Why travel creator campaigns need customer interviews

What to take away

Why interviews beat surveys here

Surveys show what people do; interviews show why. Eight recorded conversations usually give a creator more to work with than a hundred survey responses.

A survey might tell you most respondents watched creator content before booking. It will not tell you which video, which moment, or what the viewer did next.

Interviews also surface the language customers use, and creators write in their own voice. A brief built from customer phrasing is easier to follow than marketing speak.

For how this fits alongside survey work and desk research, see the audience research guide.

Who to recruit

Set inclusion criteria first. A workable rule: adults aged 18 or over, living in the UK, who booked a leisure trip in the past year and follow at least two travel creators.

You do not need a nationally representative sample, just people who can describe a real decision. Recruit for mix: short break versus long haul, first-time visitor versus repeat, solo versus family.

Rules differ across the UK, so if the campaign runs in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, say so in the screener.

How to ask good questions

Use a topic guide with five or six open questions and let the conversation drift. Ask about the last trip they booked, the content they saw beforehand, and where they decided.

Do not ask people to predict what they would do. They will guess, and the guess will be wrong.

To connect those themes to segment definitions, the breakdown in travel creator campaigns target audience is a sensible companion read.

Consent and data handling

Interviews generate personal data. Tell participants what you will record, how long you will keep it, and who will hear it, then get consent in writing.

If you later email them about a campaign, ICO rules apply: consent must be specific and freely given, and every message needs a clear opt-out.

Anonymise quotes before they reach a creator. Names, postcodes and booking references add nothing to a good script.

Disclosure to build in

If a paid partnership is involved, the creator must make that clear in the content itself, not only in a caption or bio.

Build it into the brief. Ask creators how they will label the post before they publish, and check that against current platform rules.

Training helps too. Teams that plan research and strategy together brief creators more clearly, which is the focus of the strategy and planning courses from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Before and after

Turning notes into a brief

Code transcripts within a week, while detail is fresh. Group comments by trip type, trigger and hesitation.

Write one page per segment: themes, three verbatim quotes, and a short list of things to avoid saying.

Review the brief with the creator before the shoot. They will spot lines that sound nothing like them, and that feedback beats another round of internal edits.

Common questions

How many interviews are enough?

Six to ten per segment usually surface the main themes. Stop when new conversations repeat what you have heard.

Can I use existing customer email lists?

Yes, within the rules. ICO guidance sets out when consent or the soft opt-in applies, and every invitation must offer a way to decline.

Do I need to pay participants?

No legal requirement. A voucher or small thank-you improves completion rates, and state any incentive clearly at recruitment.

Should creators sit in on interviews?

Sometimes. A creator listening to two calls can sharpen their angle, but get written consent from participants first.