Winning back abandoned bookings for Emirates
How a six-part retargeting strategy re-engaged users who dropped out of Emirates’ online booking journey — and turned them back into completed bookings.
Emirates
Emirates is the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates and one of the largest international airlines in the world. Established in 1985, Emirates flies to more than 150 destinations across six continents and is known for its commitment to luxury travel — premium service, in-flight entertainment, and standout features like the onboard shower spa for first-class passengers.
OctaAds Media
OctaAds Media is a digital marketing company helping advertisers grow online sales, boost engagement and conversions, and build a loyal audience with round-the-clock support. The team builds and manages high-impact advertising campaigns that maximize visibility, engagement, and return on investment across a wide affiliate network.
The challenge
Emirates was seeing a high rate of abandonment in its online booking process — users would start a booking, browse flights and packages, then leave before completing the transaction. Every abandoned session represented lost revenue and a traveler who was interested enough to start, but not yet convinced enough to finish.
What success needed to look like
- Re-engage users who had shown real booking intent, not cold traffic
- Bring back the specific flights or packages each user browsed
- Keep messaging consistent wherever users encountered it
- Convert re-engagement into completed bookings and revenue
The retargeting toolkit
Six tactics working together, each aimed at meeting an abandoned user with the right message in the right place.
Personalized ads and reminders
Ads tailored to each user who abandoned a booking, placed across the social platforms, websites, and search engines they visited most.
Dynamic remarketing
Showcased the exact flights or travel packages a user had already shown interest in, based on their prior activity on the Emirates site.
Email retargeting campaigns
Personalized emails with reminders, promotions, and time-limited offers, sent to nudge users back to finish their booking.
Abandoned cart notifications
Direct reminders for users who had added flights to their cart, prompting them to return and finalize what they’d started.
Behavioral retargeting
Analyzed on-site behavior to identify the pages, destinations, and flight options each user engaged with, and matched retargeting to those preferences.
Cross-channel retargeting
Kept messaging and promotions consistent across platforms, so users recognized Emirates wherever they encountered the campaign.
How it came together
From a dropped booking to a completed one.
Identify
Spot users who started a booking and left before completing it.
Personalize
Match messaging to the exact flights and pages each user viewed.
Re-engage
Reach them consistently across ads, email, and cart reminders.
Convert
Turn renewed interest into a completed, paid booking.
The results
The retargeting strategy brought previously lost users back into the booking funnel — and improved how they experienced the journey the second time around.
Regained user base
Tailored messages and reminders brought back a meaningful share of users who had abandoned the booking process, prompting them to reconsider and complete their bookings.
Improved ROI and revenue
Converting previously abandoned sessions had a direct, positive impact on Emirates’ revenue and overall return on investment.
Enhanced conversion rates
Users who had already shown booking intent converted at a higher rate once the personalized retargeting reached them.
Positive user experience
Users responded well to relevant, well-timed reminders and incentives, rather than feeling chased — improving how the whole journey felt.
Why it worked
Three decisions turned a leaky booking funnel into a recoverable one.
Relevance over repetition
Every message referenced the specific flight or package a user had actually browsed, instead of generic reminders that get ignored.
Multiple ways back in
Ads, email, and cart notifications gave users several natural moments to return, rather than relying on a single channel to do all the work.
One consistent brand thread
Cross-channel consistency meant users recognized the message wherever it appeared, building trust instead of confusion.
OctaAds Media’s retargeting collaboration with Emirates turned a common problem — users abandoning bookings mid-journey — into a recoverable opportunity, regaining a significant share of the lost user base while lifting ROI, revenue, and conversion rates in the process.
Losing bookings at the finish line?
OctaAds Media builds retargeting programs that bring interested users back and turn abandoned sessions into revenue. Let’s look at what’s possible for your funnel.