Solution

To understand the customer perspective, CEB taps into a digital insight community known as the CEB Squad. Through research activities conducted through the Alida platform, community members weigh in to shape initiatives such as new product development, route planning, marketing and advertising campaigns, and improvements to the customer experience. Numerous departments within CEB, including corporate strategy, revenue management, customer service, sales, network planning, marketing, loyalty, and more, rely on the company’s market research and analytics team to deliver results.

The Research and Loyalty team engages community members in mixed-method research, including “Quick-Fire” ad-hoc surveys and qualitative approaches such as focus group discussions, and online forums. This mix of research tactics allows them to deeply understand the motivations, preferences, and concerns of their customer base. 

Concept testing for sales offers & new revenue streams

The research team involves the CEB Squad in product and campaign decisions to refine offers, and improve the campaign theme, messaging and materials.

For example, through a concept test on travel vouchers, the CEB Squad helped refine the CEB Super Pass offering by giving the research team a deeper view into the needs of PH travelers. The team presented community members with two potential offers—an unlimited pass and a voucher that allowed them to fly 10 times within a specific period—to understand their decision-making criteria and willingness to pay. 

Results showed that community members cared most about affordability, flexibility, number of destinations, and ease of use. Based on this feedback, Cebu Pacific launched one of its most successful products, the CEB Super Pass, a one-way ticket to any destination in the Philippines, even if you don’t have a firm travel date yet in mind (excluding blackout dates and based on seat availability).

Additionally, when research revealed that customers felt anxious about making changes to their travel plans, CEB developed a new product, CEB Flexi, which allows customers to cancel their flights up to two hours before a flight, and convert the value of their booking into a Travel Fund.

Understanding consumer habits and expectations

Coming out of the pandemic the team conducted quarterly Travel Outlook studies to help CEB be more flexible to changing habits, preferences and consumer behavior. These studies helped to understand how people are flying, what flights should be prioritized, and what key messages need to be emphasized in marketing materials. 

Digital & in-flight experience feedback

How customers feel when planning and booking their trip to flying to and from their destination, that experience is critical to customer retention. Leveraging feedback from the CEB Squad the Research team has been able solve customer journey friction points and elevate overall experience. 

For example:

• Direct impact to improve the execution of CEB Super Seat Fest, a major annual sale, through feedback on common challenges for customers and improving campaign messaging

• Before rolling out enhancements to the brand website and app, the team conducts user tests with select members of the CEB Squad. For example, CEB recently migrated to a new booking platform and wanted to work out any points of friction before launching to the entire customer base.

• Feedback from the community has also helped to improve in-flight services and test new features including changes to the pre-ordered meals menu and customer testing of new seats to determine optimal recline angles.

Results

Incorporating customer feedback into the product development process and marketing campaign strategy has been a great success in terms of driving revenue and increasing customer satisfaction.

For example, when the CEB Super Pass launched, it sold 9% more seats than the company’s highly successful anniversary sale. What’s more, ad recall increased by 76% based on community suggested improvements during development.