Here are the top 10 asked questions from leading global airlines at WACRA in Helsinki, Finland, as well as the answers to them!

1. 10 Social Customer Service Questions
from Leading Global Airlines at
WACRA 2016

2. What you’ll find in this presentation:
-Questions about social customer service from
leading global airlines at WACRA
-The answers to them

3. What are best
practices for
diffusing issues
on social?

4. 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.

5. Do we always have to
address the negative
feedback?

6. 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.

7. What channels are
the future of CS for
airlines?

8. 3.
Twitter and Facebook Messenger continue to be
popular places for airlines to connect with their
customers.

9. 3.
WeChat is popular for airlines doing business in China.

10. 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!

11. 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.

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

13. 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!

14. 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.

15. 4.
The possibilities are endless, but it starts with
harvesting the key points of data and doing something
powerful with them.

16. What’s the best
practice for crisis
management?

17. 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.

18. 5.
Be prepared to quickly and effectively (response
without solution is hollow) engage in these situations
and take control of the conversation.

19. 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

20. 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.

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

22. 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.

23. 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.

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

25. 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).

26. 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.

27. How can companies
track complaints on
social?

28. 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

29. 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.

30. 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)?

31. 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.

32. How can airlines
securely comply on
social?

33. 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.

34. 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

35. 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.

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

37. 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.”