Case Study

Ikyu Corporation

Shunta Endo - san, Engineer, Data Science Dept.

Improving customer satisfaction by including weather forecasts in reservation confirmation emails

The "Ichiyasu.com" and "Iryu.com Restaurant" websites, which offer reservations for selected hotels, inns, and restaurants, have introduced Weathernews' weather data provision and analysis service "WeatherTech®" and are attaching it to reservation confirmation "reminder e-mails" to customers. WeatherTech®", a weather data provision and analysis service provided by Weathernews, is attached to "reminder e-mails" sent to customers to confirm reservations.

We interviewed Shunta Endo - san, Engineer, Data Science Department, Ichiyu, Inc. about the reason for introducing "WeatherTech®" and examples of its use.

Weather forecasts are important and essential data for users

ICHIKYU has 10 million members and over 20,000 registered facilities. In order to improve the customer experience, the company sends "reminder e-mails" to those who have made reservations on the day before their stay, and the number of such e-mails reaches several million per year. Weather data provided by "WeatherTech®" is used for this purpose, and you will receive local weather marks and forecaster comments on the day of your visit.

Weather forecasts for accommodations and restaurants are extremely important data for users, we thought," Endo - san said.

The reminder e-mail includes basic data such as the facility's name, date and time of use, price, reservation number, and access, as well as a comment about the "local weather" and a forecast icon. The "open rate" of the reminder e-mails exceeds 70%, and is positioned as "content of high user interest. Restaurants are often used for special occasions such as birthday celebrations, so the need for umbrellas, for example, is also an important piece of information that greatly influences user behavior.

予約者に送っているリマインドメールの例
Example of a reminder email sent to reservation holders

After considering the pursuit of satisfaction from the user's point of view, an employee in his 20s suggested that we post weather forecasts, which led to the introduction of WeatherTech®," says Endo - san.

Ultra-detailed weather forecasts for 20,000 accommodations and restaurants

Weathernews' weather forecasts have a forecast accuracy rate of over 90%. Endo - san says, "It had a reputation for being accurate even within the company, so I tried using it myself! I tried it myself and realized that it was indeed accurate," says Endo - san. Another criterion for evaluation was the extremely precise "1 km square" mesh of the forecast location.

There are more than 20,000 restaurants and hotels registered with ICHIYU. For example, when a user who has made a reservation at a facility on the Izu Peninsula wants to know the local weather, the weather forecast on TV only gives a rough idea of the area, such as 'eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture. In reality, however, the weather on the Izu Peninsula often differs greatly between Amagi and Ishirouzaki, or between the east and west coasts.

With WeatherTech®, we are able to provide forecasts at a very high resolution of "1 km square" so that we can pinpoint the weather conditions at any location. We felt it was very beneficial to be able to provide weather forecasts with fine resolution and high forecast accuracy to over 20,000 lodging and restaurant locations," said Endo - san.

Pinpoint coverage of weather forecast for each facility with a fine resolution of 1 km mesh (green: accommodations)
Pinpoint coverage of weather forecast for each facility with a fine resolution of 1 km mesh (green: accommodations)

Accurate weather forecasting makes "user-first" a reality

As a result of user-first considerations, "Ichikyu.com" introduced "WeatherTech®" in August 2019, not only to improve UX (user experience), but also to improve work efficiency by easily and automatically linking systems via API and CSV. The system can be easily and automatically linked via API and CSV, which seems to have led to improved work efficiency.

The introduction of WeatherTech® has been well received within the company. I believe that by continuing to improve the UX in this way, we will be able to get even closer to our first word, 'pursuit of customer delight.

We also appreciate the ability to import such detailed weather data into our own system in real time. Our staff at Ichikyu.com is also very pleased with the system integration, as we receive several million reminder e-mails a year, and there is very little manual work to be done. The system is also very stable, and we have not had a single problem," said Endo - san.

Shunta Endo - san, Engineer, Data Science Department, ICHIKYU Co.
Shunta Endo - san, Engineer, Data Science Department, ICHIKYU Co.

Expectations for marketing use of unique "indexes

Now, Endo - san is looking forward to utilizing various "indices" owned by Weathernews Inc. as triggers for the future development of "Ichiyu.com".

We are focusing on unique indices such as the 'beer index' and the 'hot pot index. We think that the correlation between weather and product sales can be applied to our marketing. For example, the "Champagne Index" is promising for restaurants. We can compare the temperature and weather with the number of reservations and orders at the restaurant, and see if we can find parameters such as the limited availability of the product based on the correlation. We hope to work with your company to create such a new kind of index," says Endo - san. The company is also looking into the possibility of using weather forecast-related information in direct mail (DM).

In DM, we send out targeted facility recommendations based on browsing history and other factors. Currently, we do not use "WeatherTech®" information, but for example, we may send out information such as, "This summer will continue to be hot, so how about an inn in a summer resort? It may be possible to expand the service with content such as, "This summer will be hot, so how about a ryokan in a summer resort?

Ikyu" will utilize various contents including "WeatherTech®" to make the site even easier to use from a user-first perspective.

Ikyu Corporation

Business Overview

Accommodation reservation business, restaurant reservation business, etc.

Key Point

Local weather symbols and forecast comments in reservation confirmation emails

Size

51-300 employees

Services Used