Travel apps have become essential to modern-day traveling, offering convenient ways to book flights and hotels, plan itineraries, map directions, and much more.

However, with over 1.96 million apps in the Apple App Store and 2.87 million in Google Play—how can you stand out as the go-to travel app? By increasing user engagement.

Travel apps represent adventure and new memories, so take advantage of that excitement by giving your users an unforgettable app experience. You’ll need a compelling strategy to stay ahead of competitors, so we’ve gathered 5 key ways you can drive user engagement.

1. Gamify Your App

Gamification means using game-like elements in your advertising campaigns to increase user engagement. You can do this in the form of playable ads or in-app gameplay.

Playable ads allow users to try an app before downloading and can boost user retention rates by 30 to 40% because of their enjoyable nature.

ezTravel, a Taiwanese travel app, used Facebook Playable ads to increase downloads by 2X. Users "traveled" around Taiwan by rolling dice on a digital game board to discover new places and collect coupons. Similarly, Waze uses a leaderboard where users earn points and rankings for making road reports, keeping the community highly engaged.

2. Personalization

Tailoring your ads is highly effective because 87% of consumers are more likely to shop with travel brands that succeed at personalizing their apps. Using first-party (1P) data—information collected directly from your customers—makes this easy.

Hopper, a travel booking app, partnered with CRAFTSMAN+ to scale engagement. By tracking in-app activity, Hopper created mini-games that offered users personalized rewards and vouchers based on their specific travel interests.

3. Social Sharing and Building Community

Travel is a social experience. Brands that make it simple for travelers to share their journeys see higher exposure. Airbnb allows users to share potential bookings via text or social media to coordinate with friends easily.

Couchsurfing has built a global community of 14 million people by focusing on messaging tools and public events that allow travelers to connect directly with locals. The more opportunities users have to collaborate, the more organic exposure your app receives.

4. User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is a powerful trust-builder. Roughly 85% of people report they would share a positive travel experience on social media. TripAdvisor leverages this by allowing users to write reviews and share photos, amassing over 859 million reviews that help 463 million travelers monthly.

You can leverage UGC by reposting content from users who have tagged your app during their adventures, showing prospects real-world proof of your app's value.

5. Augmented Reality (AR)

AR is an emerging technology that can revolutionize the travel industry by giving users an immersive experience beyond traditional travel tools.

So what is AR? 

AR “is the integration of digital information with the user's environment in real-time.” Think back to Pokémon Go, when users could catch Pokemon in the real world. 

You may already be using apps that utilize AR without realizing it.

Google Maps, for example, has a ‘Live View’ feature to give real-time walking directions. Users hold their cameras up to their surroundings, and Google Maps will use arrows and prompts to point them in the right direction. 

There are many ways your app can get creative with AR, but here are a few ways to get started:

• Use a phone’s camera to help users find their destination with easy-to-follow directions

• Provide virtual tours of popular destinations and landmarks, allowing users to explore and learn about new places

• Offer self-guided tours where users can point their cameras to restaurants, museums, and buildings to find information

• Ease the language barrier with in-app translations where users can point their phone camera to a sign and have it translated to their chosen language

It's All About Your Users

Apps need users to be successful, so always think about what they’re doing and how you can keep them coming back to your app. 

If you want to learn more about optimizing your app, contact us for a free consultation. 

You can also head over to our blog, ‘App Store Optimization Best Practices’ to learn more.