Give customers a winning feeling and they’ll part with their money, says I Fly Flat founder
Beating the system is a key part of the frequent flier point game and offers lessons in how marketers can get reluctant customers to part with their cash, says Steve Hui.
Hui, the founder and chief executive of I Fly Flat, was speaking at the Mumbrella Luxury Marketing Summit, where he described how giving a customer the belief they are ‘winning’ will get them to spend money and try brands and products they wouldn’t ordinarily consider.
I Fly Flat’s Steve Hui: ‘That’s an opportunity to get consumers to try a new brand that they wouldn’t do if they were spending money’
Using his website, Hui turned I Fly Flat into the leader in the points management market. The business provides advice in smart points accumulation strategy and solving the headaches of using points on flight bookings.
Hui’s service caters largely for frequent fliers and small to media business owners with one to 50 employees. “The big corporates and affluent travellers don’t worry to much about saving money,” he said.
The key part of his business, Hui says, is giving small business owners, a notoriously tight fisted group, a sense of achievement in beating the system.
“They’ve got money to spend, they’re savvy about how they use it. Just because they can afford expensive stuff, it doesn’t mean they do unless they have a reason to.
“But they will if they believe they’re saving money.
“Above all, it’s the sense of winning. The whole idea is the system of frequent flier points is this mysterious black box where if you have the points, you can’t get a seat.”
Hui also pointed out the service helps new entrants and obscure airlines break into the market: “They say ‘I want to fly with this carrier’ because that’s what they know. But we say to them ‘based on these points, you can fly on different airlines that you’ve never tried before. But, trust me, they’re pretty good.'”
“I find once they’ve tried a new airline, they love it.
“That’s an opportunity to get consumers to try a new brand that they wouldn’t do if they were spending money.”
