Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

"I wonder where that customer went."

This is something I heard from a friend in the same industry. A repeat customer who had booked a trip every year for five years suddenly stopped coming last year.
I don't know the reason. I have their contact information, but I can't contact them because I don't know what to say.

In the travel industry, the cessation of repeat customers often follows a pattern of "it's too late by the time you realize it." It's only a year after their last trip that people realize they've stopped coming.
By that time, the agency's presence had faded in the customer's mind, and their next trip had already been planned using a different route.

This article explains how travel agencies and tour companies can use EMOROCO CRM Lite to systematize repeat customer management and itinerary follow-up.

Challenges unique to CRM in the travel industry: "Travel is a business about commemorating special occasions."

There's one thing you need to understand first when designing a CRM for a travel agency: travel is a "celebration business."

In many cases, customers decide to travel because it is linked to some kind of milestone.

• Wedding anniversary, silver anniversary, golden anniversary
• A couple's trip after retirement
• Family trip after the child's entrance exams are over
• Celebration trips for 60th, 70th, and 77th birthdays
• Annual group trip with friends

This "memory of milestones" is at the heart of CRM design. "Where did they go last year?", "What did they enjoy?", "Where did they say they wanted to go next?"—if this information is accumulated, we can proactively make suggestions tailored to our customers' "travel milestones."

Conversely, without this information, we could only send a generic direct message saying, "It's almost travel season!"

Four structural challenges faced by travel agencies

Problem ①: No follow-up after the trip

In the travel industry, the most significant customer interaction occurs "after the trip." Immediately after returning home, customers are at the peak of their travel excitement, and phrases like "It was great" and "I want to go here next time" come naturally.

However, most travel agencies simply arrange the trip and that's the end of it. You rarely hear from them after you return home. You're missing out on this "peak of excitement."

Problem ②: "Places I want to visit again" are not recorded.

During or after a trip, conversations might include phrases like, "Next time, I'd like to visit a winery in Italy," or "I'm interested in taking a cruise." The person in charge might respond with, "That sounds great," but this isn't recorded.

Even if you have the opportunity to send out an invitation to a "cruise fair" six months later, if you don't have information that "that person was interested in cruises," it will just get buried in a mass mailing list.

Problem 3: When the person in charge changes, the relationship with the customer is reset.

Repeat customers of travel agencies are often retained because of the "relationship of trust with their assigned agent." When that agent is transferred or leaves the company, customers tend to leave.

The experience of clients suddenly stopping coming as soon as their assigned person in charge changes is a very common problem for business owners in the travel industry.

Problem 4: We are so busy during peak seasons that we cannot adequately support our customers during off-peak seasons.

Summer, the year-end and New Year holidays, and Golden Week are peak seasons, and we are overwhelmed with customer service. As a result, follow-up during the off-season, such as "autumn travel proposals" and "spring travel planning consultations," falls behind. Without a proper workflow, the follow-up from peak season to off-season will be delayed in the same way every year.

Field Design – Eight Fields Specialized for the Travel Industry

In addition to standard CRM fields, we design fields specific to the travel industry.

Fields to add to customer records:

Of these, the two most important are "where you want to go next" and "the milestone/reason for your trip." We can make timely suggestions to customers who have filled in these two fields.

Workflow Design – Five Essential Workflows in the Travel Industry

Workflow ①: Follow-up within 48 hours after returning home (most important)

Sending a message asking "How was it?" right after returning home, when the excitement is at its peak, plants the seed for your next trip.

If, during a follow-up after their return, they mention wanting to visit the Amalfi Coast in Italy, we record this in the "Next Place I Want to Visit" field. Six months later, the workflow uses this information to generate a suggested task.

Workflow ②: Proposed tasks 10 months after the last travel date

For customers who travel annually, contacting them 10 months later makes them feel that "it was about time they were thinking about it." This is the moment when a proposal based on their previous travel information and narrative becomes decisively different from a generic direct mail.

Workflow ③: Alert 2 months before the anniversary

For customers celebrating anniversaries, we suggest "Where would you like to go this year?" before they even have a chance to think "We're coming again this year." This proactive suggestion creates a touching experience where they feel "This restaurant remembers me."

