Dr. Amin Khan (pictured top centre), Malaysia Airlines Executive Vice President, Commercial Strategy, used five words to describe the airline’s refreshed malaysiaairlines.com website at its launch earlier this week – Flights, Tour, Transfer, Hotel, Car Hire.
The five words form the essence of what the airline is promising to deliver to customers, to give them “connectivity with the purchase and to plan your journey seamlessly without leaving the site,” he said.
The revamp came about after feedback from MAS’ customers. “We did it for you and because of you,” in addition to it being part of MAS’ continuous efforts to foster an “intimate relationship between the customer and the brand.”
The one-stop travel website:
• Enables you to plan your trip at home or office at your own convenience.
• Inspires you to travel.
• Provides add-ons, such as holiday packages, airport transfers using the KLIA express, hotel bookings, and suggestion holiday ideas.
• Has a guide to help you shop around with virtual customer service to help you plan a seamless journey and have an intimate.
“It’s not just a selling site but one that will provide you with a complete travel experience,” Dr Amin said.
I decided to test drive the site to see if all the above promises check out.
First impression on logging in – the site is definitely much better than the previous version – it is aesthetically more pleasing with its clean fresh look and simplified navigation. Perhaps the most pleasant part is the various pages opened easily on clicking as they are not overladen with high-resolution images.
Booking a flight is easy as I could do it from almost any page on the site and it has all the usual frills of online booking including web check in, flight status, manage your booking and baggage check.
A nice feature is from the home page I am able to go to any sections as a convenient sidebar on the site’s left side lists all its services, from “Deals of the Day” to “Ask MAS” and “Travel Ideas”, which recommend holiday options such as “City & Nightlife” or “Beach Holidays” in all the destinations MAS flies too. And the range is quite comprehensive.
Overall the site does provide a “seamless and complete experience” as I test booked various travel products.
Dr Amin told WIT that he hopes the ease of navigating the revamped site and its complete one-stop travel inventory would entice four out of every 10 people visiting the site to make a purchase. The previous site had a conversion rate of browse to buy of two out of 10.
“Online booking is nearing its full potential in several world regions. On average, the availability of online booking is the third most important consideration when arranging a trip. Passengers are also showing an increasing willingness to use self-service options when available.”
He did not reveal how much the airline spent on the exercise, instead saying it was part of the RM400 million (US$131 million) 10-year budget (from 2006) the airline sets aside for its technological development.
Dr Amin also reiterated that despite offering numerous travel-related services to its customers, the site is not taking away business from travel agents.
“We are offering a new channel of business and sourcing for new online customers”, comparing the situation to a channel where water flows through, and with a new channel opened, more water will flow through.
The airline expects a growth in revenue by 70% with its redesigned website.
Dr Amin said that MAS’ mobile website may also be revamped to make it a one-stop shopping portal. Currently its mobile site is for booking flights, check in and related with some special deals offered.
* Photos courtesy of Malaysia Airlines
