Monetization project | Agoda
Define your ICP:
Personal and Demographics Details | ICP 1 | ICP 2 | ICP 3 | ICP 4 |
ICP Name | Tanay | Ravi | Hersh | Shefali |
Age Group | 25-30 | 36-40 | 25-30 | 30-35 |
Gender | Male | Male | Male | Female |
Location | Tier 1/2 cities | Tier 1/2 cities | Tier 1/2 cities | Tier 1/2 cities |
Designation | Founder | Co-founder | AVP | Supply Director |
Companies | Internet Companies, Start-ups | Start-ups, SMEs | Start-ups | Start-ups |
Income Level | 1.5lakh | 2+ | 1-1.5 | 2+ |
Marital Status | Unmarried | Married | Umarried | Unmarried |
Kids | NA | Son - 6 years old | NA | NA |
Hobbies | Pickelball, Playstation, Reading books (trying to get back) | Exploring Local Food | Mobile Games, Gymming, Reading, Playing football | Travel, Exploring different cuisine & cocktails, to know about people and culture |
Willingness to Pay | Moderate - Tries to get best possible deals | High | Moderate to High | High |
Travel-Specific Details | ||||
Travel Goals | Travel New Places Spend time with my Partner mostly Spend time with my Parents/Friends | Explore new places Spend time with my wife | No Goals - No set agenda Just goes around places | Liesure, Explore different cuisine and cultures |
Preference (Travel Outlook) | Prefers finishing off travel time so picks flights over trains comparatively When planning international travel pick countries which are Visa Free or Visa on Arrival | Rarely goes to a place twice, Prefers Leisuring, does not like to rush Prefers road trips due to kid Avoids trains because of Hygiene Prefers exploring local food and culture With International trips Comparison of prices matrix goes down | Want to chill, never plans activites too, Do random stuff sometimes like Scuba diving course in last trip Prefers doing things as per my feelings at the time Usually avoid booking return tickets Like to try local food and talk to local people | Want to relax, understand about people and their lives Always explore the local food Does not want to fill the days with lot of activities |
Travel Partner/People | Mostly Solo and with Partner SOmetimes Friends/Family too | Wife & Sister - 90% Business Trips - Cofounders | Solo | Partner and Girls (Close-knit girls group) |
Frequency of Travel/Year | 20 | 30 | 8-10 | 30 |
Segregation of Trips | Work Trips - 10-12 Leisure Trips - 8-9 | Work Trips - 18-24 Leisure Trips - 6-8 | Work Trips - 5-6 Leisure Trips - 2/3 trips | Work trips - 20-25 Leisure Trips - 5-6 |
Recent Travel History | Recent trip Singapore (Business Trip) Keeps on travelling in India - Recent trip Dehradun | Gwalior (Went for a business trip, Wife & kid joined and we explored local places and cuisines | Thailand - Did Scuba course | Bali - One of my team won a League at the Company |
Early Planner or Last Minute? | Mostly Last Minute | Early Planner | Last minute | Last minute |
How Far in Advance Do You Plan Your Trips? | Domestic Trips - Impromptu or 1/2 weeks ago International Trips - 1/2 months ago | Usually a couple of weeks ago | Solo - Impromptu With Friends - A month ago | With Partner - Last minute With Friends - 1/2 months in advance |
2025 Travel Goals, Why? | Europe - Want to start with Europe as everything cannot be covered in one trip | Srilanka (Visa Free, Clean, Better than Goa, expenses almost equivalent to Goa) Dubai - Want to explore business opportunities | Backpacking around Asia, Europe, Northeast India | Thailand (bachelorrete) Goa (I go here multiple times a year, have one Villa) Europe (Want to start these trips) |
Travel Challenges | India - hotels are more expensive in General Outside: biggest challenge going outside is currency exchange | Avoids train journey because of hygiene Does not book homestays if wife is with me Security is most imp aspect of Stay hence book above 3 star properties only | Hygiene is most important - Never books 8/10 people dorms | Coordination problems with friends, Had to make WhatsApp groups then people take time to choose |
Do you prefer city or nature places? | Nature | Both | Both | Both |
Your Source of Finding New Places? | Instagram, Youtube & People | People, Instagram, Youtube | Youtube | Instagram & People |
Social Media and Travel Apps Details | ||||
Social Media Apps They Use | Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIN, Reddit, Youtube | Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn | LinkedIn, Reddit | |
Most Used Social Media App | ||||
Time They Spend on Social Media in a day | 2/3 hours | 2-3 hours | 1-2 hours | 30 mins - 1 hour |
