RCS Business Messaging results in CTR 4x higher than email for EaseMyTrip
Founded in New Delhi in 2008, EaseMyTrip is an online travel company with a website, mobile apps, a network of over 59,000 travel agents, and offices in India, Singapore, Dubai, and London.
www.easemytrip.comSummary
With more than ten million users, EaseMyTrip is the second largest and fastest growing online travel portal in India, working with B2B and B2C customers traveling both domestically and internationally. EaseMyTrip is known for their customer-focused approach, providing all the tools and information travelers need to research, plan, book, and purchase travel products and services on their computers or mobile devices. With an RCS Business Messaging campaign offering a promotional code in exchange for filling out a five-question survey, the company was able to achieve a 7 percent higher open rate, a four-times greater click-through rate (CTR), and a 2.7 percent increase in conversion rate compared to a similar email campaign.
The Challenge
EaseMyTrip aims to deliver relevant travel information to customers using a variety of online and mobile communications channels, but data showed that customers were missing important last-minute travel notifications. The company needed a channel that would better reach customers and improve open rates, response rates, and conversions for both informational and promotional messages.
The Approach
EaseMyTrip decided to test RCS Business Messaging in late 2020. They believed that these mobile campaigns, delivered through Android’s messages app, would be a more timely and reliable way to get in front of travelers than email. In an ambitious pilot campaign run with the help of omnichannel communications provider Infobip, EaseMyTrip sent 5.5 million messages featuring a five-question survey about post-COVID-19 travel. Message recipients could quickly and easily answer the questions by tapping on multiple-choice answer “chips.” As a thank you for completing the survey, EaseMyTrip offered respondents a coupon code toward future travel. As compared to other channels, the company appreciated how their branding and images could be incorporated into the RCS Business Messaging campaign, and how easy it was for them to design and implement a large-scale survey. “With Infobip’s guidance, the survey was easy for us to deploy—and it was also easy for our customers to respond. With five quick taps, they could answer our questions, and we could get the customer research data we were seeking. It was a win-win,” says Vikash Goyal, Head of Digital Marketing and Business Development at EaseMyTrip.
EaseMyTrip used RCS Business Messaging to survey customers on post-COVID travel.
After completing the survey, customers received a discount code to apply toward their next trip.
EaseMyTrip used RCS Business Messaging to survey customers on post-COVID travel.
After completing the survey, customers received a discount code to apply toward their next trip.
The Results
The RCS Business Messaging campaign proved to be a successful way to conduct customer research and gauge how customers were feeling about post-pandemic travel. The campaign had a 7 percent higher open rate and a four-times greater CTR than a similar email campaign. In addition, ten times more people filled out the survey through the Messages app than through email, translating into a 2.7 percent increase in conversion rate. “People today have their phones on them 24/7 and they reach for them in free moments. Our RCS Business Messaging campaign helped us connect with our customers in those moments, and we believe that’s what led to such a high conversion rate for our campaign,” says Vikash.
“RCS Business Messaging let us connect with customers using the right channel at the right time, and this led to impressive metrics across the board, from open rates to CTR to conversions.”
— Vikash Goyal, Head of Digital Marketing and Business Development, EaseMyTrip
*The data referenced in this case study have been provided by EaseMyTrip