How Delta Can Make More Money and Make Customers Happier

Don't Interrupt The Flight at Inconvenient Times for Flyers

Overall flying with Delta is a good experience. Flight attendants are nice, flights are on-time, and prices are decent. Also carry-ons are not made into a big deal like with American Airlines, click here if you want to see what we mean.

BUT why did you have to interrupt the in-flight movie with an announcement to apply for a Delta credit card? Do you really get that many people to sign-up then and there?

This aircraft happened to have monitors in the back of every headrest (wish all flights had that!). The other connecting flights in this voyage did not have the monitors in the back of the headrest. However, every one of the four flights included a mid-flight announcement to promote signing up for the Delta credit card. Sure, Delta has a captive audience that is forced to listen to your announcements and Delta will inevitably have a portion of that audience sign-up for a credit card. But alternative exist that should yield more credit card sign-ups!

The U/X Idea

Alter when announcements for the credit card offer is made to increase conversions.

The User Experience Problem

Once you’re finally boarded, heard the safety instructions, and the plane has taken off, passengers really only care at this point when they can use their laptops and/or go to the bathroom. Other than that, passengers want peace and quiet. The only other expectations is to hear about bad weather or when we’re getting our snacks and drinks. Any other announcement is annoying!

From a sales standpoint, it is hard to believe that interrupting in-flight entertainment or making an additional announcement when passengers are trying to relax would be the most beneficial time to make an announcement to sign-up for a credit card.

The worst is finally getting to be on a plane with monitors in the headrest where passengers can watch cool movies (like Die Hard, the best “Christmas” movie of all time), and then Delta pauses the movie multiple times during the flight! This becomes frustrating and cannot benefit Delta in signing up more passengers for a credit card.

The U/X Solution

For all flights, make the the announcement to sign-up for the Delta credit card before, or immediately after, flight attendants review the aircraft safety features.

For flights with monitors in the back of every headrest, have a popup offer appear on the screen during the flight. The ad should not be full screen. It should be a bubble that arises from the bottom to fill between 1/6th and 1/5th of the screen with an obvious “x” in the top right corner to cancel it out. Showing this pop-up a second time throughout the flight is fine as well.

According to The Points Guy, Delta’s credit card segment is very profitable for the airline. If so, actually try and sell the credit card! Sales tips:

• Announce the credit card offer when people are not trying to relax

• Implement subtle pop-ups for in-flight entertainment that do not pause the movie

• Create a “last ditch” best offer at the end of the flight to create urgency

  • Show this on the 2nd and/or last pop-up for aircraft with in-flight entertainment

  • Provide this announcement once the plane has landed so flight attendants can pass out applications to interested applicants while aircraft is enroute to jetway. Passengers can fill out paperwork as plane de-boards

Bullets one and two of the aforementioned sales tips were previously discussed.

The third bullet for a “last ditch” best offer is an option for Delta. Go in knowing that offering something extra to the passenger will create a sense of urgency to sign-up as well as the feeling that the passenger is getting rewarded. An example is “sign-up now for the Delta credit card and receive a $25 gift card after your first purchase of $100 or more.” Delta has to do what makes sense here financially, but the point is that offering something extra should convert more credit card sign-ups. If passengers signed-up with the first announcement, make sure to provide them with the incentive as well so no ill-will is created.

Conclusion

Passengers do not like having their flight interrupted unnecessarily, especially if watching a movie.

Make the announcement to sign-up for a Delta credit card before, or immediately after, flight attendants go over the aircrafts safety features.

On aircrafts with in-flight entertainment in the back of every headrest, enable pop-up ads for the credit card that take up a small portion of the screen and does not pause the entertainment.

As an option at the end of the flight, make another announcement once the plane has just landed with an additional credit card offer that creates a sense of urgency with a “last ditch” best effort by providing an extra incentive such as a gift card.

Hope this works for y'all!

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