Viral marketing - at US 0.75c a minute?

Passengers no longer leave their email, social networking chats, mobile phones, Blackberries or laptops at home when they board their cruise ships. The instrumentalities of communication are now as entrenched as “must takes” on cruise passengers’ packing lists as are toothpaste and evening wear. In addition, the relatively recent installation of wireless Internet (WiFi) access on cruise ships is perhaps the single most welcome shipboard service for the communications addicted (including, especially, me).

There is, however, one thing wrong with this picture and that is the almost universally high cost of using Internet and mobile telephone services at sea. Charges of upto US 0.75 per minute for Internet access perhaps rank as highly on passengers’ irritant lists as the cost of wines on the dining room’s wine lists or the perceived high cost of shore excursions.

Passengers can avoid the seventy-five cents a minute charge by purchasing packages of, for example, 100 or 250 minutes upfront or by logging a stipulated number of cruises or days at sea with a given cruise line and thereby receive an abundance of free Internet minutes.  However, neither reduced charges or even a seemingly adequate allowance of free minutes will in many cases fulfil passengers’ craving for information and communication. 

Two hundred and fifty minutes elapse very quickly when passengers spend time each day emailing their travel blogs to their friends and family; researching possibilities for activities during the next day’s port call; booking onward hotel and flight arrangements; doing online banking and bill payments; uploading photographs to their albums held on sites such as Flickr or Picasa; zooming in on their home security systems to see that neither Pooch or a burglar has caused damage (or worse) around the house; having a look at their kids’ arithmetic class; and of course, keeping up with landside gossip and news on Facebook. In the most favourable terms, marine Internet charges were set when the most use a passenger would make of the ship’s computer in the Internet cafe was the occasional email, telling everyone that he or she was having a good time.

Given the extent and penetration of passengers’ electronic communications, it is time for the cruise lines to re-think of onboard Internet charges. After all, who is a supplier’s best marketeer? The satisfied customer! And how many people does a satisfied customer reach through multiple email copies, postings to social network sites and friends of friends of friends of friends.... ?

And how many people do the cruise lines and other related suppliers (eg airlines, hotel chains, online booking agents, discussion forums etc) reach each time a cruise passenger clicks the “like” button at the top of the cruise line or other supplier’s social networking website page? In my case, it seems that every tenth or eleventh posting is from Princess or HAL.  

Given the sheer potential for marketing by cruise passengers themselves, and particularly those who are happily aboard their cruise-of-a-lifetime, there are a number of ways in which the cruise lines can both recognise this untapped source of marketing potential and reduce the charges of the passengers who gush ecstatically about the ship, their cabin, the food, the wine, the shore excursions - the total experience.

Email users should be given the option of sponsored or sponsor-free email, an option which will govern the passenger’s Internet charges. For example, if the passenger agrees to a system-generated banner advertising the cruise line (or any other marketing partner) at the bottom of all emails sent through the ship’s servers, the passenger will receive a substantial discount on the per minute usage charge.

However, if the passenger chooses not to display such a banner, the full Internet charge will apply. Similarly, social network website users who agree to having a posting from the cruise line inserted into the news feed every, say, four hours, will receive a discount on their usage charge, a charge which can be significant as more and more time is spent on social networking sites.

Whilst it is highly likely that passengers will continue to rack up charges no matter what incentives are availably, it is time that their loyalty and marketing potential be recognised by the cruise lines.