Some journeys end at a destination but the Camino De Santiago stays with you long after the final step.
Every walk along the Camino carries a story. For many, it is a journey of pilgrimage and self-discovery. For others, it is a chance to embrace new challenges, find moments of reflection, or experience a sense of accomplishment. Whatever their reason for setting out, every traveler leaves with memories that last a lifetime.
For Follow the Camino, a Dublin-based travel agency, understanding those experiences is just as important as planning them. While bookings, itineraries, and reviews provide part of the picture, the team wanted to hear directly from travelers and understand what made their journeys truly memorable, and what could be improved for future pilgrims. Umberto di Venosa, CEO and Founder of Follow the Camino, noted, "It's important to us to get feedback...it helps us get a gauge on what we do."
Listening at the moments that matter
To understand the traveler experience better, Follow the Camino introduced feedback surveys at two key stages of the customer journey.
The first was a post-sales NPS survey, sent after travelers completed their booking. This helped the team understand how customers felt about the booking experience, communication, and support they received from the consultant before setting out on their adventure.
The second was a post-trip NPS survey, giving travelers an opportunity to reflect on their experience once their Camino journey was complete.
Together, these surveys provided a continuous stream of insights that helped the team understand not only how travelers felt, but why they felt that way.
Since implementing Zoho Survey, Follow the Camino has made customer feedback a core part of how it improves its services. By listening to customers and acting on their feedback, the team has been able to make meaningful changes that have enhanced the experience both before and after the trip.
- Post-sales NPS increased from 73 to 84.
- Post-trip NPS increased from 58 to 64.
- Customer feedback now plays a key role in shaping service improvements.
- Higher satisfaction levels have helped strengthen customer loyalty and advocacy.
These results show the impact of consistently listening to customers and making improvements based on what they have to say. For a business where reputation and word-of-mouth drive a significant portion of new bookings, these aren't just satisfaction scores, they're commercial signals.
Discovering insights beyond the trail
Surveys helped Follow the Camino uncover insights beyond traveler satisfaction.
Through surveys, Follow the Camino gathered feedback about its mobile app, a key companion for travelers on their journey. The app provides maps, route guidance, and local information along the trip. Many travelers mentioned having to log in every time they opened the app. While this seemed like a small issue, it created unnecessary friction in the overall experience. After gathering feedback using Zoho Survey, Follow the Camino's developers were able to identify a small token issue with the app, and implement a quick and easy fix.
Without direct feedback, this problem could have easily gone unnoticed. It showed how simple survey responses can uncover opportunities to improve the customer experience.
Continuing the conversation after the journey ends
For Follow the Camino, the relationship with travelers does not end when they reach their destination.
Previously, the team relied on manual conversations to learn about customers' future travel plans and interests. While those discussions provided valuable information, they required considerable time and effort.
Looking for a more scalable approach to collecting feedback and generating pipeline, the team introduced an automated survey built around a simple question:
"What's next?"
The responses opened up an entirely new layer of insight. "It's a great opportunity unraveled by a simple question," revealed di Venosa.
Travelers shared destinations they hoped to visit, experiences they wanted to explore, and events they were interested in attending. What started as a way to collect feedback became an opportunity to better understand traveler aspirations and stay connected long after the Camino was complete.
These insights helped the team personalize future communications and identify opportunities to engage travelers with experiences that matched their interests.
It’s a great opportunity unravelled by a simple question.
Umberto di Venosa — CEO & Founder, Follow the Camino
Creating a seamless experience
Every interaction with travelers reflects the Follow the Camino brand, including feedback collection.
Using Zoho Survey's customization capabilities, the team designed surveys that felt like a natural extension of the customer experience. Branded headers, footers, logos, and styling ensured each survey maintained the same familiar look and feel travelers had come to expect. "It's easy to create surveys in Zoho Survey, and there's a good choice of question types, and the reporting is very handy," di Venosa noted.
Rather than feeling like a disconnected form, every survey became another touchpoint in the traveler's journey.
Every response tells a story
For Follow the Camino, feedback is more than data. It is a window into the experiences, emotions, and expectations of the pilgrims they serve. Today, feedback is an integral part of how the company evaluates and improves its services.
Their experience highlights an important lesson for any business where customer experience drives loyalty, referrals, and growth: Feedback delivers the greatest value when it leads to action. When customer insights are consistently collected, reviewed, and acted upon, they become more than a measurement tool, they become a catalyst for continuous improvement.
Because the most meaningful journeys do not end when travelers reach their destination. They live on in the stories they share, the memories they create, and the experiences that inspire them to return.