MarketTools Blog

MarketTools recently released an airline travel survey that revealed major dissatisfaction among airline customers. As a frequent traveler, I wasn’t surprised to see that people are unhappy with comfort aboard the plane or ticket prices, but as someone that works closely with Voice of the Customer programs across several industries, I was surprised to see that only 30% of airline travelers surveyed had ever been asked to provide feedback via a customer survey or other means. Even more surprising was the fact that 75% of those passengers that did offer feedback did not receive any type of follow-up from the airline.

When I consider that most of my drugstore receipts include a link to a customer survey, I’m dumbfounded that a much more important (not to mention expensive) experience rarely invites my feedback. Perhaps there are so many customers offering unsolicited feedback via email, social media and phone calls that they don’t feel the need to formally survey people.

We do know that a growing number of travelers are using social media channels to voice their complaints about airlines. Our recent survey showed that 10% of respondents have used social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to share complaints about poor airline experiences. However, only 24% of those who communicated their complaints through social media received a response directly from the airline.

Clearly the airline industry has a long way to go towards making customer satisfaction a priority. But unlike industries that drive less emotional experiences, their challenge doesn’t lie so much in getting feedback but in making sense of the massive amount of customer feedback available. A comprehensive Voice of the Customer program for an airline should integrate and analyze feedback from all the ways customers want to provide it, including:
-    Social media posts
-    Emails to customer service
-    Phone conversations (via voice recordings or call center notes)
-    Opt-in surveys available at each major point of contact – including web site, after a phone transaction, ticket purchasing, etc.

Once this data is pulled together into a central EFM solution like MarketTools CustomerSat, advanced analytics can help sort through the noise to determine priorities. With so many things to complain about while traveling, standard reports such as a Key Driver chart help companies sift through the issues to understand what really drives customer satisfaction and loyalty. So while I may be unsatisfied with baggage-check fees, carry-on policies, unattractive flight attendant uniforms (someone had to say it), and overall lack of blankets, pillows, free food and free cocktails, it’s really legroom and attitude of flight attendants that drives which airline I choose – assuming the cost is similar. It can be difficult to determine what’s really critical from passengers’ laundry lists of complaints, but key driver charts and other advanced analytics go a long way towards distilling the most important drivers of loyalty to help focus customer satisfaction efforts where they have the biggest impact.

This brings me to the most important (and seemingly missing) aspect of a Voice of the Customer solution for the airlines: follow-up!  At a minimum, customers who provide feedback should receive a response thanking them and letting them know about steps you’ve taken towards a resolution. If they have a tactical issue that needs solving (such as missing frequent flier miles), MarketTools CustomerSat can automatically open a case and notify the appropriate people that can manage the issue to resolution. If their issue is more general, it’s still important to notify customers about the changes you’ve made in response to customer feedback. Here are some I’d like to see:

• "Thank you for your email about our ridiculous carry-on policy. You’re right – your tiny little designed-for-carry-on bag should be given priority overhead bin space over those that board earlier and manage to bring an entire fleet of barely-regulation size suitcases. Our new policy will be to board in order of carry-on luggage size, smallest first." 
• "We’ve heard you and we agree these flight attendant uniforms are just awful. We’re contracting the next winner of Project Runway to design a new uniform that is both stylish and functional."
• "You’re right, being stuck in the middle, or next to a baby is no fun at all. From now on, we will offer free cocktails to anyone stuck in either of these unfortunate situations."

Add your ideas below – and let’s see which airlines are paying attention!