The recent “Bomb Cyclone” enveloping most of the Eastern U.S. caused more than 3,000 flight cancellations wreaking havoc on the industry and consumers.
At a time like this, airlines need to be as responsive as possible to frustrated travelers as long wait times on the phone and inadequate responses at airport counters quickly augment. Consumers, of course, are adept at taking to social media to air their complaints, forming private Facebook groups and taking to Twitter, Facebook and companies’ blogs and social media channels to air their grievances.
Conversocial has focused on the beleaguered airline industry in its latest report, assessing airlines from their individual brand performance to their customer service touchpoints.
An internal analysis of three Conversocial airline partners found a notable shift in the channels receiving the highest customer volumes. From March to August 2017, Facebook Messenger volume more than doubled for those three partners (compared to the previous six-month period), and Messenger volumes saw a +10% compounded monthly growth rate.
During this same period, there was a 50% increase in incoming volumes of Twitter direct messages (DMs) from airline travelers, in part because airlines promoted private social messaging as a customer care channel.
This represents the prolific rise of private messaging channels over social media networks as the first-choice pathway for social resolution. Messenger, Twitter DM and SMS texts are maturing and predominate as the means of private resolution between customers and companies on a one-to-one private real-time basis.
The Conversocial report benchmarks the worlds’ 20 biggest airlines in terms of their social responsiveness, and projects the future of social customer service.
How responsive an airline is via social is critical. If a customer sees on an airline’s social account features regular and timely responses, they’ll use that channel more.
A few airlines’ Twitter accounts exceeded expectations: @AmericanAir (32.6%), @Delta (31.3%), @EthiadHelp (50.5%), @EmiratesSupport (48.7%), @qrsupport (46.7%) and @VirginAmerica (26.7%).
While the debate over separating a service handle from a brand continues, Conversocial recommends consolidating service under a single brand handle. “Care is synonymous with the airline industry, therefore it should be part of your social brand’s identity.”
As for the future, Conversocial points out that “the nature of the airline industry is one where you are always pressed for time. Efficiently resolving an issue on social can mean the difference between missing and making a flight—the minutes truly count. Issues with travel are often in the moment; therefore, a response must be in real time in order to serve the fast-paced demands of the traveler.”
“Social care teams that are able to provide both a seamless yet fast service, will be the ones to reap the rewards with increased brand advocates and equity on social. However, this level of response time will need a dedicated 24/7 team structure.”
Messaging and standalone platforms like WhatsApp are becoming the default way of communication. The report predicts that by 2018 at least 3.6 billion people will have at least one messaging app on their smartphone, equal to the number of internet users.
“Messaging combines full live-chat functionality with persistent identity and mobile notifications—combining all of the best elements of the traditional digital care channels, purpose-built for the mobile era:
• Real-time (in many cases, you can see when the other person is typing)
• Asynchronous (you can go away and continue the conversation later)
• Persistent identity (and easy to link to a customer record)
• Connected to smartphone notifications.
As for bots, while more frequently used for simpler transactions like ordering flowers or booking appointments, the airline industry where issues like re-booking are more complicated, transactional bots have not made a significant inroad in replacing human agents.
Conversocial suggests using the automation capabilities within the messaging platforms to build a “Visual IVR” system where the first few messages identify the type of customer issue and collect basic data. Both Facebook Messenger and Twitter offer this capability. Only then take the customer to an agent. A Visual IVR can immediately save 15–20% of messaging volumes.
The report concludes: “the bottom line is that this newly reinvented customer just wants resolution and defers to personal one-to-one channels instead of one-to-many public channels. This doesn’t let airlines off the hook for authentic, human service. If you do not resolve in-channel or respond quickly, those public takedowns of your brand will still be on the table.”
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