10 Things Every Business Could Learn from the Airbnb Business Model

The business world is a beautiful landscape with plenty of opportunities to learn lessons if you pay attention to emerging trends. 

When it comes to lessons on how to do right by customers and earn substantial profits, look no further than Airbnb. 

The Airbnb business model is a smashing success at this point, and the company continues to grow, expand, and become more profitable. If you’d like to learn the biggest takeaways of the company’s success, why they remain successful to this day, and which ideas you should borrow, read on. 

Mobile device use is no longer the future. It’s the present and is here to stay. 

Social media use is up approximately 6 per cent in Australia, while mobile social media use is up almost 7 per cent. 

Because of this, you should shift your strategy from computer-optimized content to mobile optimization. Doing this keeps you in touch with your target audience and allows them to enjoy the experience in a streamlined manner. 

One thing you’ll notice about Airbnb, Uber, Lyft and other companies is that they focus on connectivity rather than acquiring substantial assets. The connectivity of the people they attract is the absolute biggest asset. 

Rideshare services connect people with transportation, though they don’t own vehicles. Airbnb gives people a place to stay, but the company doesn’t own property. 

By focusing on providing opportunities to the people with the assets rather than having to provide the assets, these companies stay lean, flexible, and successful. 

Airbnb wouldn’t have lasted long if the company was bound by the norm. 

They shook up the hotel and lodging industry, which is one of the oldest and most institutionalized areas of business in existence. Rather than playing by those same rules because it’s the thing to do, Airbnb wrote its own rules. 

This can only happen when you have a willingness to bet on yourself and what your company believes in. 

If you want your business to do well, you’ve got to get people talking about you. Airbnb realized the importance of reviews. 

More than 90 per cent of people consults online reviews before making a decision. 

By getting people to spread the word about your business, you will be able to always bring in new customers. You should always remind and incentivise people to leave you positive reviews whenever possible. 

It might surprise you to learn how patient and reasonable people are when you stay attentive and transparent. 

Airbnb is known for its quality customer service because they quickly respond to issues and are attentive to any cases or complaints. They are also always willing to make situations right by offering vouchers and full refunds whenever applicable. 

Put some time and effort into building your customer service and be sure that you’re always available and open when the public needs to get in touch. 

If transactions take a lot of thinking and verification, you’re already doing too much. 

Your sales transactions can be both straight forward and safe and secure. Airbnb accomplished this, as users can quite easily whip out a phone, look for a place to stay, and book it within a few seconds. 

With your financial information linked, it’s easy to pay for your stay and get in touch with the host within seconds. 

You need to be able to sell people with your multimedia. On Airbnb, the hosts that do well are those that have beautiful images that show you what the home looks like. 

People have 4K cameras on their phones today, so they’re used to seeing high-quality images and video regularly. Don’t skip corners when it comes to putting together your content. 

If you have a chance to show customers your product instead of only telling them about it, always include some incredible multimedia. 

Airbnb is incredibly adept at using social media and e-mail marketing. 

They have a presence on all social media platforms and put out shareable content regularly. In terms of e-mail marketing, the company has campaigns set up that will shoot you an e-mail if you were searching for a stay, then got sidetracked and clicked out. 

This helps retention rates considerably and keeps your brand on people’s minds. 

You need to always be improving your search engine optimization (SEO) whenever possible. Even choosing a unique name like Airbnb is a testament to the company’s SEO savvy. 

Do the same with your brand and be sure that you are getting your keywords and pages ranked favourably. 

Finally, always make sure that your app or website is as close to perfection as possible. When it’s effective, intuitive and free of bugs, your users will have a positive experience. 

You’ll need the help of the highest qualified designers and coders to make your dream a reality. 

As you can see, the success of the Airbnb business model leaves plenty of clues as to what will work for your business. You can take these lessons from Airbnb and apply them to absolutely any sort of business you have today. 

If you need to set the foundation with some quality coding and designing, we would love to help. 

For web design services, reach out to us online or pick up the phone and dial 02 8880 7857.