AAWE Score: Jet2.com
Read our review of a holiday purchase journey and how well expectations match the reality of the customer experience.
What is the AAWE Score?
The AAWE Score is calculated by rating initial customer expectations as well as the reality of their experience, both out of 10. We then work out the difference between the two scores to give the final result.
Our aim is to show that balancing customer expectation and the reality of the experience, is the most important thing when it comes to designing exceptional experiences.
Digital purchase journey of a Jet.com package holiday
The Expectation
Jet2 is a well known package holiday provider and one which aims to compete on price, but also the Customer Experience. After all, they say ‘Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday’. Having purchased a Jet2 package holiday before, it felt as though we knew what to expect. A simple and straightforward journey. With January being a peak time for booking a holiday, sales were on. So we thought it was the perfect time to book in some sun.
Expectation Score: 7/10
The Reality
A Functional Experience
Now for the reality.
The Jet2 website was easy to navigate with a simple holiday search function and a robust set of filters. For example, you could filter based upon typical criteria like price and board type but you could also specify what time you wanted your flights to ideally be. There were nice touches too, like if you had left the page and came back, all your filters could be reapplied with a single click.
An overview of the basic information on each holiday destination was clearly shown in the search results. After selecting a holiday, the various ways in which it could be customised were easy to understand and interact with. Dates, airport, and board type could all be changed to make the holiday best work for you and your budget.
Expected Information Missing
A holiday is a large purchase and one you’re desperate to get right. The last thing you want is a holiday to regret as that defeats the purpose of a holiday! So more time is often spent researching a holiday. This is where Jet2 started to come up short as certain expected, and helpful, information was lacking.
There were lots of images to view of possible destinations, but the most important ones such as ones of the rooms were lacking. Also, Jet2 relies on a combination of their own rating system and TripAdvisor to give purchasers confidence before they book. However, in reality, the Jet2 rating feels redundant. The summary information presented from TripAdvisor is not nearly detailed enough. This meant that we had to go to a combination of TripAdvisor’s website, Booking.com, and the hotel’s own website to get the information we needed. We navigated away from Jet2’s website to see what the weather was like at our destination at the time of booking, and to try and get a feel of the surrounding area via Google Street View. All of this created an opportunity for us to find a better price or a different hotel.
Category Challenges to Overcome
In a competitive category, Jet2 follow the same tactics as their rivals. However, this is often to the detriment of the Customer Experience and their brand.
First up is their use of discount codes and channel only promotions. Having purchased from Jet2 before, we knew that they often have app only promotions. This resulted in us having to go through the journey on a laptop (as this was our preferred way to book) then again on the app (to see if there was a better price available). When it comes to discount codes, some were directly applied whereas others had to be manually entered at checkout. Although there was plenty of communication of the available codes, the need to manually input it felt like ‘Dark UX’. A way to describe tactics where options which may be in the customers best interests, but not the businesses, are made purposefully difficult.
Next was their use of email marketing to try and get us to complete the purchase. We were bombarded with emails over the course of the two days it took us to book. This included two personalised emails which we received after we booked. These only served to create doubts about whether or not we had in fact successfully booked a holiday.
Finally, the hidden charges throughout the purchase journey. All flight operators do this, and Jet2 are by no means the worst offenders, but it’s frustrating to have no option but to pay for a seat on your flight. We understand there’s business pressures. They want to initially show an attractive headline price and entice customers to at least begin their purchase journey. But an unavoidable extra £57 for two seats on a flight you have to go on only dampens the excitement for your upcoming holiday.
Reality Score: 6/10
The AAWE Score
Reality Score (6/10) - Expectation Score (7/10) = -1
Reality Score (6/10) - 1 = AAWE Score (5/10)
Opportunities for growth
In lots of ways, Jet2 is offering a customer experience which is fit for purpose. Although we could suggest design improvements to their website to make it more aesthetically appealing, we were still able to successfully book our holiday. But there are a few opportunities to improve things for the customer and create business growth too.
Richer destination info and customer ratings
Holidays are among the most researched purchases. To simplify the journey for them, and reduce the risk of them purchasing elsewhere, more assets such as key imagery are required. Furthermore, more detail is needed on customer reviews. Instead of a simple TripAdvisor visual, the actual TripAdvisor score should be displayed. This will give customers to ability to more easily assess individual destinations at a glance, without the need to go to the reviews. Finally, content answering the typical questions customers may have such as ‘What’s teh weather like that time of year?’ would be helpful to have when reviewing a destination.
More intelligent use of email and CRM
Customers shouldn’t be bombarded simply because they’ve shown a small sign of intent. They definitely shouldn’t be emailed about other holidays immediately after booking. Data quality and latency needs to be improved to ensure only relevant and timely emails are sent. This stops customer confidence being dented by getting emails which they shouldn’t. But it also improves business performance as it reduces the costs associated with needless email sends.
Rise above the category tactics and be upfront with holiday prices
Stop asking customers to input the discount code. Stop making customers pay for seats on flights which they have to take as part of their holiday. It’s a simple thing to do but could easily become a differentiator for Jet2. The fact that you’ll never have to pay for your seat is a change to the customer experience, but it’s also a message which can be used in their advertising and one they can quickly become known for. All this would likely increase the chances of customers coming to Jet2 as their first option to book a holiday.
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