Harnessing the Power of Community Effect in the Travel Industry

In the world of luxury travel, catering to high-end clientele venturing to places like Antarctica, the Arctic, Everest, and even potentially Mars in the future comes with its own challenges. Acquiring this exclusive group of individuals involves substantial costs, ensuring their satisfaction demands even greater expenses, and retaining their loyalty requires relentless efforts that escalate costs further. How does one navigate this complex scenario?

To address this challenge, let’s first delve into its essence. Is it always the brand owner or community leader that binds people together? Not necessarily. Sometimes, individuals are drawn not just to the brand owner or community leader but also to their fellow “followers” or fellow community members—forming a connection they find hard to sever.

The core issue here is that while products and brands undeniably constitute the heart of user loyalty, you might overlook another equally effective adhesive that binds users together: the community effect.

But what exactly is the “community effect”? Let’s illustrate with an example.

As a leader in China’s largest private board of directors organization, I’ve had the privilege of interacting with a group consisting of numerous individuals who were once part of various prestigious business schools’ Executive MBA programs. Some are still enrolled, and a few have attended multiple editions of the same courses.

Do you believe these individuals repeatedly attended the same courses due to the exceptional teaching at these business schools? Not entirely. The reason for their prolonged attendance wasn’t solely the school’s instructors but their fellow students. Birds of a feather flock together—many of these exceptional students shared similar traits. Attending multiple editions allowed them to network with valuable, complementary new acquaintances, contributing significantly to their future business success.

Subsequently, many business schools recognized this intriguing “super adhesive” phenomenon and even started intentionally optimizing their “adhesive formula.” For instance, classes would include one or two individuals from notably large-scale enterprises, anchoring the community like big brothers; investment professionals, celebrities, or Olympic champions acted as business cards and super connectors; inclusion of female classmates, preferably attractive, enhanced team cohesion. These optimized “adhesive formulas” further heightened the cohesion among students.

This exemplifies the “community effect,” where business school students remain not just due to the school itself but their fellow classmates.

So, what can you do? Establish an exclusive WeChat community, adding all your high-end customers, and regularly organize high-quality gatherings to foster stronger bonds among members. Then, throw in an event like “private jet travel—seven marathons across seven continents in seven days” within the group. When many are intrigued but hesitant, upon hearing that certain individuals have joined, they might find themselves unable to resist due to the significant bonding between them.

This is the “community effect”—sometimes, the bond between users exceeds their loyalty to the brand.

So, how can this “community effect” solve other business challenges?

Suppose you own a car brand and want to increase user retention. What do you do? Establish “car enthusiast clubs” in various locations, organize weekend trips, and cultivate stronger bonds among members. As the cohesion among club members grows stronger, when it’s time for them to change cars, they might hesitate to switch brands as that would mean bidding farewell to the community.

Or perhaps you have a stock trading app and want to increase user transaction volumes. How do you proceed? Build an online “investment club,” where users actively share, discuss, and sometimes even debate investment strategies in forums and groups. As the club’s value and cohesion strengthen, users contemplating switching trading apps might seriously consider: “Do I really want to leave this group of well-informed, insightful investors?”

Consider this: do you remember more names of your university classmates or your professors? That’s the power of the “community effect”—a powerful adhesive that binds companions.

In conclusion, this week, we’ve explored four strategies to improve “repeat purchase rates”: 1) incentivizing repeat purchases to enhance customer lifetime value, 2) employing reactivation strategies to prolong customer lifecycles, 3) utilizing membership programs to sign “collective buying agreements” with users, and 4) leveraging the community effect to increase user cohesion. A thoughtfully designed community effect acts as a robust adhesive, ensuring that users cannot separate from each other, ultimately ensuring they cannot separate from you.