Influencing your travellers so they make cost effective, sustainable choices and stay within policy is vital for travel programmes. This involves a greater understanding of why decisions are made, how to engage with your employees, and when to communicate. It’s why behavioural science and nudge theory are now coming into their own.

“We’re entering a new phase in business travel. We can now understand patterns of behaviour at a much deeper level and tailor how travellers respond at the moment decisions are made in a way that simply wasn’t possible a few years ago,” explains Andy Raimond, Programme Optimisation Practice Line Lead at American Express GBT.

The key theme is reducing friction, so employees are nudged in the right decisions at the right time, particularly pre-trip. The aim is to create a decision environment anchored in simplicity and speed.

A lot of this is not rocket science; however it does involve taking a rigorous, scientific and structured approach from the very beginning. The techniques used are also designed to make the right choice also the easiest choice for business travellers.

“The aim is to create a more supportive, less restrictive travel programme with a consistent and clear message,” says Thomas Lempart, Global Procurement Category Manager for Travel & Mobility at Accenture. “If we are perceived to be trying to manipulate people, trust will be eroded very quickly.”

For instance, simple colour-coded visual cues, rather than lengthy text, can make a difference because our brains are hard-wired to process images more quickly. At the same time, anything new or novel can lead to dopamine release.

“Nudging people in the right direction is vital – for instance, a prompt that says ‘I know you have booked this hotel, and did you know that it has breakfast included?’.This can help save the business money,” states a travel manager at a global banking corporation.

Pick of the bunch

Clearly presented, side-by-side comparisons with budgets and pricing displayed can also help travellers make split-second decisions, while bite-sized storytelling and prompts can be deployed to sway decisions at crucial moments in the booking flow, as opposed to lengthy explanations.

“When a choice is also framed as a personal benefit, such as less time spent making flight and hotel arrangements in the same booking, or arriving more focused after two uninterrupted hours of preparation time on a rail journey, travellers are more likely to make the right decision,” details Raimond.

This involves a greater understanding of why, when and how people make decisions. Mapping out the choice architecture for travellers is vital. However, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work with nudge theory.

“Subtle levers can be used to impact travel programmes, such as a change to preferred suppliers. The traveller also needs to be involved in the journey so making them part of the change and process is vital,” states Andrea Caulfield Smith, Managing Director Global Business Travel at Advantage Travel Partnership.

Knowing me, knowing you

People in different markets across the globe make decisions in different ways. Different levels of employees have varying expectations of travel, while others are swayed by loyalty programmes. Greater pools of data and better testing are all helping in this process. 

“There are recognised behavioural frameworks that work. For example, the RESPONSE Model is a practical way to ensure behaviour change initiatives hit the mark. The model embeds behavioural insights into communications by providing a guide that helps make them relevant to the target audience,” explains Raimond.

Personalisation is particularly powerful, since tailored information attracts and helps retain attention and reduces cognitive load.

Social proof is another powerful tool –the idea that ‘people like me in the company are making the same choices.’ It works well with social media, so why not with travellers? Tech platforms such as Tripism are also allowing this sort of content to be communicated internally.  

Deployed effectively, behavioural science and nudge theory can certainly lead to a stronger awareness of policies, more bookings for preferred hotel and airlines partners, lower carbon emissions and fewer out of out-of-policy bookings. 

So, what of the future? Generative artificial intelligence could help in this process – deploying an AI assistant with natural language queries that are trained on internal data that is within policy and restricted by certain parameters has potential. This will help employees make the right decisions more easily. The future is a living, breathing travel policy. Watch this space.

Getting the right RESPONSE

R Recipient Who are you targeting?

E Effect What do you want them to do differently?

S Sender Who and what channel would influence them most?

P Pain Points What barriers stop them now?

O Opportunities What lever could help change that?

N Nudge Design your nudge: what behavioural techniques could you use?

S Spillover Any knock-on effects to consider?

E Evaluate How will you measure success?