you'd think an airline would know about 'landing' pages?

Those folk at KLM are at it again with their emails to me - though to be fair, the email was from Newcastle airport, but I assume KLM were the originators of the message. This time they have sorted out the fact that I'm only interested in flying from Newcastle [see my previous entries 1 & 2 on the subject], but there is an issue with the landing page. You will note in the email below that there are a number of destinations mentioned - with each [in yellow] being a link to the KLM web site.
So far so good, except that every link goes to this page ...

... and I don't want to go to Venice. To seek out the offer to where I might want to go I had to go to the KLM home page and type in all the relevant details in order to get a quote. Harrrummph.

poor geography

I'm sorry - I'm back with KLM again. Not only do they not seem to be learning, they're getting worse. Usual thing, email message promoting cheap flights. The subject line in this one was:So I clicked on the link, and found this - Amsterdam for less than £100 isn't bad, so I clicked on the link: [note - I'm not even going to start on that link text]:
Which took me to this:
Need I say [again] - I have only ever flown with KLM from Newcastle - because I live just down the road. Heathrow is two hundred and odd miles away, hardly my 'local' airport. Harrummmph.

oh-dear-it's-KLM-again bad practice

In my email in-box today - this email from KLM. It sure makes a tempting offer - for whatever it is that's on offer. And isn't it aesthetically pleasing? [as Homer * would say - "hello: sarcasm"].


Oh and by the way, the URL which goes off the page [as indicated by my red arrow] is actually 180 characters long. Snappy huh?

* Simpson, not the Greek philosopher.

better practice

On my blog of Feb 20th I criticised KLM for sending me emails with details of discounted flights from London. Well, in a similar email received today, I noticed a small message asking if I wanted to "change local airport". Has this always been there? Not sure - I think I would have seen it before had it been there, though it is pretty small [see below]. And I am a 'Flying Blue' member - shouldn't it part of my email permission sign-up details. Whatever, I've changed my local airport - I'll let you know if it makes any difference. Watch this space.

bad practice - KLM

Segmentation and target marketing is standard fare in both HE and FE teaching - so why can't organizations use the technology available to them to practice this basic marketing model online? Specifically, I have been a member of KLM’s ‘Flying Blue’ loyalty programme for around seven years. With KLM, I have never flown from any other airport than Newcastle. They know this as it is recorded as part of my ‘air miles’ profile.

So why do they keep sending me email promotions for flights from Heathrow?

The upshot of this poor targeting is that I [and most other recipients] will get into the habit of simply deleting all emails from KLM [or cancelling their ‘opt-in’ to receive them in the first place]. As a result I might (a) miss important messages [eg change of flight times] or, (b) relevant ones [eg flights from Newcastle airport].