Travel Apps They Use and Why? | Agoda, Skyscanner, Hostelworld, Airbnb, Goibibo | MMT, Agoda, Ixigo, Cleartrip, Easemytrip, Paytm | Don't use Apps but websites Flights - Skyscanner Trains - Cleartrip, Ixigo, MMT whoever gives confirmed ticket Hotel Bookings - Agoda, booking.com., MMT , airbnb hostel world | MMT - For domestic travel - Army discount Booking.com - For Internation Travel - Pay later option - you can cancel before 24 hours Agoda - Only when tripadvisor suggest that prices are low Airbnb - When we want to book the homestay Trivago - When want to compare stay prices Skycanner - for flights |
Agoda-Specific Questions Details | ||||
Why Do You Use Agoda? | Usually get lowest prices on Agoda for both domestic and international Especially one of the lowest of hotels gives decent last minute deals , Tday I need a place to stay, We usually stay a hotel and airbnb with my partner , Agoda has one of the lowest deal Cashback | Great Cashbacks I get best deals usually No loyalty as such, if tomorrow some other website gives better deal than I will book from there | Great Deals - Had both good and bad experiences but Customer Support team was responsive hence still keep booking from Agoda | To book budget friendly places, I use Agoda when prices are cheap for the same property we want to stay at |
You Use App or Website? | App | App | Website | App |
Which Are Some Features You Like the Most? | Mostly Share | Share | None as such ,all of then are quite the same, Share the hotel in everything | Share |
Frequency of feature usage | All the time | All the time | NA | All the time while planning a trip |
Notifications Are On for Agoda? | No | Yes (but only regarding my trip) | NA | No |
Do You Delete the App Once Coming Back from Your Trip? | Yes (Except Agoda as it gives Cashback after 45-60 days) | No | NA | No |
Any Feedback on UI? | All App UIs are super cluttered, for first time users, its super distracting - have to put in efforts to find | UI is super clean No dark colours, soothing to eyes Easier to navigate | NA | All UIs are horrible, too cluttered |
If not Agoda - What will be the substitute? | I am okay using anything if it gives me the best deals | Any platforms which gives better deals | Not as such, okay with any platform out there | Use multiple platforms, depending upon which one is providing with better deals |
Any Agoda Experience worth Highlighting? | Once it has happened that Property did not honour Agoda booking, Owner gave me another option so I took it but it will difficult to reach to Agoda folks as they don't have any toll free number | Once I booked a hotel in Kasoli where the Property has shown Community Swimming pool, I connected with Agoda Support Staff and I actually got the whole amount re-imbursed | During our bad experience in Thailand where we booked an expensive property for 2 nights stay (70K) for 3 people, Hotel property was not ready to honour that deal and we paid in advance for this, Property mentioned that they never confirmed the booking with Agoda, we called the customer support and rather than giving the amount back, the customer support team was pushing for Agoda coins - when a customer had such bad experience how can the support team push for App money | Not as such |
Problem Statement | travels frequently for work and leisure but faces challenges with high domestic hotel costs, currency exchange for international trips, and last-minute bookings. While he values Agoda for competitive prices and cashback, the cluttered UI and lack of prompt customer support impact his experience. | prioritizes comfort, hygiene, and security in travel, especially for trips with his wife and child. While he values Agoda for cashback and competitive deals, he remains open to other platforms offering better options. | seeks spontaneous and laid-back travel experiences, focusing on hygiene and exploring local cultures. While Agoda is valued for great deals and responsive customer support, past issues like unresolved property disputes highlight the need for reliable booking confirmations and customer-centric resolutions. | values travel for leisure, exploring local cuisines, and understanding cultures. She prefers budget-friendly accommodations and relies on platforms like Agoda for competitive pricing, though coordination challenges with friends often complicate group travel. Shefali's use of multiple platforms for deals and feedback on cluttered UIs emphasize the need for seamless, user-friendly travel solutions tailored to spontaneous and planned trips alike. |
ICP Type: | Power User | Power User | Core User | Casual User |
Core Value Proposition:
For Travel Enthusiasts, who needs seamless and end-to-end travel booking experience, Agoda is an online travel agency that provides convenience, affordability and a range of travel services such as Stay, flights, on-ground transportation and experiences for a hassle-free experience.
