Elevating Higher Quality Travel Experiences

Published 22/07/24 under:

The travel and aviation industry is bouncing back. Instead of selling holidays, flights and add-ons, the pandemic saw contact centres flooded with cancellations, lost baggage requests, refund claims, and complaints – hardly revenue-generating or loyalty building conversations. Now, driven by self-service and digital engagement, customer and employee experience seems to be soaring again. 

Lessons learnt 

According to this year’s ContactBabel report [1] only 43% of airline providers received positive responses about their customer service, the lowest of eight sectors surveyed. Of those that enjoyed a positive rating, only 39% were under-35, which is quite telling. Furthermore, 16% of customers said they had stopped using an airline or switched to a competitor due to poor experiences. 

Many low-cost operators were born digital, while full-service carriers have been heading in that direction for some time. Yet, as they’ve since discovered, there’s a right and wrong way to do digital. Take messaging. Many operators went down the synchronous route with WhatsApp or other live person-to-person chat tools. During the travel crisis, they saw vastly different behaviours, often with duplicate contacts. Customers would keep conversations active and sit in queues for up to 24 hours. By the time an advisor responded fares might have increased, generating more complaints. 

At that point the only option was to stop offering messaging because they couldn’t handle demand. Airline operators with asynchronous solutions like Web Messaging fared better. Even more so with a chatbot in front – intelligently triaged and quickly connecting customers to the best self-serve option or an expert advisor for a specific need. 

Preparing CX and EX for take-off 

Key to accelerating the industry’s recovery is the realisation that digital needs to be applied holistically, and not merely as a point solution or a ‘sticking plaster’. 

AI-powered experience orchestration platforms like Genesys Cloud play very well to this approach. Airlines benefit from a single cloud platform that unifies customer and agent experiences across phone, email, chat, text, mobile apps, websites, and social channels.  

Plus, powerful analytics and AI tools uncover issues and opportunities to: 

• Listen not just to what customers tell you, but also how they’re feeling. 

• Understand and predict what they want based on their behaviour. 

• Act by connecting them to the right agent or self-service resource, first time, every time. 

• Learn from all interaction outcomes and continuously improve. 

An example would be initially leveraging data to predict the customer’s intent. Should their travel situation subsequently change a simple rebooking service, offered via a voice or chatbot, will keep them informed through async messaging. All proactively managed end-to-end with zero advisor involvement. 

Optimising multiple journeys 

Genesys solutions can be inserted into customer journeys each step of the way. Below are some examples showing where digital and self-service tools can be deployed in moments that matter, as seen through the eyes of the customer: 

For instance, by using AI-based solutions like Predictive Engagement that alerts advisors so they can intervene if a customer seems likely to abandon a shopping cart. Or Genesys Knowledge Workbench with Agent Assist to surface information in real time to help steer customer conversations. Or applying AI to check customer sentiment and score calls, releasing team leaders from quality assurance tasks to spend more time coaching. 

Safely making the transition 

Kerv is currently working with a European airline group to centralise and harmonise passenger services across four individual airlines, totalling some 4,000 agents worldwide. We were chosen from 12 system integrators across EMEA to execute this critical project, which involved migrating multiple contact centre technologies onto a unified Genesys Cloud platform. 

A goal that involves dedicated Kerv programme, project and customer success managers, along with Kerv specialist engineers and software developers managing end-to-end deliverables, such as: 

• Routing architecture: The existing setup involves over 2,000 inbound routes, 1,500 skills, and more than 1,000 queues, necessitating intricate migration planning and execution. 

• Integrations: Multiple CRM systems and custom-built applications for advanced steering and reporting functions require seamless integration into the new platform. 

• Organisational transformation: Consolidating four distinct airlines necessitates process harmonisation, while accommodating unique requirements specific to each. 

• Quality Assurance: Rigorous testing protocols are mandatory to ensure operational excellence and compliance with contractual obligations. 

Further industry best practice  

Virgin Atlantic has halved average handle time and now processes 220% more interactions with Genesys Web Messaging. In addition, one in every five contacts successfully self-serve using bots without speaking with an agent. All of which has contributed to a 28-point increase in CSAT year-on-year. 

For Africa’s largest operator, Ethiopian Airlines the challenge and drivers for implementing Genesys were more around improving service delivery and monetising website window shoppers. It’s since improved service levels by 25%, responds to calls 60% faster and has reduced call abandonment by 17%. Genesys Workforce Engagement Management means it can staff efficiently without adding more agents, while Genesys Predictive Engagement has helped to increase website conversions by 49%. 

As the longest standing Genesys Cloud partner in EMEA, with the most successful deployments, Kerv Experience continues to help travel and aviation clients accelerate improvements that boost customer and employee experience. To learn more, please read the Kerv sponsored independent report from Contact Babel below or get in touch!

 

[1] ContactBabel 2024 – UK Contact Centre Verticals: Travel