MYGOLA.

COM
Planning its itinerary into the Future





Group R
Aakash Tonk 1311211
Laura Dzino 1311E5010
Vivek Vineet 1311138
Submitted to

Professor Ganesh Prabhu
New Product Development

29/09/2014

Introduction:
The online travel industry was growing with an estimate to grow twice the rate of global travel
industry and contributed one-third of the global travel sales. Travelers used to spend a lot of time
researching and planning their trips. Mygola being one of the players, aimed at making the
planning process simpler for the traveler. It worked on a 90% technology, 10% human
concept. Their services was mainly used by DIY (Do It Yourself) customers who looked for
customized travel experience instead of packages sold by travel agencies, who were short on
time and required quick answers, and who would influence future travelers.
In the beginning, Mygola managed a tie up with travel affiliates and used their commissions as a
revenue stream. But due to unfavorable responses this revenue model was discontinued. To grow
its user base, Mygola relied mainly on Tweet mining tools. In this situation, Mygola
conceptualized a new product which is more technology based and scalable. It offers itinerary
creation, with a scope to include casual travelers, in addition to DIY segment.
The idea of this new product raised several questions in relation to marketing approach,
technological investment and pricing strategy.
Issues Identified:
As mentioned in the case, Mygola v3.0 has distinct features which were not part of the previous
versions. The major strategic decision ahead of the Mygola management was whether to go
ahead with Mygola V3.0 (New Product) or stay with the existing product. At this point, the
following are the four key decisions that have to be faced:
Target Customers- Whether Mygola should go ahead with the new product and give
differential treatment to casual and DIY customers or should it stick to the same concept?
Price Structure- Should the pricing for the 2 segments of travelers (casual and DIY) be
irrespective of the usage, based on usage or depth of the research?
Marketing Approach- Should Mygola continue with tweet mining tools or focus on more
intense efforts?
Mobile Applications- Should they go ahead with designing a mobile application for smart
phone and tablet devices? If yes, then what features should be present in such an
application?
Criteria for evaluation of alternatives:
Feasibility: The Company wants to move into casual traveler segment with already
existing DIY travelers which will result increase the customer base. The feasibility will
depend on the ability of the company to extract revenues from the new customer base.
I nitial investment: The initial investment to move into this new product line is an
important criterion while evaluating the alternatives.
Time span: The demand for traveling is unlikely to die out anytime in the near future and
travelers, especially DIY travelers would always need support to build itineraries for the
new places they visit. The repository gets bigger with increasing number of customers
and enquiries and the product is thus relevant for a bigger time span.
Analysis and Recommendations:
I. Target Customers:
Option 1: Cater to DI Y customers using the old Q&A model: As the human interaction is high,
it raises doubts about the credibility of the services. It also raises questions on the feasibility.

Option 2: Target casual travelers with the new model: To have a sound database to provide this
service, technology is required. This model answers the questions on feasibility as it is highly
scalable but it poses serious doubt as it doesnt answer specific questions.

Option 3: Target both the customers together: Over and above the automated plan if the casual
users are given an option to interact with an expert, then it can solve the purpose. Although, there
will be again the issue of feasibility. Also, it would be difficult on the part of Mygola to keep a
track of the quality of interaction of the experts.
Recommendations:
Go ahead with the new product Differential treatment to DIY and casual travelers:
1. Multiplication technique: It is always better to have multiple option at an early stage
because if anyone option does not work, you can always cycle back and go with other
options but it is very difficult to revive the whole strategy yet again. Hence Mygola should
go with both the version 2 and version 3 so that it always has an option to drop any one of
them if it does not work out.
2. For casual travelers: Casual users can plan their journey in detail using user-friendly
interface and interaction with lead users.
3. For DI Y travelers: It should let the DIY travelers customize their plans but there should be
no option for human interaction as it poses question on feasibility of the model.
4. Create a community for avid travelers: Mygola should create an online community in form
of a portal or blog where lead users of the technology can post their reviews and experts on
travelling can be encouraged to post their views about the itineraries and traveling tips.
5. Options for booking: One of the major problems faced by the online travelling companies is
listing of hotels. It directly hampers the image of the company as it cannot be sure about the
services of a particular hotel. We recommend to have a selected list of booking options and
this should be highly customizable.