Monetization litmus test
(Since Agoda is already monetizing for advertisers, and its an marketplace for travelers to book for travel services, it is difficult (but not impossible) to monetize the users. The only way that can happen if we create a membership plan for users so that they keep using the products and does not deviate to competition.)
In India, MMT is an industry leader and Agoda has minimal market share even thought it provides the best deals on stay especially. The reason MMT is market leader in India is because of first mover advantage and Indian consumers being more comfortable using it. Indian consumers likes MMT User Interface over other OTA Platforms.
Throughout this project, we will try to build a membership plan for users.
Since we are trying to monetize Users and not advertisers hence Litmus test is relevant and will help us understand whether we must start monetizing or not.
1) Retention Curve: Basis our user calls, it is clear that most of the users in India are not loyal to one single platform but books for travel services (accommodation, flights and transport) from the platform where are getting cheapest price. The do consider reviews of the - let's say - hotel on the platform, better pictures, customer service but the first priority is to get best possible deals and they go on other platform to check the comparison.
Even after all this, we can assume that retention curve for Agoda must be flattening if not smiling because of various reasons mentioned below:
- Communication like best deals
- If the customer finds better deal on some other platform, they can share the proof and Agoda will match the price - how cool is that?!
- 24x7 customer support available.
- Cashbacks
2) Deeper Engagement:
As we saw during our E&R assignment, below provided is the table of deeper engagement by users basis casual/core/power:
Select Segmentation Type | Reason for Selection | Features ICPs values the most | Natural Frequency as per ICP |
ICP Based Segmentation | As Agoda being in travel industry where preferences, customer behaviour, options of travel is so vast, reaching out to travelers basis their demographics, behaviour, preferences very be much beneficial for Agoda | Share Wishlisting Contact Property Match the lowest pricing | 1) Casual: Users: Booking 1 stay once in 6 months or booking 1/2 services in 4 months 2) Core Users: Booking 1 stay once in 4 months or Booking 1-2 service once in 4 months 3) Power Users: Booking 3 stays in a year or Booking 1-2 services in a year |
3) Willingness to Pay:
Willingness to pay basis ICP is given below:
Users | Casual Users | Core Users | Power Users |
Willingness to Pay? | Yes | Yes | Definitely Yes! |
Reasoning | Casual Users are coming on the platform only to avail best deals, during user calls they mostly talked about getting better discounts on their stays especially, if a lite membership program is build for such users where they get deals plus some more benefits their chances of sticking to the product increases | Core users basis our ICPs are the users who are using multiple services and prefer sticking to the product because of better customer service, if curated membership program will make them transact more on the platform | Power Users are already using the product religiously but the user calls are clearly showing that they are not using other services such as flights, cab transfer, and mostly are only using hotel booking options, curating a membership program may make these users to use Agoda for all their travel needs. |
Basis the three parameters mentioned above that is Retention curve, Deeper engagement and Willingness to pay we can conclude that our product is ready for monetization.
Other than this, let us also answer the 7 main questions of pricing:
Monetization design
As we saw in our litmus test - Monetization can be started for Agoda basis membership program. From discovery to transaction for Agoda is usually 15 days. Once the user reach the stage of Champions & Loyal Customers, Agoda can start educating the users regarding the membership program. The communication can happen via PNs, Email and WhatsApp messaging and designed in a such a way that they land on a page which is visible to only them! Since this will be the first experiment, Agoda can analyze basis the number of members engaging with the landing page, no of memberships purchased etc
Who to charge?
We will answer this question basis the RFM Model we learned where we prioritize who to monetize basis how recently a user has transacted on the App, their frequency and their average spend on the App.
Here is the virtual representation of RFM model for Agoda basis the industry data available and some assumptions:
In Indian markets, People usually don't invest on memberships unless its saving them huge amount of money. For example Swiggy one membership is bought by people who constantly keep ordering food or groceries from the App. But this number is not even 1% of the total Active users. Similarly MMT who is a market leader in Indian market have their premium membership MMT Black which is again not bought by even 1% of the regularly transacting users (information via various internal sources)
In such market, even keeping aside the framework data our recommendation is to release the membership only for top tier users which are Champions and Loyal Customers. This will help us to understand whether the membership will even work for long term and if it can be launched for other user cohorts as well.
So Assuming the membership program gets released only for Champions and Loyal Customers.
