Business Transformation in the Airline Category Through Greater Customer Centricity

Travel Daily News featured Vivaldi’s annual Airline Social Currency Report, which measures the largest and highest performing brands in the airline industry in terms of how they leverage their social currency. Social currency is a combination of the actual and the potential resources which develop through presence on social networks and within social communities, both online and offline. The study surveyed 11 airlines on seven different dimensions of social currency.

The findings of the study provided two critical learnings that the article focused on. The first was that, in the airline industry, the willingness to pay for premium is much lower than in other industries. Essentially, customers want to get from point A to point B for as cheap as possible. The second learning was that Southwest is dominating all other airlines when it comes to social currency. We are seeing a direct correlation between social currency and monetary success as in September of 2015, Southwest broke a record by filling 82.7% of seats during the month. In an industry where price is the driving force, social currency and social interaction with consumers can be a great way to win them over, especially when companies are able to match you on price.