[W.28] *SPECIAL* Cruching Data!
Hi Guys!
Last week we finished our initial validation research as 500+ people took the time to express their feelings about the project and travel in general. Again, thank you so you much!
The data shows strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and certainly some threats.
Our expectations
Before we started this research, we had some expectations based on a small focus-group seminar we did. Here we discovered that roughly 10% of all people between 18–30 are eager to try out Aavio. This amount gave us enough confidence to push through as 10% of the total European market is already enough to make this operation very profitable for all parties involved.
10% of the total European market is already enough to make this operation very profitable for all parties involved
Conclusion
Just to skip all the data and save you a lot of time:
- The survey proved that our concept could be very succesful amongst Mavericks.
- It proves that Mavericks are not willing to pay as much for service.
- Mavericks are willing to perform certain tasks to drive up their discounts.
- Mavericks consider air travel to be more of a commodity than a luxury.
- Destination and price is of major importantance
- Mavericks are eager to use last-second travel but some consider single tickets to be a small obstacle.
We are far from there yet but we can say with 100% confidence that we’ve proven Aavio to be a very viable concept (in the European market).
The Data
The survey was cut into 2 versions; the International and Dutch version. After careful inspection, we found out that the result-differences are very minimal. For editing purposes we only use screenshots from the Dutch version. In total, 517 Dutch people and 100 foreign people -from all over the world- responded to our survey.
Age
The survey was focused on Maverick — a nickname we gave our target audience, bright and bold people who adore adventure. This group falls between the age of 18–30 as they are very receptacle to new adventure and well-connected with other circles like sport groups, classes and fraternities. In other words, the ideal targe-audience to promote word of mouth.
How much do you fly each year?
We needed to know how often the Mavericks fly each year. This to indicate potential but also to verify earlier data we found on travel.
According to our research most people fly 1 to 2 times a year. This verifies the secondary data we already had.
Statement: ‘Price determines the airline I’ll use to reach my destination’
In this statement, 5 means ‘I agree, 100%’ and 1 means ‘I do not agree’.
As we can tell from the data, price is one of the most important reasons to chose particular airline over another.
For us, it indicates that young people are not very receptive to expensive loyalty schemes. Here lies a big chance for legacy carriers in comparison to low-cost carriers as Aavio can win back the Millennial/Generation Z audience a.k.a. their future business.
The next 4 questions function as a way to measure the travel interests of the target-audience. This will tremendously help us to carefully pin-point our potential customer with social media ads.
-Do you use Skyscanner on your trip?
Ja = Yes
Nee= No
Here we can see that around 50% of all respondents use Skyscanner to find cheap deals.
-Do you book flights on Skyscanner?
Ja = Yes
Nee= No
While 51% of respondents use Skyscanner to browse for cheap flights, 72% does not use it to book.
Our careful assumption based on primary and secondary data; Once they know where the can get cheap flights, they go straight to the source.
-Do you use Trip Advisor on your trip?
Ja = Yes
Nee= No
Around 60% of our respondents use Trip Advisor on their trip.
How much are you willing to pay more to fly with KLM (legacy carrier) instead of Ryan Air (low-cost) carrier.
Niks = Nothing
As we can clearly see, Mavericks are willing to pay more for service but not a lot. They don’t value service as much as the earlier generations do. Here lies a great chance for Aavio and a big danger for legacy carriers.
What are you willing to do to get more discount on your ticket?
1 =Fill in a Survey
2 = Look at a vacancy
3 = Place a photo on social media
4 = Nothing.
5 = Write/post a blog
This questions shows that Mavericks are willing to perform certain tasks in order to get additional discount on their ticket.
This can greatly improve the B2B concept. An example; Mavericks who use Aavio need to perform tasks that benefit airlines/partners and can get rewarded with additional AAV for doing so.
Would you use ‘Mystery travel’; going to the airport to fly out to a secret destination.
People with 4 or 5 are considered to be positive respondents.
Around 45% of all respondents would book a trip where they have absolutely no control where they are going. This indicates a certain willingness to discover new places without being completely in control.
Would you use ‘Last-second travel’; Going to the airport to fly out to one of the last available destinations.
Where Mystery travel -with 45%- already proved itself to be succesful in the travel industry, last second scores 53%. This is far way more than the initial 10% we were expecting.
How important is it to pick your own destination?
This question is the major difference between a proven concept like Mystery Travel and Last-second travel. In our research, 63% need to be in full control regarding their destination.
So what if you can only buy single trips when you are flying last-second?
We can see a great drop in willingness to use last-second travel. This can be a major threat to Aavio. AirBNB and Uber were considered nuts when they started. Back in 2010, people wouldn’t want to rent out their house or pick up strangers in their car but that changed because there was a financial incentive.
However, we have to do our best to lower this obstacle for people to fly away last-second. We can do this by implementing extra features such as insurance or discounts for Aavio-users on outbound stations in order to get back on a certain date. This will be on the top of our agenda.
Do you want to belong to the first group to test Aavio?
This just says it all. More than half of all respondents want to test Aavio.
We are far from there yet but we can say with 100% confidence that we’ve proven Aavio to be a very viable concept.
Conclusion
The survey proved that our concept could be very succesful amongst the Mavericks audience. It proves that Millennials/Generation Z are not willing to pay as much for service and consider air travel to be more of a commodity than a luxury. We are far from there yet but we can say with 100% confidence that we’ve proven Aavio to be a very viable concept.
