Client Feature: Salk International, LLC
Company Background:
Continuously published since 1982, Salk International’s Airport Transit Guide has been the premier guide for frequent air travelers. Now in its 25th edition, the guide includes time and money saving information on getting to and from over 460 airports worldwide as well as related city transit tips. The guide has been heavily praised by travel insiders, and has also been frequently used by major companies and organizations including AAA and American Express.
Business Challenge:
Salk International’s Airport Transit Guide has existed for 29 years as a printed guidebook. However the company wanted to move into a digital format by offering the guide as a Smartphone Application. This would provide a new distribution channel to the company, as well as save on printing costs and enable the company to give immediate updates to its customers.
The company decided to launch the app on Apple’s iOS platform, which includes the iPhone, iPad and iPod. The diversity of device types, as well as the international popularity of the iPhone made it an ideal choice for initial launch. Android and BlackBerry versions are planned for the future.
From a consumer perspective, this also made sense as a large number of travelers already carry their iPhone or iPad with them, and it would be more convenient than carrying a physical printed guide.
The printed version of the guide included 460 airports around the world, as well as specific information for all the transit services to and from each airport. This included obvious things like taxis, but also lesser known options like busses, shuttles, trains, limos, private drivers, and even helicopters. In most cases, the guide focuses on helping travelers find simple, quick, and cheap transit options that will get them directly to their destination. Its primary objective is to make it possible for the traveler to choose the fastest, the cheapest and optimum means of transportation.
With so much data, it was important to find a developer that could design an app to provide all the information in a simple and easy to read manner, but also make the app easily updateable to provide the most relevant information possible.
As an international travel app, the company was also concerned about international data rates and phone usage restrictions on flights, and so it was also important that the app be completely self-contained so that people could use the app without requiring a data connection.
Solution:
The printed version of Salk International’s International Transit Guide covered 460 airports throughout the world. Translating this to an app format required a two-prong approach. First, it was important to develop a simple and easily navigable interface so that users could quickly and easily find the information they wanted.
The second aspect of the app was creating a common database in SQLite as well as common display templates that will allow Salk International and Amadeus Consulting to easily update and enhance the information in the app and, in turn, provide current and relevant data to its customers. As one example on the ease of updating the data within the app, the app version of the guide includes over 10,000 changes and updates from the previous printed edition.
From a user perspective, one of the main benefits to the app is the ability to easily discover new or hidden transportation option that better fits their needs. This benefit was enhanced by making phone numbers and addresses easily “clickable” so that users could make one-touch phone calls to transportation services and airports.
All together, the content and design of the app have proven successful as the app is one of the highest rated travel apps on iTunes with consistent 5-star reviews since release.
Salk International chose Amadeus Consulting because of our experience working on mobile platforms, as well as our ability to quickly and clearly communicate aspects of the project. This includes extensive experience on the iOS platform (iPhone, iPod and iPad) as well as experience integrating mobile applications into existing business systems. As evidence of our expertise, Amadeus Consulting was selected as the region’s top mobile app developer for the second year in a row.
“Amadeus Consulting helped us enter a new world of apps, including developing a terrific app for our brand and helping with app marketing,” says Ron Salk. “But they also taught us about the entire process of app development, starting at the very beginning and building us up from there. We are very pleased with Amadeus Consulting.”
Also, after creating and launching the app, Salk International used Amadeus Consulting’s mobile app marketing expertise to help promote the app, including establishing a social media strategy, and working to promote the app through industry professionals and influential bloggers and writers.
Although Salk International already had considerable marketing and PR experience, Amadeus Consulting helped provide insight and training into using social media for app promotion, and worked together to create a media kit that helped secure valuable reviews from travel industry insiders.
Ultimately the app was featured in many notable publications including The Travel Channel, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and multiple influential travel related websites and industry blogs. This helped propel downloads and make Salk International’s Airport Transit Guide one of the best user-rated travel apps on iTunes.