II. Price Structure:
Option 1: Differential pricing for DI Y and casual travelers: Mygola can charge premium for
providing expert opinions but the users have access to the community that we recommended
hence they can choose not to pay premium and rely on the reviews. However, for a more detailed
research, premium could be charged. But it should avoid charging the customer upfront.
Option 2: Charged listing or Commissions on booking: Mygola can charge the vendors for the
listing them on their website/application but this might discourage them to get them listed.
Another option is to charge commission on the bookings done through Mygola.
Recommendations:
1. No premium on advisory service for DI Y customers: Charging a premium on advisory
services would discourage users from asking questions and they might move away from
using the services hence this service should be free as this would serve as a self-marketing
tool.
2. Commission on booking: Mygola should follow a revenue model similar to OTAs, and take
commissions from whatever bookings the customers choose to make from their site.
3. Revenues from advertisements: A travel booking website is probably the best place for the
hotel and flights to advertise. Mygola can leverage upon this and sell web space on their
website to the hotel and flights to advertise their offerings.
4. No amount charged from lead users: Lead users tend to try new technology and also
recommend changes and ultimately can become advisors and reviewers of the application.
The business model should encourage more and more such users.

III. Marketing Approach:
As inferred from the case, Mygola did not have any marketing budget as such. Their traffic was
from search engines and twitter data mining and this was purely organic traffic. They often got
customers owing to the word of mouth because of good service. Now, that the segment is
widened with casual customers pitching in, Mygola should not only focus on traditional ways of
marketing but also some innovative ways to market themselves.
Recommendations:
1. Advertisement in travel magazines: Avid travelers like to read about travelling too. In order
to grab their attention, Mygola can put in print advertisements in such magazines and online
advertisements in travel blogs.
2. Online Advertising: In order to be visible on popular search engines, Mygola can keep
some budget for search engine advertising.
3. Visible to all: The answers posted on the portal/blog should be visible to all (like Quora) so
that the credibility of the guide increases. If the answers are good enough, it will attract
more and more customers
4. Borrow email clout - One of the innovative ways to send email nowadays is to borrow an
email clout. Everyone knows that e-mail is one of the lowest-cost, highest-return marketing
tactics around. But while e-mail to in-house lists is a great customer retention tool, in recent
years, the glut of spam has made it difficult to use e-mail for new customer acquisition
because prospects are simply deleting all but the most recognizable mailings. The best way
out of this dilemma is to place advertising in third-party e-newsletters that reach qualified
subscribers.
5. Collaboration with popular booking sites: To increase the visibility, Mygola can think
about tie up with popular booking sites.

IV. Mobile Applications:
According to a case fact, 38% of leisure travelers and 57% of business travelers use
mobile devices to search for travel information. To tap into this segment, which is most
likely to grow in the future, Mygola needs to develop a mobile app for the same.
This application could be developed in-house or it could be outsourced to mobile app
developers. However, the counter argument is that travel planning is an effort-intensive
activity.
This will help Mygola to compete more aggressively with other travel agencies that have
expanded into the mobile platform
Recommendations:
1. Usability first: A compelling mobile application must feature an interface that focuses on
usability. User experience bonus points are awarded if it is also beautiful and pleasantly
surprising!
2. Social media login: If you must ask users to register, sign up, or fill out forms, be zealous
about eliminating every possible click, or tap, from the design. Ask for less information.
Conversion rates fall sharply when extra work is required to sign up. Start the user
experience out right! Use Facebook Connect or another single sign on technology solution
to allow your customers to use their social media logins to sign into the mobile app.
3. I nclude analytics: One key component is to incorporate analytics into your mobile app. A
small business must be able to track and identify their users experience and actions. Most
users do not enjoy giving up their location, which is understandable. Tracking a users
location is different to tracking and analyzing their experience. The data gathered will only
help encourage better updates.
4. Offline capabilities: Its frustrating to users when an app is entirely unusable just because
they have a weak signal. Mygola should consider how they can build in content or
interactivity that doesnt rely on a wireless signal. Itll make for a positive user experience
while their users are on-the-go, online or off.
Conclusion:
After analyzing all the options we can conclude that Mygola should go ahead with the launch of
the new product (version 3 with version 2) and scale up its business. In order to cater to the
growing base and improve quality of responses, the introduction of the new product is important.
Mygola should concentrate on casual customers as well along with the traditional DIY
customers. Accordingly, it needs to offer a larger variety of pricing plans to be able to meet the
needs of both the segments and change its marketing strategies slightly to incorporate the new
users. A mobile application would also be extremely beneficial to cater to the increasing base of
mobile savvy users and is likely to be a worthwhile investment in the near future.