Workflow ④: Regular contact with those whose emotional temperature is below "cool".

The note "no hard selling" is important. Trying to sell products to customers who are in a detached state will be counterproductive. The goal is to rekindle their desire to travel again.

Workflow 1: Final confirmation task one month before the trip

"Contacts that build anticipation" before a trip increase satisfaction after the trip. The impression that "they've prepared well" further deepens the feeling of satisfaction upon returning home.

Dashboard Design – The Screen a Travel Agency Manager Sees Every Morning

Four views to install on the travel agency manager dashboard:

① This week's list of customers scheduled to return home : This list shows the return date calculated from the departure date + number of travel days. You can see at a glance who needs follow-up within 48 hours after returning home.

② Customer list for those with anniversaries two months away : A list of customers whose anniversaries will be within the next two months. Use this to check if your proposals are ready.

③ A list of "customers at high risk of churn" who have been away for more than 12 months since their last trip and whose emotional state is cool or below . These customers require priority follow-up.

④ Number of bookings by travel style this month: The number of bookings by travel style, such as hot springs, overseas resorts, and cruises. We will check which genres are performing well and which are performing poorly on a monthly basis.

"Passing on travel memories" when the person in charge changes.

The reason why a change in personnel in the travel industry can be fatal is because the "memories of the trip" are etched in the mind of the person in charge.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka were so moved by their trip to see the Northern Lights in Scandinavia that they cried," "Mr. Yamada prefers hotel stays where he can stay in one place for an extended period because his wife gets easily tired from traveling a lot"—if this kind of information is recorded in the CRM, even if the person in charge changes, the next person in charge can continue the story.

Three pieces of information that should be recorded in the handover narrative:

1. Memories of the wonderful experience of travel: Record in episodes what you particularly enjoyed about that trip.
2. Travel style "quirks": Details of your preferences, such as "I prefer less travel" and "I like to have a leisurely breakfast."
3. Dreams for the next trip: The phrase "Someday I'd like to take a cruise down the Mediterranean" came up in casual conversation.

[Protocol when changing personnel] The likelihood of maintaining the relationship depends greatly on whether the new person in charge can say, "I've heard all about Mr. Tanaka's trip to Scandinavia from my predecessor," in the first contact after the handover. This phrase can only be said if there is a narrative memo in place.

CRM 4.0 at Travel Agencies: Becoming a "Co-creation Partner for Travel Memories"

For travel agencies, CRM 4.0 is about functioning as a "partner in co-creating travel memories."

For our customers, travel is a "special memory in their lives."
The concept behind CRM 3.0 was "to manage this customer's purchase data."
The core concept of CRM 4.0 is "to be there for the customer at important milestones in their life and to create lasting memories together."

By accumulating information such as emotional temperature, travel style, desired next destination, travel milestones, and preferred narratives, the person in charge transforms from "someone who arranges travel" to "someone who knows the history of the customer's travels."

"When you entrust your project to that agency, they understand you and make suggestions accordingly"—this feeling is the essence of the system that keeps generating repeat customers.

Summary — Managing repeat customers in the travel industry is about "designing anniversaries and memories."

If I had to summarize how travel agencies manage repeat customers in one sentence, it would be "designing anniversaries and memories."

• Follow-up within 48 hours of returning home: At the peak of the emotional experience, plant the "seed for the next journey."
• Tasks to be completed 10 months after the last trip: "I was thinking about taking a trip soon," so I took the initiative.
• Suggestions two months before the anniversary: Suggest it before they remember and say, "It's happening again this year."
• Narrative handover: Even if the person in charge changes, the "memories of the trip" will continue.

These processes should be designed as workflows, rather than relying on the memory and intuition of the person in charge.
EMOROCO CRM Lite's philosophy of "a CRM that grows to suit your business needs" resonates with the travel agency's approach of "nurturing relationships that evolve to suit the customer's travel experiences."

[The first step you can take today] Start by setting the "last travel date" and "next desired destination" for customers who have traveled in the past year. The moment you see the number of customers who haven't traveled in 10 months, you'll have a list of customers to contact today.

You can try it with a 30-day free trial.
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