A new study has revealed which of the world’s top 50 airlines are furthest advanced in terms of their embracing of modern online retailing technologies and practices.
Global digital agency The Remarkable Group has focussed its Digital Maturity index on the airline sector in its latest industry benchmarking report.
The websites of the 50 top rated airlines in terms of customer satisfaction were assessed in 11 core areas of digital activity covering technology, marketing and communications.
The study, conducted between December 11 2023 and January 22 2024, gives each airline a % score reflecting how mature they are considered to be.
While more than a third fell below 50%, the top performing airline, Qatar Airways, achieved 76.92% ahead of Singapore Airlines (75%), Emirates (73.08%), ANA All Nippon Airways (71.63%) and Air Canada (67.31%).
The Remarkable Group says its digital maturity index “measures an airline’s effectiveness and innovation by evaluating its adoption and utilisation of digital marketing techniques and technology”.
The agency adds that a strong score is indicative of firms that “deliver high-quality digital experiences” giving them a competitive edge, and also positively influencing recruitment and business practices and company culture.
Craig Johnson, The Remarkable Group chief executive, said: “We were disappointed to see leading airlines underperforming, especially in a sector heavily reliant on cutting-edge technological advancements in both engineering and customer-centric initiatives.”
The airline sector is forecast to drive three quarters of its revenue through digital channels by 2027, however The Remarkable Group found it failing in some key fundamentals like web page loading speeds.
Airlines were also found to be lacking in their efforts to deliver personalised experiences to their customers and embracing the opportunity that social channels offer. However, airlines scored highly across the board for their mobile apps.
Johnson added it was concerning that over half of the airline websites studied “received lacklustre ratings” for search engine optimisation (SEO) and that most were not exploiting video with 92% found to be not “effectively leveraging” YouTube for customer engagement.
“In the airline sector, tailoring content to diverse audiences across different regions with specific needs is crucial. Airline must deepen their understanding of their audiences to foster meaningful and profitable relationships,” he said.
The Remarkable Group’s report finds that while airlines are investing in marketing-leading platforms like Adobe, Sitecore and Salesforce it is, as an industry, “trailing behind other industries” by failing to meet customer expectations online.
The report concludes: “Our research confirmed that although airlines are advancing technologically, they are still significantly behind other sectors in part of their digital maturity, including other areas within the travel sector.
“Whilst some airlines have taken steps towards digital transformation, there are further improvements that need to be made for them to keep up with their digitally savvy customers.” Airlines were urged to accelerate their effort with the digital revolution showing no signs of slowing down.
More detailed confidential reports have been created for each of the 50 airlines in the analysis which offer advice on how to improve digital maturity, and these are available on request alongside a generic demonstration on how airlines will limited budgets can outperform the industry giants by being agile and innovative.
