Customer data: Where airline marketers are placing their bets

In Part 1 of our series, we looked at how airlines are reimagining the way technology and human service intersect, potentially transforming every touchpoint within the passenger journey. In this article, we take a deep dive into where airlines are focusing their customer data investments.

Based on a recent Credera meta study, the airline industry is hungry for education on emerging customer data technologies and techniques. Of the top 15 conference breakout sessions, nearly half had a customer data focus. For example, industry conference breakout sessions included “Marketing Automation for Aviation Services” and “Customer Retention Strategies for Aviation Services.”

Which led us to wonder: How do data-focused priorities in the airline industry compare to other business segments? The results help our airline clients know what their competitors are prioritizing, and from that, where to place their customer data collection and activation “bets” in the future.

What our research uncovered

Our AI-assisted study sought to learn the top conference breakout session titles, including those focusing on AI innovations, for 118 discrete business sectors, plus the Airline Services sector.

The chart below reveals how airline topic priorities stack up against other industries. The data highlights a strategic push toward personalization, analytics, and retention—areas where airlines are outpacing their peers in pursuit of measurable, customer-centered impact.

Airline marketing priorities

The differences in priority rankings can be seen in this summary of airline topic theme priorities:

Personalization and CX lead

Personalization and customer experience (CX)- themed breakout sessions were a top priority for the airline industry, a lofty position only occupied by one other segment: Automotive Services, including such brands as GM, Ford, and Tesla.

This makes sense, given making a brand “sticky” provides a greater ROI for the airline industry than most. Identifying important customers and using data to provide them with exceptional experiences is a winning strategy.

Measuring personalization ROI

Especially considering the above, measuring that return on investment makes sense. In a challenging travel economy, an airline marketer only wants to invest in strategies that show rapid returns. “Building a Strong Brand in Aviation Services” was a typical session title within this theme, where brand strength is measured in consistent revenue from top customer segments.

Customer retention focus

This theme was the fourth most popular for airline marketers, while it was the sixth overall. “Customer Retention Strategies for Aviation Services” was described as “Discover proven strategies to retain customers and build long-term relationships in the aviation service industry,” including pricing and promotion strategies.

Cybersecurity as a high priority

This was a surprise priority—far more important to the airline industry than most others surveyed. Preventing data breaches and negative headlines can be a strategy for building Interest in Cybersecurity compared to all sectors and retaining customer trust.

Learn more about our innovative strategies for reshaping customer experiences in the airline industry.

Our research methodology

The world of business conferences is nothing if not Darwinian. Should a conference’s breakout session topics this year fail to reflect the desires of the business segment it serves, the conference probably won’t be around next year. We took advantage of the scrupulous research done by conference organizers to do an AI-assisted meta study.

For 119 business sectors, spanning industries as diverse as consumer goods, healthcare, financial services and dozens of others, we cataloged the top 15 conference breakout session titles and descriptions. This took place in April through May 2025, and restricted results from January of 2022 to early 2025.

We also used a homegrown large language model (LLM), as well as Microsoft Copilot, to prioritize the breakout subjects from the most prominent—or highest frequency of being found across a sector’s conferences—to least.

Customer data topics

Across nearly all 119 sources, we consistently observed a strong focus on collecting and activating customer data. About half of the top conference session topics centered on, or directly related to, customer data management and activation. To better understand which types of marketing data each segment prioritized, we analyzed the titles and descriptions of the data-focused conference sessions to identify recurring themes.

The sessions fell into these 13 themes:

• AI / ML Enablement

• Analytics & insights

• Calculating Data Activations ROI

• Customer Retention & Loyalty

• Cybersecurity

• Data Unification & Activation

• HIPAA Compliance

• Marketing Automation Enhancement

• Omnichannel Strategy

• Personalization & Brand Value ROI

• Personalization & Conversion Optimization

• Personalization & Customer Experience (CX)

• Segmentation & Targeting/Activation

Using cumulative priority scores, we quantified data-related priorities for all sectors as follows:

Read on with Part 3, the final article in our series, where we explore how agentic AI concierge systems can be leveraged to reverse chronically low customer satisfaction levels.

• Experience Design
• Digital Design
• UX Strategy
• Travel experience
• Loyalty
• Airline Industry
• Personalization
• Aviation industry
• Customer data