Like many businesses in the industry Emirates has a “club” of selected customers that the airline solicits and listens to in order to improve its product.

Yesterday, members of the Emirates Hub, as it was called, received an email informing them of the end of the program.

So Emirates no longer wants to listen to its customers?

Of course, one may regret that Emirates is depriving itself of a way to listen to its customers in order to improve and innovate. Some may even see this as a negative signal regarding the airline’s customer orientation.

But we see this as a positive signal.

First of all, it is well known that customers do not necessarily know what they want. As Ford said, “If I had asked my customers, they would have told me they wanted horses that go faster”.

Secondly, because in aviation (but not only) such programs are inherently biased.

“Referral” customer clubs are inherently biased

When an airline wants to mobilize its customers, what does it do? It starts with identifying them. What are the required criteria? Mostly being a customer and being relevant.

So they start dipping into the loyalty program, so they get customers. Then they’ll pick from the top of the program, from the highest status. This way they have people who travel a lot and therefore have an informed opinion.

So, regardless of the airline, these clubs are full of “Platinum” or equivalent customers who mostly travel only in business and first.

They are representative of the customers who make the most money for an airline but are not at all representative of the mass of customers who travel in eco and make per year maybe one long haul and one or two medium haul at most. The latter may be volatile and may not earn much per head, but taken together they make up the bulk of the airline’s revenue and even make or break its reputation.

It is easier to identify the customers who travel a lot and in front classes but the typical customer travels in eco on “leisure” destinations where sometimes the airlines put their worst aircrafts with a degraded service. When you only listen to the former, you don’t understand the criticisms of the latter.

Customer club members are pampered by nature

Moreover, they are identified customers who do not have the “normal” experience. On board the staff has all the necessary information to pay special attention to them. They have access to the lounges and priority lanes. They are the object of multiple attentions.

So their logical reaction when asked is often to say that everything is fine. Because even when things go wrong, they think of all the attention they have received, of the positive and say “in the end it’s good”. Halo effect and total loss of objectivity which is almost like Stockholm syndrome.

Moreover, to be highly ranked in a loyalty program you often have to be loyal. When you travel a lot, or even exclusively with one company, you don’t see much of the competition and you don’t have the benchmarks to compare.

Another bias is that they do not talk to “non-customers” to find out why they travel with the competition, what would make them change their mind, etc.

In the end, rather than being challenged, airlines gather an army of “Yes Men” who tell them what they think will make them happy.

A customer club is a tool for the airline, not a reward for the customer

Yes, because the participant also wants to please! When you’re valued by being invited to a customer club, when you’re given exclusive information, when you’re given the opportunity to try things out, you’re not going to have the impoliteness to criticize as well.

This is another deviation from the system. Such a club should be a tool for the airline and in the end it is seen by the customers as a reward. So they will do everything to not displease the airline that values them and gives them a nice gift. Never talk about what’s annoying.

Emirates looking for more diversity in its referral customers?

This seems to have been understood by Emirates. Indeed, when we read “

one can read there the will to change scale and to involve more people, namely “normal” customers.

An airline is only as good as its worst product, but you have to listen to the people who use it. You can have the best business in the world and only listen to the customers who use it. But if your eco is catastrophic, the 80% of customers who use it will first scuttle your reputation and then go to the competition.

The best customers should be rewarded. You have to listen to the customers, all the customers, to improve. But when you do both together you miss the point and break the thermometer.

Photo : B777 Emirates by Sorbis via Shutterstock

Articles similaires

The future of airline alliances: partnerships? Even Emirates cuts back on its loyalty program Lufthansa Group : margins first ! Air France and Booking.com: an unattractive partnership for the frequent flyer Will airlines finally reward loyalty? Editorial: Air-France and Flying Blue, our unloyalty program