Tom Romary, Vice President Marketing, Alaska Airlines

In a cost driven environment, airlines in the USA have been increasingly forced to make product decisions (including aircraft configuration design and in-flight services) with only cost in mind>. Alaska Airlines recently employed a customer-centric approach in analysing and formulating its product strategy decisions, involving a detailed customer segmentation analysis and several working sessions with customers. The goal was to measure the loyalty impact of its product decisions. Customer involvement and analysis helped Alaska make product decisions that optimized for cost savings and long-term customer loyalty revenue. A framework for making product decisions will be discussed. The impact of Alaska`s product decisions on brand and customer loyalty will be discussed as well.