15below & simpliflying: managing disruption in the social media age
TRANSCRIPT
Learn how you can:
• Prioritise goals for your airline's social media strategy and organise your team effectively
• Break down departmental silos - with the right tools and processes -to improve coordination during disruption
• Join conversations with your customers across both traditional and social channels, to deliver a better customer experience
• Respond quickly – and always with a human touch
Managing disruption in the social media age
Section III: What airlines can doHow can airlines better manage crisis and disruption in the social media age?
Section I: Setting the sceneWhat is the scale of airline disruption today –and what will it be in the future?
Section II: Airline Social Media Outlook 2017How big will social customer service be for airlines in 2017?
Setting the scene…
Section I
>13,000 flights cancelled due to snowstorms
Over 100,000 passengers affected
Estimated $200 million in lost airline revenue
East Coast USAJanuary2016
>1800 flights cancelled across region
Over 116,000 passengers faced severe disruption
Estimated 90,000 left stranded at airports across the region
East AsiaJanuary2016
More Passengers.Global passenger numbers are at 3.8bn
By 2035, that’s set to double to 7.2bn.
(that’s over half the population of earth)
SOURCE: IATA (2016) IATA Forecasts Passenger demand to double over 20 Years: http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2016-10-18-02.aspx
Global passenger numbers are at 3.8bn
…this is predicted to almost double to 7.2bn by 2035.
(that’s over half the population of earth)
SOURCE: IATA (2016)
Same storms, strikes and security alerts.MORE disrupted travellers
Increasing customer expectations + increasing social sharing means badly managed disruption has the power to significantly dent an airline’s bottom line.
"IROPs is the holy grail for the industry. If we are serious about offering a great passenger
experience then this is the battleground of the future."
(Richard Clarke, CEO T2RL)
URGENT need for airlines to manage predictable events in a more effective way…. coordinated across all channels –email, push, voice, SMS and social.
How big will social customer service be for airlines in 2017?
Section II
Customer service emerges as top priority for airlines not just in select regions, but across the world.
Among senior management, customer service is more important than branding.
Case study:Social customer service project for one of Asia’s largest LCCS in 2016
More in Airline Social Media Outlook 2017bit.ly/Outlook2017
Three key elements of transformation
1. Senior management buy-in
2. Dedicated well-trained staff
3. Clear roadmap of other departments’ role
Integrating with operations is the single most grounded and important trend for airlines now.
More insights can be found in the Airline Social Media Outlook Report 2017.Download: bit.ly/Outlook2017 or email [email protected]
Social customer service has become the top priority for airlines.
Going into 2017, their main focus now is to integrate social media with operations to drive business goals better.
Section III:
How can airlines better manage crisis and disruption in the social media age?
Traditional channels supported by airline operations teams today…
(social is a big missing part – often managed by separate team)
We can’t predict the future, but we do know:
• Growing passenger numbers will demand support of additional communication channels, to deliver the customer service you (and they) want.
• Customers will expect near-immediate answers (especially during times of stress) irrespective of channel.
Facebook Messenger or WeChat?Line, Twitter or Weibo?
Inability for airlines to ‘join the dots’ between customer conversations on traditional and social channels.
… airlines shouldn’t need to reply to a passenger tweet with a ‘what are your flight details’ or ‘check your email’.
But today….
Airline organisational structures often create silos and inefficiencies which aren’t conducive to good customer service.
Now’s the time to start harnessing social media and use it to provide better passenger experiences, based
on what your customers really want.
Airlines can deliver any number of USER JOURNEYS across social channels –during times of disruption and beyond.
What can airlines do?
Record all customer communications – across all channels – to view the overall customer experience, even if things don’t go to plan.
1. Build a holistic view of your customer interactions
2. Integrate social conversations into ops tools
Future-proofing is key – the platform and technology should be channel agnostic
3. Re-imagine the user journey… some use cases
1. Send your customer’s itinerary directly to their Facebook Messenger feed.
2. You could do the same for WeChat…. based on your customers preference.
3. Re-imagine the user journey… some use cases
3. Send your customer’s mobile boarding pass via their preferred social channel
3. Re-imagine the user journey… some use cases
Benefits:
• Allows passenger to chat and ask questions directly with airline via social channel
• Airline customer services rep. can see all PNR or flight details… no need to ask for them!
• All conversations are automatically logged back into the PNR on reservations system. Meaning all customer conversations are accessible to all departments across the business
…. joining up the dots!!
4. Broadcast non-sensitive data to twitter
3. Re-imagine the user journey… another use case
Benefits:
• Twitter users are pro-actively notified of travel disruption – giving them the information they need to make informed decisions.
• Airlines can minimise incoming queries and frustration with a coordinated communication across multiple communication channels
Conclusion and wrap-up
• The number of disrupted passengers will continue to grow
• The social voice continues to get louder
• Airlines must act now to break down operational and customer service silos – needed for great customer service
Essential tools for future success:
1. Solid social strategy
2. Technology – which is channel (and device) agnostic
“”“Customers may pick an airline based on price of the ticket, but they will judge the value of that purchase based on the service they receive.”
Ira Gershkoff, T2RL
About 15below
Who we work withWho We Work With
About SimpliFlying
Keep the conversation going
@15below_travel@simpliflying
[email protected]@simpliflying.com
linkedin.com/company/15belowlinkedin.com/company/simpliflying
facebook.com/15belowfacebook.com/simpliflying/
+44 1273 764230 (15below)