10 Social Customer Service Questions from Leading Global Airlines at WACRA 2016

What you’ll find in this presentation:

-Questions about social customer service from leading global airlines at WACRA

-The answers to them

What are best practices for diffusing issues on social?

1.

It’s nearly impossible to resolve a heated issue in public because customers are leveraging the attention of others.  • Address the issue directly in a public manner by

acknowledging that you’re going to help, and then pull the customer into a private message or DM where you can resolve their issue.

Do we always have to address the negative feedback?

2.

Don’t shy away from the negative.

• Customers who take the time to voice their negative opinions are actually a blessing and provide great opportunities for service recovery.

• They are also more likely to be a promoter of your brand if their issues are identified and resolved.

What channels are the future of CS for airlines?

3.

Twitter and Facebook Messenger continue to be popular places for airlines to connect with their customers.

3.

WeChat is popular for airlines doing business in China.

3.

There is also a great opportunity for in-app messaging.

• Instead of directing customers to the another (often more expensive) channel for service, airlines can provide service within their own mobile app!

3.

The best play?

• Be ready to provide service over any channel that your customer reach out to you on.

Your software should be able to plug in any channel so your agents can focus on delivering quality customer service.

How can airlines use social as a proactive channel (since it’s already very reactive) ?

4.

You know many details about your customers like who they are, where they are, where they’re going, how often they fly, and a host of other attributes.

So instead of waiting for customers to reach out to you regarding a cancelled flight or a delayed bag, use your metadata and reach out to them first!

4.

Send a customer a DM and let them know their flight is delayed but you’ve already rebooked them.

If a guest’s bag is delayed, contact them via Messenger to let them know the status of their bag and that you’ve set it up for delivery to their destination.

4.

The possibilities are endless, but it starts with harvesting the key points of data and doing something powerful with them.  

What’s the best practice for crisis management?

5.

Sit down in advance with all key stakeholders and develop a playbook for handling crises.

Social media should be top of mind in any sort of accident response, considering its public nature.

• Develop processes for who says what, when, how often, as well as for escalation points, coordination with corporate communications, etc.  

5.

Be prepared to quickly and effectively (response without solution is hollow) engage in these situations and take control of the conversation.

5.

Your software should be able to deploy automation and filtering to:

• Remove unwanted messages from your queues

• Segment out crisis topics so your teams can focus on the situation at hand

5.

And don’t forget that business as usual will continue.  Good filtering allows for your best customers and brand advocates to continue to receive service while you battle your PR nightmare.

With the rise of social, will other channels for customer service decrease?

6.

Just like paper mail gave way to email, and faxing gave way to online forms, we are finally seeing a future where phone volume will decrease – provided that social and messaging platforms are positioned as a true, viable, full-service alternative.

6.

The generation who prefers using the phone is retiring.  

• Millennials, and to a large degree Gen Xers, prefer self-service and social channels for quick resolution vs. emailing or calling.

Any advice for companies focusing on growing social care in China?

7.

Understand the cultural ways people in China prefer to communicate, and within reason adjust your tone to meet those differences.  

Be sure you’re on social channels that are popular in the area (like WeChat) vs. ones on the way out (like Weibo).

7.

Provide your customers in China with the same service as your customers at home.

• If you offer speedy attention to your home market, make sure you’re not only providing service occasionally to your market in China.

How can companies track complaints on social?

8.

With the right social customer service technology, this can be done by linking conversations to tags and topics.  

You can then see complaints:

• By theme• Trending over time• Handled by each agent

8.

And:

• Share with executives the value your social media program brings to your organization.  

• Pull qualitative examples of complaints and show how your team effectively handled them without the need for a phone call or email.

How can vendors (Wi-Fi providers) work together with airlines to solve complaints on social (sometimes there is an issue with the vendor, not the airline)?

9.

Airlines should never bash their partners/vendors on social. Instead, work out in advance who’s going to own what conversations and find a way to seamlessly hand those off to each other.  

How can airlines securely comply on social?

10.

Adopt a technology that connects to your CRM and can securely authenticate your customers on social.

Then securely service them over private messaging and be confident you’re speaking with the right person.

10.

You can know for sure that:

• @flyboy15 is really John Doe, Platinum flyer • Bobbie Smith on Facebook is the same Ms.

Roberta Smith who’s trying to modify her business class travel

10.

By linking a customer across several profiles, you know when you’ve dealt with the same individual before in another channel and can bring continuity to the conversation.

Want more information on this topic? Read the full blog here.

Interested in learning more about how leading airlines are successfully implementing low-effort social customer care? Watch our latest webinar with JetBlue, “Taking Customer Loyalty to New Heights: How JetBlue Built a Low Effort Service Organization.”