These are the customers who are booking travel on Agoda at least once a quarter so
Recency will be 3 months.
Frequency will be at least 4 times annually.
For Monetary analysis let's consider our ICP 2 which is Ravi who books atleast 5 trips in a year where his spend on domestic trip per person is 35K and international trip is 150K. This is an ideal customer which Agoda should tap initially because these are high spenders on Agoda and generally on the total travel and value convenience and better experiences booking at their fingertips.
Overall Features Engagement of Champions and Loyal Customers:
Champions and Loyal Customers are Agoda's Power and Core users. So these users are primarily using two main features of Agoda which is hotel and flight booking but they are also using other features such as on-ground transport and at least engaging with experiences section.
TL:DR
Segment | % of Users | Explanation | Feature Usage | Should we charge them? | Priority |
Champions | 2-4% | Very few high-frequency, high-value users - books 5-6 times a year | Super users - Booking Hotels + Flights + Airport transfers + Experiences | Definitely Yes! | P0 |
Loyal Customers | 5-8% | Regular bookers but not as committed as Champions - books once a quarter | Core users - Booking Hotels + Flights + Engaging with on-ground transport and package booking features | Yes | P0 |
Potential Loyalists | 8-10% | Users who made 2-3 bookings in a year and exploring other services | Hotel Booking + Flight + One more feature booking | Yes | P1 |
Promising Customers | 6-8% | Users who booked recently but aren’t frequent travelers. | Hotel Booking + Flight and engaging with other features | Yes | P1 |
Need Attention | 8-12% | Customers who booked in the past but haven't opened the App since last 4-6 months | Hotel Booking + Flight | Maybe | P2 |
About to Sleep | 8-10% | Users who booked a few times before but haven’t engaged in a long time. | Hotel Booking + Atleast one service mostly flight booking or just Hotel Booking | Maybe | P2 |
Can’t Lose Them | 3-5% | Previously high-value users who are now inactive/deleted the App | Hotel Booking + Atleast one service mostly flight booking | Maybe | P2 |
At Risk | 12-18% | Users who booked last year but haven't returned since | Hotel Booking | No | Can't monetize now |
Hibernating | 20-25% | Users who booked only once or twice and have completely disengaged. | Hotel Booking | No | Can't monetize now |
New Customers | 12-18% | A significant chunk, as travel apps constantly acquire new users. | Hotel Booking | No | Can't monetize now |
When to charge?
As mentioned in the below graph, for Agoda the pricing communication is done slightly in a different manner. Since this is subscription based pricing for loyal customers to increase their stickiness to the product and start transacting more, the communication has to increase especially when the user is planning another trip and repeatedly checking their loyalty points. And Agoda needs to show pricing page multiple times but most importantly in the cashback section and just before booking for their upcoming trip to reduce the Sales cycle from Discovery to Transaction.
Pricing Page Design
Core Psychology Principles used while designing the pricing page:
- Middle Option Effect: As most of the customers think on the lines "how can middle option be wrong" hence I kept the middle option the best to pick"
- Strike & Scarcity Effect: Striking off the original pricing and mentioning limited period offer creates an urgency among users which can help increase the conversion for the shorter duration. As this effect is risky if overused, hence we must not repeat it and keep it limited for the duration of few weeks (ideally less than 2 weeks) of the launch of membership, this will keep the user trust intact and create the FOMO for future launches.
- Decoy Effect: The first membership pricing looks expensive for the features offered hence a decoy effect is in play here, where people usually won't even think of buying a membership for travel in a world of free credit cards, standalone properties providing their discounts and also considering the cluttered market, a user who lands on this page will start comparing the price for the value they are getting in the form of features, most probably we have removed the option of not buying here!
Considering the above three effects working on the page and most of the travelers not spending on annual memberships with OTA platforms, we have successfully created a pricing page where the travelers will have to spend time to analyze the benefits of buying into this membership. The comparison of features for all three kind of memberships, the pricing vs return value tells that the page has been designed with System 2 effect.
To Strengthen this pricing page:
More visuals can be added such as Price comparison with MMT Black Membership and other platforms (not mentioning the platform name) to show comparison of pricing and features with other platforms and how it is more beneficial to go with Agoda.
After launching of few months - Agoda should also highlight the customer testimonials on the same page showcasing the customer buying this membership and saving thousands of bucks or availing benefits on special experiences. This will help push the other users to buy the membership.
But let's keep that for some other day!
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