Great businesses don’t just respond to needs.
They anticipate them.
Most brands wait until the customer asks for something. By then, the opportunity is already half gone. The smartest brands step in before the customer even realizes they need it.
Airbnb: Anticipation in action
Airbnb is a master of this approach.
Their CRM, powered by AI, doesn’t simply track where you’ve stayed before. It analyzes millions of data points, past bookings, browsing behavior, seasonal preferences, family size, even market-level demand trends, to predict where you might want to go next.
Here’s how it shows up:
– A family of four who stayed in Orlando last year gets recommendations for kid-friendly homes in California this year.
– A solo traveler who booked boutique apartments in Lisbon is nudged toward creative city stays in Barcelona.
– Someone who books every March receives inspiration emails in February, before they’ve even thought about planning.
This isn’t a sales push. It’s not a generic blast campaign. It’s CRM + AI creating a seamless, intuitive experience that makes customers feel like the brand knows them better than they know themselves.
Why anticipation builds loyalty
The impact is massive.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by endless listings, customers feel like Airbnb already did the work for them. That sense of ease builds trust. It builds loyalty. And it keeps people coming back, trip after trip.
This is the real power of anticipation at scale: it transforms marketing from noise into value. Customers don’t just transact with the brand, they depend on it.
The takeaway for brands
Retention isn’t about waiting to be chosen.
It’s about anticipating the customer’s next move and being ready with the perfect experience before they ask.
The brands that master this shift, rom reactive to proactive, won’t just win transactions. They’ll win loyalty, for life.
