Helping a Leading Travel Company During Unprecedented Times: A COVID-19 Response Success Story
Results
Generated over $4.5 million in revenue during the first seven months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.
Supported over 30% increase in mobile traffic.
Adapted quickly to address customer needs during a crisis and provided instant, around-the-clock customer service.
Opportunity
In 2020, the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic drastically changed the way of life for billions of people worldwide. The pandemic caused widespread uncertainty, forcing organizations and businesses to navigate an unprecedented situation. To help prevent the spread of the virus, organizations needed to adapt to social distancing standards and other mandates while, at the same time, rapidly addressing the needs and safety of their employees and customers.
By March of 2020, travel around the globe came to a near standstill. As a result, a leading travel and transportation company, serving millions of passengers each year in hundreds of destinations, had to adapt quickly. With many of its customer service and call center employees transitioning to remote work, the travel leader wanted to maintain a seamless customer experience and ensure that its customers could quickly and easily access the help and information they needed through the pandemic.
Solution
Inundated with questions from thousands of customers seeking insight into canceled trips, changes to routes, safety protocols, and other services affected by the pandemic, the travel leader partnered with Verint to optimize its Verint Intelligent Virtual Assistant. A staple on the company’s website for several years, the intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) has addressed more than 30 million questions, facilitated over 650,000 bookings, and generated nearly $40 million in revenue. The virtual assistant has served as a critical component to the travel leader’s website engagement, revenue generation, and customer service success.
The IVA was put to the test like never before in March of 2020. The travel leader worked quickly with Verint’s professional services team to update the virtual assistant’s responses with real-time information on coronavirus-related questions. In addition, it used the technology to direct people to a webpage with relevant information about service impacts, cancellation policies, and ongoing updates for the rapidly changing situation. After leading customers to the webpage, the virtual assistant remained on the screen to field any additional questions.
During the onset of the pandemic, the travel provider also leveraged the IVA to understand its customers’ evolving needs and concerns. Using Verint Intelligent Virtual Assistant, the travel leader initiated a customer sentiment analysis to gain deeper insights into how customers feel and what they want to know.
This IVA analysis is a routine practice as part of continuous improvement to enable the company to elevate service and keep a pulse on customers’ changing interests. However, it was crucial during the pandemic because of the drastic shift in customer concerns and questions. With this knowledge, the travel leader rapidly evolved with the ever-changing situation and adjusted the virtual assistant’s responses.
In addition to making the necessary response adjustments for COVID-19, the travel leader deployed its IVA within the mobile channel. Although the mobile launch was planned before the pandemic, the timing was impactful. Mobile usage has grown in popularity with digital self-service and deploying the technology on mobile during such an unpredictable time helped extend the company’s information updates and service capabilities. The travel leader saw more than a 30 percent increase in mobile traffic, making the IVA a critical resource for always-on customers.
Benefits
As customer questions shift and change, the travel leader, with Verint Intelligent Virtual Assistant’s help, has been able to support business continuity and address customers’ needs efficiently and effectively. Despite website traffic being down significantly as travel halted, the IVA continued to be a primary revenue source for the company, generating over $4.5 million in the first seven months of the pandemic (March 2020 to September 2020).
Additionally, the boundless customer service experience that the travel leader delivered through its IVA positively impacted service scores. By updating information, answering questions, and quickly assisting customers, the company gained more than a five percent boost in positive survey ratings (March 2020 to June 2020), even amid the unpredictable challenges stemming from the pandemic.
In a time when customers were likely experiencing no shortage of uncertainty and stress, the travel leader was able to offer timely and accurate customer service and provide clarity and support when people needed it most. The company’s commitment to safety and communication has set a new standard of travel. It continues to monitor, adjust, and grow with ever-changing situations while putting its customers’ and employees’ well-being at the center of its focus.
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In a time when customers were likely experiencing no shortage of uncertainty and stress, the travel leader was able to offer timely and accurate customer service and provide clarity and support when people needed it most.
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