different offers
15 ad variations (user segments) x 3 seasons x 3 locations x 3 budget options = 405 unique ad sets.
And that’s just the beginning. You now have to test what works, optimize, and repeat for every segment and every season. Phew!
DCO automates all of this within your existing template framework. It enables you to dynamically adapt to the ever-changing seasons and deliver personalized ads for each user effortlessly.
User Behavior-Based Personalization:
Analyze and leverage user behavioral data within your app – it’s a goldmine of insights waiting to be tapped. This rich data can be fed into your DCO platform to drive true personalization. For instance, imagine a user who has frequently been searching for flights to a particular destination. They’ve shown a clear interest in this specific location, making it a prime avenue for personalization. DCO can create dynamic ads featuring deals and information on the destination.
But keep in mind that it’s all based on templates you set up with your DSP (that’s the tech wizard behind the scenes).
At RevX, we specialize in DCO ad templates that fit your creative requirements correctly. This synergy of user data and DCO automation transforms how you engage with your audience, delivering personalized ad experiences that truly resonate.
Pro tip — Be their friend: Take, for instance, the budget traveler segment: these are travelers who can be influenced by compelling offers.
Leverage DCO ads and be their source of the best deals, flexible options, and some insider travel hacks. This can definitely catalyze the conversion process and also increase trust in your brand.
Dynamic Pricing: Hitting the Sweet Spot of Bargain Offers
Travel app users are highly price-sensitive. They have a keen eye for the best deals, discounts, and budget-friendly options. It’s in their nature to seek out the most cost-effective choices for their travel adventures. This price sensitivity presents a unique challenge and opportunity for travel apps.
And DCO ads can potentially revolutionize the way (and magnitude) personalization is achieved.
Whether it’s luxury travelers seeking exclusive packages or budget-conscious explorers searching for the best bang for their buck, DCO delivers the right message and offers to each segment.
The beauty of DCO ads lies in their ability to intelligently recommend the right offer to the right person. This enhances the user experience and optimizes ad campaigns for better results and engagement. And for your team, they are a cost-effective and time-saving solution, ensuring users can access the best deals available, aligning their travel experience perfectly with their preferences and budget.
«In the competitive travel industry, where options often overlap, consumer choices pivot on price sensitivity and brand recall.
Programmatic advertising, with its precision, offers a decisive advantage: it helps reach consumers at the right time with the right message.
Leveraging user data allows us to anticipate user preferences. And when combined with dynamic creatives and personalized deals, it becomes a catalyst for conversions. It’s the missing piece that propels you ahead of your competition.»
— Priyam Juneja, Account Manager, RevX
At RevX, our data science models can decipher patterns in seemingly random input data.
Consider a scenario where a user engages in searches for Bali holidays during Christmas, followed by Greece and Dubai. While these searches may appear unrelated to a conventional Demand-Side Platform (DSP), RevX’s advanced technology, driven by deep learning, can decipher the underlying pattern – a preference for a beachside vacation during Christmas. Rather than displaying ads specific to these destinations, our Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) can intelligently offer a curated selection of beach holiday options, improving personalization and engagement.
In Conclusion
There’s immense potential that dynamic personalization holds for your app.
Surprisingly, most players in the travel vertical aren’t fully leveraging this, at least not yet.
Spoiler alert: First mover advantage! However, to fully harness the power of DCO, ensure you work with a DSP that understands the unique challenges facing your app. Together, you can build a robust DCO system tailored to your users’ needs, setting you on the path to revolutionizing how you advertise and connect with your vast user base.
Don’t wait; the future of personalized travel experiences is within your grasp.
Reach out to RevX to get started!
Nikita Shrivastava
